Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Science, but fun

Angela’s Glacier by Jordan Scott

Climbing the Volcano by Curtis Manley

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Science was never my thing growing up. However, maybe if I was exposed to/had more science based stories, that mixed effortlessly fact and fiction, I might have gotten into things more. The titles (both due January 2024 and read via online reader copies) Angela’s Glacier and Climbing the Volcano would be the first two I would want to read.  Jordan Scott’s Angela’s Glacier is a unique way of telling us to “stop and smell the glacier.” Or for most of us, to stop and smell […]

Who wanted this banned and why?

Class Act by Jerry Craft

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Drew Ellis goes to the prestigious Riverdale Academy Day School, but unlike a lot of his more privileged classmates, he feels like he has to work way harder and he still might not get the same opportunities that they do. While a lot of his fellow students live in enormous mansions, Drew lives alone with his grandmother (who has to work almost constantly to provide for him). He also knows that no matter how good his grades are or which school he attends, most people […]

So Many Ideas and Questions about Year 2 at Riverdale Academy Day School

Class Act by Jerry Craft

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Class Act continues the story of the Riverdale Academy Day School gang, but emphasizes Drew’s experiences a bit more and it also starts to include other challenges of growing up, particularly physical and emotional/relationship maturity. It is now eight grade, so the group is in their second year together. In a lot of ways, there’s a lot more going on here in volume 2, both story and meaning-wise. In the previous volume that focuses on Jordan, Drew is a fellow student of color, but instead […]

I am the tree and you are the bird. Fly off as you please, you will always come back to sit on my branches.

A Long Way from Douala by Max Lobe

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Pa had brought out our entire stock of beer. Simon, Roger and I had the job of serving. We ran to and fro between the kitchen, the living room and the porch. Our hi-fi pumped out old Makossa hits: our parents’ favorites. A few women neighbors of their generation, also wearing kaba ngondos, had begun shimmying in the empty space at the center of the room. They looked like they were showing off: you can’t dance the Makossa without showing off.” ― Max Lobe, A […]

Making a human

The Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu

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The Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu is an emotional graphic novel with layers that could be a bit “much” as we deal with a larger “cosmic” connection. The more surface level is the love story we have with ourselves and each other, the ideas of being human and humane, and most importantly, connections on a smaller scale that we find with others and ourselves as we grow. The illustrations are unique, but familiar. They give you what is needed, but sometimes you do need to fill in a […]

A little family road trip from and to Hell

Odessa by Jonathan Hill

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I stole this part of the review from Goodreads/François Vigneault: “Odessa is the first long chapter in a sumptuously-drawn post-apocalyptic tale following the journey of teenager Virginia Crane.” That does not seem “steal worthy” but it starts my feelings of this book. It is a long “chapter to the story of the Crane family. I am not sure I would say “sumptuously-drawn,” but it does have its own unique style.    This is the surface story: three children (ages around 9 to 17) travel through a post-apocalyptic world […]



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