Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

And to think, when I was her age, I was learning to ride a bike

My Name is Bana by Bana Alabed

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My Name is Bana is not a memoir, but it is the story of Bana Alabed. She was a young girl who saw that things were not right in her war-torn homeland of Syria. And she stood up and did what modern kids did. She Tweeted. This is not that story. This is a story about Bana and how she is as strong as the tree she is named for. Bana’s mother tells her how the Bana tree grows strong. And how it is strong […]

We all have our fears

Me and My Fear by Francesca Sanna

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A young girl has a small Fear with her all the time. It helps keep her safe. However, when she moves away, the Fear grows to an extent where it takes over. It will not let her even leave the house at times. And it makes her new school very difficult. She cannot imagine anyone understanding her, or her feelings.  However, the reader can see that there is a “little something” (in the form of a young boy) that seems to want to get to […]

Big Ideas and Big Friends

Big Dreams, Small Fish by Paula Cohen

Gibberish by Young Vo

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Culture is an interesting subject. And when you come from one and go to a different one, things get interesting.  The publisher Levine Querido has stories that are about cultures we may/may not be familiar with. In the process of reading them, there is a lot to learn about how we are not only different, but the same, too. Shirley is a child with big ideas, her family are immigrants, they live over their grocery store, and they cannot sell their gefilte fish. Her parents […]

When Newcomers Come to Canada from all over the world to stay

Carry on: Poetry by Young Immigrants by Simon Boulerice

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Carry on: Poetry by Young Immigrants was a book I found on a site the store I work at uses for ordering. It might have been just a sample of the poetry, not the completed version, but either way, this book illustrated by Roge Girard is something worth looking into. Told from the point of view of young immigrants, each poem is a snapshot of thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams, fears, and observations. We see how cold is experienced for the first time. How the thought […]

Gao’s debut is messy, but yet, it is wonderfully so!

Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American by Laura Gao

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Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American is a messy book. But it is all wrapped up in a neatly created graphic novel. The world of Laura Gao has been seen in other stories (this is a coming-of-age story with features we know: immigration, expectations of family, coming out), but hers is completely unique to her and therefore, to the reader. At first, the book seems like it might be about the pandemic, and what happens to her and her family as Chinese […]

Hitting you in the feels

The Wishing Balloons by Jonathan D. Voss

Where Butterflies Fill the Sky: A Story of Immigration, Family, and Finding Home by Zahra Marwan

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When I do a picture book review post I try and put the same theme together. Does not always work of course, but this time, I am putting together two books that gave feels. Or will give feels to the reader. Both books have a message, are soft but strong and know how to tug at the ol’ emotions. In many ways, we have seen these messages to distractions. It is their illustrations that give them fresh tones. The Wishing Balloons is a thoughtful and […]



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