Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A review for some but not for all

Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation by Ari Folman

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We talk about books that are not for everyone, well, this is a review not for everyone. I bring up feelings, more than facts here. I have thoughts that you probably do not say today. But I am telling you, the review reader, this book affected me in ways I did not expect. This is my journey being introduced to a story I thought I knew, but came away with a different outlook about it. I have never read The Diary of Anne Frank. Though, […]

A Child’s Introduction to Pure Evil

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

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I live two blocks away from a stellar children’s book store. It’s a habit of mine to visit several times a month. I enjoy keeping tabs on what the kids are reading these days (graphic novels) and which titles have staying power. The pale blue cover of Number the Stars is always on display in the middle reader section. The fact that Lois Lowry, an author born in 1937, still has books occupying prime shelf space is an amazing feat—but not surprising to me, given […]

Don’t Say We Didn’t Try

Rescue Board: The Untold Story of America's Efforts to Save the Jews of Europe by Rebecca Erbelding

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Due to extensive documentation in all manner of media, World War II is an enduring object of fascination. Just when we think we’ve heard everything, the inexhaustible well comes up with something new. In my favored stories of resistance, espionage, politicking, and propaganda, the Holocaust—Nazi Germany’s systematic genocide of Jews in occupied Europe—is impossible to avoid. (Yes, other minority groups were targeted, too. This book is not about them.) It’s a favorite pastime among WWII buffs to finger people, besides the Germans, who ought to […]

If you wonder what the Irish were doing in World War II this might answer it….

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This is the Award Winner. The Dorothy Canfield Fisher award is a Vermont state award that the books are picked by adults (though I am not always sure why they were the pickers as one was a professor at my college who had no English or child background that I knew of) and then voted on by the kids. Of course, the year I did this award the “cool kids” pick won. But that is the perfect lead in to this book. It is 1943. […]

Just Your Average, Forgettable World War II novel …

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I have been interested in the Holocaust and World War II since I was about 8 years old and have read quite a few novels, fictionalized accounts and nonfiction books on the topics as a result.  I have certainly taken breaks at various points but always tend to come back to the topic.  It also means there are certain types of books I am less likely to pick up based on previous experience.  While I liked Sarah’s Key on initial read because of the view […]

Against Forgetting

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Every once in a while I discover odd gaps in the books I have read, and Night was one of those. Since I learned to read German before I learned to read English, and spent K-7 in the German school system, I usually tend to assume I have read certain childhood classics or novels commonly read in middle school, but under a German name where the translated title doesn’t quite match up.  This was especially the case with the book, Night, which blurs the line […]



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