Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Play ball, swim, tennis, hockey and more safely and comfortably

This Skirt Won't Work!: How Women Athletes Changed Their Clothes and Changed the Game by Jennifer Cooper

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History has many layers. Dresses can have many layers.  But whereas history plays out, it is hard to play most sports or ride a bicycle in dresses. Especially the outfits that many women athletes would wear before some enterprising women decided to change things up. This Skirt Won’t Work!: How Women Athletes Changed Their Clothes and Changed the Game by Jennifer Cooper and illustrator Eva Byrne follows how tennis went from a long skirt to a 1920s fashion statement. How women hockey players would change […]

She broke the norm

The Girl Who Wore Pants by Susanna Isern

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While I enjoyed The Girl Who Wore Pants by Susanna Isern, I was a little disappointed that there was not any real background information about Luisa Capetillo.. There is only where she was born (Puerto Rico), who her mother (from France) and father were, and when and why she decided to wear pants. Then we have a nod towards her reading to the women of the factors and a very quick highlight of her arrest in Cuba. However, it is a nice story and shows […]

Suit up

Mama’s Sleeping Scarf by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Nwa Grace-James

Patchwork Prince by Baptiste Paul

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Sometimes the smallest thing, like a piece of cloth can do big things. And these two books have that theme in common. I do not know about you, but my mother had a couple items of clothing that I associated with her. Now, I didn’t use one of them to feel closer to her when she would leave, but I understand Chino and her bond with her mother and needed the sleeping scarf. Chino’s mother must have her sleeping scarf, with its bold colors and […]

The connections never end

So Not Ghoul by Karen Yin

Sunflower Sisters by Monika Singh Gangotra

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So Not Ghoul by Karen Yin and Sunflower Sisters by Monika Singh Gangotra have connections in themes and are two very wonderfully different books. However, if you like one, you might just like the other. I will start with the main difference between the two, which is the tone. Yin’s story is while seriously themed, is more humorous, and Gangotra created a story with a more overall serious tone that is still lighthearted in nature. The main and most important similarity is that both the […]

Truly a perfect fit

A Perfect Fit: How Lena “Lane” Bryant Changed the Shape of Fashion by Mara Rockliff

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Growing up I looked at my mother’s Lane Bryant catalog and think, “What a bunch of old lady clothes.” (I do not believe I had hit double numbers yet.) As I got older, I learned to appreciate the fact that it was hard for plus sized women to find clothing. Any kind of clothing, let alone nice and professional. And Lane Bryant helped my mom be as fabulous on the outside as she was inside. I would go on and buy things from there myself […]

Clothing Westeros

Game of Thrones: Costumes - The Official Book Seasons 1 - 8 by Michele Clapton

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Because Faintingviolet loves me and totally feeds my addictions, I was gifted this amazing costume reference guide from the Game of Thrones series for Christmas. Written by costumer, Michele Clapton herself, the book is almost as long and comprehensive as GRRM’s series. Complete with full color professional photographs, closeups of the costumes, and some of Clapton’s original drawings, this book was an excellent study in both costuming and the intense process that goes into bringing the written word to screen. Clapton goes through each of […]



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