Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Read with Pride every time

Meaning of Pride by Rosiee Thor

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A few weeks ago I was cleaning up old emails and found one from 2022!  It was a note I had sent to the author of  Meaning of Pride, Rosiee Thor and their response. They mentioned they were sharing my note with illustrator Sam Kirk. I never heard from them; but then again, I was not expecting to (though it would have been awesome). Finding this note made me want to read it once again. Now the real kick-in-the-pants? It was still an online reader! […]

That Nun!

Make Meatballs Sing: The Life and Art of Corita Kent by Matthew Burgess

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All I am saying is Hippie Nun. You need to read Matthew Burgess’s picture book to learn more! Okay, I will also say that Make Meatballs Sing: The Life and Art of Corita Kent has really cool illustrations that are inspired by Kent and the style of the illustrators mix-media format. There are colors, shapes and all the ins and outs of what you would expect from Kent’s work and life. They are unqiueq detailed and there are hidden pieces of fun (the blue bird […]

Packed a punch with love

Love Is Loud: How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement by Sandra Neil Wallace

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One of the things that always gets to me is that the Civil Rights movement was not “ancient history” but “recent history.” In fact, so recent that Diane Nash of Love Is Loud: How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement is only 85 years old (in 2023). This means that she is only about 12 years older than my father. And while that is a bit of a gap when you are in your early teens and someone is in her 20’s, that still […]

Eat Meat Or Not

Just Another Meat-Eating Dirtbag: A Memoir by Michael Anthony

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Just Another Meat-Eating Dirtbag: A Memoir is a very pro vegetarian/vegan lifestyle memoir. There are intense images of animal abuse/cruelty as well as human death, blood, and talk of war. I wonder what Chai Simone (illustrator) was thinking  when they were asked to do this graphic novel. Because for them this was a debut and they are being asked to create images of slaughtering animals, missing limbs on humans and a guy barfing in a toilet holding a giant bong. There is also mention of […]

Gilbert Baker and a Grand ol’ Flag

Sewing the Rainbow: A Story about Gilbert Baker by Gayle E. Pitman

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Sewing the Rainbow: A Story about Gilbert Baker is good introduction for older children. Baker was a young man who lived in a gray world, especially after his art supplies and drawings were taken from him. He was a young man that was drafted, but who would not shoot a gun no matter what names he was called. And he was a man who knew how to put his glittery, wonderful, colorful self out there. And how to represent the community he was part of. […]

And to think, when I was her age, I was learning to ride a bike

My Name is Bana by Bana Alabed

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My Name is Bana is not a memoir, but it is the story of Bana Alabed. She was a young girl who saw that things were not right in her war-torn homeland of Syria. And she stood up and did what modern kids did. She Tweeted. This is not that story. This is a story about Bana and how she is as strong as the tree she is named for. Bana’s mother tells her how the Bana tree grows strong. And how it is strong […]



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