Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Grandmothers are special

Something about Grandma by Tania de Regil

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Julia goes to stay with her grandmother for the first time without her parents. And there is Something about Grandma and something about her house, the area she lives, the town and more. The things Julia does with her grandmother are different. They have sugar bread that is brought to them in a basket, that the lady delivery it places on her head.  There are different smells, colors and hot chocolate can cure homesickness. Her grandmother knows when Julia has picked limes from the garden, […]

Science & Nature & Grief & Love

With a Butterfly’s Wings by Pilar Lopez Avila

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This is a sweet, but also somber, story of a grandmother and granddaughter and how they interact while observing the world around them.  It is a picture book of how a grandmother teaches a grandchild how to view the world, explore the world, and to appreciate nature and the animals and plants that reside in it. This is a poem and love letter. On the pages of With a Butterfly’s Wings we see how secrets, appreciation and love are passed along and how even when […]

Shiver me timbers and pull up a cutlass

When I Was a Pirate by Tom Silson

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You can take When I Was a Pirate with you can take this book with a shot of rum and coke and say it is a true whale of a tail. Or you can believe that the grandfather has had some far out times in his life.  I mean, does the grandfather in the story tell the truth? Was he a grand old pirate in his youth? (Tattoos seem to confirm this.) Or is he just diving deep into a bit of exaggeration?  I would […]

Don’t even need to have pants to read this

Amah Faraway by Margaret Chiu Greanias

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Are you close to your grandparents? Physically or spiritually? I was physically close to both sets of grandparents (one lived in the upper part of the house, the other about 20-30 minutes’ drive).  Therefore, when kids would say, “I’m going to New Jersey for Christmas.” I was, “Huh? You mean you don’t put on a pair of pants and slippers and go upstairs?” After all, it was a big deal if we went to the other grandparent’s house (the drive) I mean we had to […]

Take a Trip

Grandad’s Camper by Harry Woodgate

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I use the phrase “cozy read” a lot, but Grandad’s Camper by Harry Woodgate is a cozy read. Even if it is not always a happy read. You could substitute any gender of the two grandfathers of the story, and you have “this” story, as the loss of a spouse or partner is universal. Everyone will grieve, everyone will remember the connections they had. I enjoyed how everything is just “normalized” and not “in your face” about the subject. The two grandfathers of the child […]

Names, family and two neat books

Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow

The Gifts of Being Grand: For Grandparents Everywhere by Marianne Richmond

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A short (all of two books) list of picture books follows this paragraph. Wait, is it a list if it is only two? Anyway, both books would be good for gifts to different people. The first one is a great gift for a child and the second, for grandparents. Your Name is a Song talks about how it can be difficult for a child who has a name that is difficult to pronounce. Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow shows how one mother shows her child how beautiful her […]



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