Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

She might have been 8 but she got people to listen

Until Someone Listens: A Story about Borders, Family, and One Girl's Mission by Estela Juarez

by Leave a Comment

Estela Juarez, Lissette Norman, and illustrator Teresa Martinez put together a picture book called Until Someone Listens: A Story about Borders, Family, and One Girl’s Mission. This is the true story of Estela Juarez, her family and especially the story of her mother. You see, young Juarez’s mother was not born in this country. And though she had two daughters and was married to a US marine, and even though her family fought for years to keep her in the country she was departed to […]

Love is Not the End-All

The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman

by Leave a Comment

“To me, love is more like a lending library. To keep it, we must continually renew it. Otherwise we pay a hefty fine.” There is a purported family curse that afflicts the Fontana family – that second-born daughters will never find true love and wed. When their estranged great-aunt Poppy promises to break the curse if they accompany her on a trip to Italy, Emilia and Lucy’s lives change radically. This was a warm and engaging read about a trio of women who are misfits […]

Heritage and pride

Yo Soy Muslim: A Father’s Letter to His Daughter by Mark Gonzales

by Leave a Comment

Yo Soy Muslim: A Father’s Letter to His Daughter caught my eye in an email newsletter. I was not sure I was going to like it. The cover with the young girl with large lips and larger eyes, and the father with the oddly shaped head, where awkward at first glance. But then there was the story. It may not be my favorite story, it might not become a classic, but it is a lovely story, a poem, with unique illustrations to send the message. […]

I think we all could use some Making Happy in our lives

Making Happy by Sheetal Sheth

by Leave a Comment

Making Happy has been on the radar for a while now. After having seen it announced in newsletters and such, an email came to me from the publisher. The attachment was Making Happy by Sheetal Sheth. Books are my favorite kind of attachments and because of this one, I am excited to find a new book to recommend. With a modern tone, modern feelings, and modern coping mechanisms, this book about a mother who is ill. It is strong and thoughtful. The young girl of […]

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

My Name is Bana by Bana Alabed

by Leave a Comment

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 […]

I still like the characters, but the situations are getting harder to believe

A Different Dawn (Nina Guerrera #2) by Isabella Maldonado

by Leave a Comment

So in the first Nina Guerrera book, a serial killer was after Nina to finish the job he started years ago when he kidnapped her as a teen.  In this book, she’s also related to the mystery.  I don’t want to spoil it, because it is interesting.  It’s just getting hard to believe that EVERY SERIAL KILLER is obsessed with her. Again Ms. Maldonado has come up with an interesting premise.  Families that just recently brought home a baby girl from the hospital are being […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo