Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Mevan and their bike

The Bicycle: How an Act of Kindness Changed a Young Refugee’s Life by Patricia McCormick

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I did not read the entire article I had about some new books coming, but it was highlighting summer and bicycles. The list was around half a dozen titles long, all picture books. I figured I could locate copies of most of them. And in fact, was able to find online reader copies for all of them. However, four of them stood out for me. These four were different but still had familiar elements that I found comforting.  In The Bicycle: How an Act of […]

The WOW factor

The Crane Girl by Curtis Manley

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OMG! Times Ten!  That is how I felt after I read The Crane Girl by Curtis Manley and illustrated by Lin Wang. Though available, I read via an online reader copy and I plan on finding a finished copy as you need to hold this book, I think, to get the entire picture. The story is dense and deep. We find Manley adapted the Crane Girl/Wife story to fit their needed goals. Still, it feels as if this was a true interpretation of the legend. […]

Warmth in its forms

What You Need to Be Warm by Neil Gaiman

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I am just going to say that this awesome book of poems was created by Neil Gaiman. They called it, What You Need to Be Warm. And they had a long list of illustrators, some I knew and others were new to me. And then I will say it is about refugees and other displaced people and what images, things, places or people that made them feel warm. And then just gush that this is both the best and worst thing I have read this […]

Rhythm and butterflies

A Flicker of Hope: A Story of Migration by Cynthia Harmony

Rhythm by Jackie Azua Kramer

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Perseverance in an interesting concept. And within the picture books A Flicker of Hope: A Story of Migration and Rhythm, we see two different ways of obtaining that.  Both titles are due mid-February 2024 and were read via an online reader copy. Cynthia Harmony made a book that has the migration of not only monarchs, but people too, in A Flicker of Hope. When Lucia and her father notice that the monarch butterflies are getting ready for their trip North, they know the journey of […]

The story of two unhoused children

Home: A Story of Two Children Thrust Into Homelessness and Uncertain Housing Situations by Tonya Lippert

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Homelessness was not something talked about when I was young. I knew it happened, but at the same time had no concept of what that meant. Friends of the family were living in a tent for a while. There was the person who slept in the neighbor’s horse trailer when I was little. And I knew the stories of “hobbos” who used to come to my grandmother for food. But what did that mean? It was not until I was much older did the word […]

You have to pick a book or two

Wombat Said Come In by Carmen Agra Deedy

Two White Rabbits by Jairo Buitrago

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Picture book round up time! Both these books can be for any age, however, there are sensitive issues that might not be for everyone. Wombat Said Come In is a multiple layered story. It is about friendship, loss and even about limits. Wombat is sitting down when he hears a knock, a friend is in need. The land is on fire and one by one the knocks on the door find another friend in need. Of course, maybe a bit hesitantly (especially when the house […]



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