Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A father, a celebration, and special flowers

Finding Papa by Angela Pham Krans

Moon's Ramadan by Natasha Khan Kazi

Wallflowers by Mackenzie Joy

by Leave a Comment

Hey kids, what time is it? It’s picture book roundup time again as I have been terribly busy reading them. They range from family themes, personality themes and holiday themes. Each one has a sentimental feeling that allows a softer side to reading. In Finding Papa we learn about a mother and child as they escape Vietnam to travel to America to find the father who left earlier to set up a home for them. Based on not only the people who journeyed from Vietnam […]

What If?

What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe

One Punch, Vol. 2 by One

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

Trick 'r Treat: Days of the Dead by Michael Dougherty

by 6 Comments

Well, I finally got my answer, vis-à-vis the autism assessment. I won’t get the definitive answer until Friday when I have the follow-up appointment, as the guy who did my assessment has to first confer with everybody else, but he assured me that he was for sure on it and doesn’t see anybody else swaying him. Finally, that weight is off my shoulders and I have a name to put to why I am the way that I am. Now comes the hard part: telling people. While […]

Heartwrenching and So Good

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

by 2 Comments

Bingo: Heart (themes of familial love) What a lovely book. The Best We Could Do is a graphic novel by Thi Bui. It’s a story about her family. It starts with Thi giving birth to her son, and as she comes to terms with becoming a mother, she finds herself thinking about her relationships with her own parents and her childhood. From there, she explores her parents’ childhoods, how they met, their life in Viet Nam prior to and during the war, and their escape to the […]

“This – not any particular piece of Vietnamese culture – is my inheritance: the inexplicable need and extraordinary ability to run when the shit hits the fan. My refugee reflex.”

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

by 1 Comment

On 2022’s Read Harder Challenge Task 6 is to read a non-fiction YA comic. Each year when the Read Harder tasks are unveiled, I go through my over 600 book deep to read list on Goodreads looking for books to fulfill each task. I knew this one would be difficult, there just isn’t much in the way of non-fiction graphic works on my TBR, which is an area I could do to grow in (thus, doing this reading challenge each year since 2015). I was […]

Trying to find a past that is not yours

The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui

by Leave a Comment

The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui is an emotional story. It is hard to digest all that is presented. On the surface is a story of being an immigrant, but also a child who remembers little of the journey that made her and her family immigrants.  It is a graphic novel that is about becoming an adult who finally learns about her past, the past of her family (as individuals (her parents) and as a family unit). And finally, she learns […]

A Different Pond

by Leave a Comment

One word: WOW.  That is all. Need more? This book has gotten a lot of press. I was afraid it would be preachy or sappy. It is not. Yes, there is emotion. But it is not forcing you to feel a particular emotion. The author just wants to tell a story. While based on his own experiences, it is fiction. The afterwards from the author and illustrator (more on her later) elaborate on the historical context. I know some of it, but as I was […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo