Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

This is factual, not just farting (but who doesn’t enjoy a good fart?)

Jop and Blip Wanna Know V01: Can You Hear a Penguin Fart on Mars? And Other Excellent Questions by Jim Benton

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June/July 2021 cannot come soon enough! I want to recommend Jop and Blip Wanna Know V01: Can You Hear a Penguin Fart on Mars? And Other Excellent Questions ALL THE TIME. Jim Benton created a non-fiction question book done in a humorous fiction way. I am sure more than one kid has wondered if you can hear a penguin fart like grandma does, why do we have two nostrils and if dragons are real. You will learn this and more (such as who invented the […]

Here Birdie, birdie bird!

How to Find a Bird by Jennifer Ward

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How to Find a Bird is a great non-fiction book presented as a traditional picture book story. Jennifer Ward’s text is about an all-knowing narrator taking you (and the characters of the book) on a journey throughout almost all the known birds. Some will be familiar due to your own area, while others might not be. There are even a few pages dedicated to birds that have gone extinct. Each page has facts or pieces of information on birds, how to see and hear birds […]

Let’s Talk About Sex

Bonk by Mary Roach

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Mary Roach is considered the world’s funniest science writer, and this work is no exception to that. She mixes the scientific lingo with the layman’s terms with such ease that the reader is eased into whatever niche topic Ms. Roach is discussing. We all become scientists for a moment while reading Mary Roach. Bonk is no different from her other works in this sense, and if you’ve read other Mary Roach this book and its subject should not be surprising.  In fact, I found it […]

Thoughtful meditation on science, faith and family

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

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Yaa Gyasi is best known for her critically acclaimed first novel, Homegoing.  Unlike Homegoing, which I gather has a broad sweep in terms in geography and time (its in my TBR pile!), Transcendent Kingdom is narrowly focused on one woman, Gifty, in her adolescent to early adult years.  Although the scope of the novel expands a little to include Gifty’s immediate family and a few friends, the novel remains focused on her experiences with these additional cast members- we see them through her eyes. We […]

My 2020 Resolution and a Cannonball!

On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin

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In December 2019, before we knew what the following months held in store, I made a New Year’s resolution to read On the Origin of Species. I have a beautiful folio edition that I received for my birthday, and I wanted to check it off my TBR list for a couple of reasons. First, as I’ve mentioned before, I learned as an adult how much I love science. Second, and more importantly, in a country where roughly 20% of adults reject the idea that humans […]

Three books, one review, (almost) endless reading

The Couch Potato by Jory John

Jabari Tries by Gaia Cornwall

A Garden in Your Belly: Meet the Microbes in Your Gut by Masha D’yans

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A short laundry list of picture books is what you’ll find here. These books, while are good, just do not lend themselves for a nice long solo review. I will start off with two that have a theme to them: A Life Lesson. A Life Lesson #1 is The Couch Potato by Jory John. This is the fourth in The Bad Seed series by John. It is a cute story about having an indoor and outdoor balance to one’s lifestyle. It is nice to be […]



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