Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Diseases shape the course of history

Plague-Busters!: Medicine's Battles with History's Deadliest Diseases by  Lindsey Fitzharris

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Plague-Busters!: Medicine’s Battles with History’s Deadliest Diseases by Lindsey Fitzharris and Adrian Teal is probably my new favorite nonfiction read of 2023 (I know it is still only late April, but something tells me I won’t be reading too many more nonfictions and if I do, nothing will match up to this).  Due in October 2023, I give this book a 4.5 as I need to see the final artwork. What I had in my reader copy, was mostly black and white, but there were a […]

The eyes of Tituba

Who Was Accused in the Salem Witch Trials?: Tituba: A Who HQ Graphic Novel by Insha Fitzpatrick

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Who Was Accused in the Salem Witch Trials?: Tituba: A Who HQ Graphic Novel highlights one woman’s story during the Salem Witch Trials. We focus on Tituba, the slave woman who was accused of bewitching the children she oversaw. It does not go deeply into the situation (the trial, her time before the accusation, the jail, etc.) but focuses on Tituba’s role in the events, and some of the more important details, on a point-by-point basis. There are historical information side boxes that will give […]

A window

The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees by Don Brown

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I am starting this review of The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees by Don Brown with this statement: Brown has an agenda with this book, but that is not a bad thing.  It is a complicate book with a complicated theme, yet also, straight forward.  I will add, I have rewritten this review too many times. I was well over 600 words at one point. This book was upsetting, enlightening and a not an all together unpleasant journey, but not one for just anyone. […]

His Name is my Name, too

My Name is Jason. Mine Too.: Our Story. Our Way by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin

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You will like this work of art. Or not. There will not be an in between feeling when it comes to My Name is Jason. Mine Too.: Our Story. Our Way. Okay, maybe a little in between as you will probably like some of the poetry and some you will not. And some of the illustrations you will like the artwork of, but others you will be WTF? Or at least that was how it was with me. But for the overall package I have […]

Yes, an artist

Maybe an Artist, a Graphic Memoir by Elizabeth Montague

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Maybe an Artist, a Graphic Memoir by Elizabeth Montague is a simple, but expressive and sweet memoir about how one person became the artist they are today. It was not an easy path, filled with boys, school, friendship, social themes, and siblings, but it was one that we can all relate too. Montague added their delightful artwork to accompany the text. This story seems simple enough, but it is the one where a young 22-year-old woman became one of the first black female cartoonists at […]

She might have been 8 but she got people to listen

Until Someone Listens: A Story about Borders, Family, and One Girl's Mission by Estela Juarez

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Estela Juarez, Lissette Norman, and illustrator Teresa Martinez put together a picture book called Until Someone Listens: A Story about Borders, Family, and One Girl’s Mission. This is the true story of Estela Juarez, her family and especially the story of her mother. You see, young Juarez’s mother was not born in this country. And though she had two daughters and was married to a US marine, and even though her family fought for years to keep her in the country she was departed to […]



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