Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Origin story for human civilization

The Children of the Sun: An Inca Legend by Micaela Chirif

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The Children of the Sun: An Inca Legend is based on the original mythology of the Incan people. Author Micaela Chirif created this book so it is able to be adapted to allow multiple ages to relate to it, but it does lean towards an older reader or listener as its audience. It can be intense in the way it talks about the god-like children (who are fully grown) who wander to find the first home (or make the first city)  for the humans. It […]

Multigenerational missing girls and ripple effects

Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan

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Salt Bones fulfills the “family” square on CBR17 Bingo. Actual rating: 4.5 stars Salt Bones is a story of myth, which missing girls matter, and cycles of generational pain. I was really excited to read this based on the premise of Persephone and Demeter story through a Mexicali perspective, and this was great. There are so many different mother-daughter dynamics explored, and all of them dealing with different kinds of trauma. The Veracruz family seems to be cursed because twenty years ago Mal’s younger sister, […]

Folktales and cycles through history

Songs for Ghosts by Clara Kumagai

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Songs for Ghosts fulfills the “culture” square on CBR17 Bingo. Songs for Ghosts is a beautiful, tragic story of the power of stories and love, as well as the way past choices can create cycles throughout time. I’m unfamiliar with it, but in the afterword the author talks about Songs for Ghosts being a retelling of Madama Butterfly opera by Puccini where Cio-Cio-San has more agency than just the reductive submissive wife trope. Adam is a seventeen year old whose boyfriend just broke up with […]

Culture has many forms

The Runaway Pancake by Tiny Fisscher

Sleep Here, Wake There by Caio Zero

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cbr17bingo Culture (Runaway Pancake) and Work (Sleep Here, Wake There) When you are a reader of the children’s genre you find all types of books. One of my favorites are picture books as they are fun, unique and quick reads. Still, they can have deep messages and/or be quirky and fun.  The Runaway Pancake by Tiny Fisscher and illustrated by Sophie Pluim (currently available but read via an online reader copy) (CULTURE) is a fun and quirky one with a  fun take on the Gingerbread […]

Dusty town It’s a busy village Every day Like the one before Little town Full of little people Wanting to say, WHERE THE F IS SUNDAY?

The Lost Sunday by Iléana Surducan

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I won’t say a lot about the themes or story of The Lost Sunday by Iléana Surducan as it is pretty traditional. There are fairy tale tropes, the ideas are what you would expect for an Odyssey like journey of a young girl to the witches lair. The illustrations are amusing, cute, clever, simple and detailed simultaneously. There are good colors to them, without being too bold or too muted. They are supportive of the story. There are not a lot of surprises for big […]

The Rough-Face Girl Had Faith In Herself and She Had Courage

The Rough-Face Girl by Rafe Martin & David Shannon

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In this Algonquin rendition of Cinderella, The Rough-Face Girl lives with her father and two beautiful yet cruel sisters in a village on the shores of Lake Ontario. On the outskirts of the village lives the Invisible Being; a rich, powerful, and supposedly very handsome man who every woman in the village has set her sights on. However, to win his hand the women have to get past his sister and the tests she places in their paths. When her stepsisters fail, can the Rough-Face […]



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