Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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The boy who needed to be God

Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown by Candace Fleming

November 20, 2025 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown by Candace Fleming can sometimes be a bit slow in the pacing, sometimes a smidgen romantically written, sometimes sad, sometimes scary, sometimes heart pounding, but always interesting. For me, the “small details” (such as it wasn’t Kool-Aid, the ingreediants used for the mixture were less than $9 then, Jones’ “rainbow family,”) were in some ways more interesting than the overall picture and that was fascinating.  The “human” side of things (even with Jones […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, History, Religion, Suspense, Young Adult Tagged With: Candace Fleming, cults, Guyana, Jim Jones, Jonestown, November 1978, People's Temple, Social Topics, United States - 20th Century

BlackRaven's CBR17 Review No:516 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, History, Religion, Suspense, Young Adult · Tags: Candace Fleming, cults, Guyana, Jim Jones, Jonestown, November 1978, People's Temple, Social Topics, United States - 20th Century ·
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Helping hands keeping stories alive

The Keeper of Stories by Caroline Kusin Pritchard

November 11, 2025 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

The story within the pages of The Keeper of Stories by Caroline Kusin Pritchard and illustrator  Selina Alko is fairly simple. It is about the Jewish Theological Seminar library told in poetic language that tells from the start to the devastating fire in 1966. The publisher description says: When a fire breaks out at the Jewish Theological Seminary library, helping hands from across the community rally together to save the books and preserve the stories within the pages. Includes factual backmatter on the Jewish Theological […]

Filed Under: Children's Books, Fiction, History, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Religion Tagged With: Books, Caroline Kusin Pritchard, fires, Judaism, libaries, Selina Alko, United States - 20th Century

BlackRaven's CBR17 Review No:501 · Genres: Children's Books, Fiction, History, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Religion · Tags: Books, Caroline Kusin Pritchard, fires, Judaism, libaries, Selina Alko, United States - 20th Century ·
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Boingy boingy goes the car and the jacket and the money and the shovel and the….

Are We There Yet?: The First Road Trip Across the USA by Stacy McAnulty

April 29, 2025 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Are We There Yet?: The First Road Trip Across the USA is not “ha ha” funny, but there is a tone of humor to the storytelling of Stacy McAnulty and illustrator Elizabeth Baddeley’s book. Maybe it is because I like a good yarn, a good road trip and have an odd sense of humor. But regardless of my thoughts of humor, this is one of my favorite books I read this month (and due to a recent vacation, I had a lot of books read). […]

Filed Under: Children's Books, Comedy/Humor, History, Non-Fiction, Sports Tagged With: Cars & Trucks, Elizabeth Baddeley, Horatio Nelson Jackson, road trips, Stacy McAnulty, Transportation, travel, United States - 20th Century, vehicles

BlackRaven's CBR17 Review No:227 · Genres: Children's Books, Comedy/Humor, History, Non-Fiction, Sports · Tags: Cars & Trucks, Elizabeth Baddeley, Horatio Nelson Jackson, road trips, Stacy McAnulty, Transportation, travel, United States - 20th Century, vehicles ·
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I don’t know what the excitement is all about. It’s not like sharks attack people or anything….

I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916: A Graphix Book by Lauren Tarshis and adapted by Georgia Ball

December 11, 2024 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I set myself two goals this year. One was to read a book a day (it averages out to that, but I actually didn’t read a book every day), and the second was to do 12 Cannonballs. As of this review I have 26 books to go… We’ll see! So, one of the ways I was trying to read a book a day was to do simple books. Not books that were simplistic (See Jane. See Dick. See Dick and Jane), but easier reads, fun […]

Filed Under: Children's Books, Comedy/Humor, Cooking/Food, Fiction, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, History, Non-Fiction, Young Adult Tagged With: family, friendship, Georgia Ball, Haus Studio, Lauren Tarshis, Lauren Tarshis and adapted by Georgia Ball, nature, new jersey, shark attacks, sharks, survival stories, United States - 20th Century

BlackRaven's CBR16 Review No:598 · Genres: Children's Books, Comedy/Humor, Cooking/Food, Fiction, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, History, Non-Fiction, Young Adult · Tags: family, friendship, Georgia Ball, Haus Studio, Lauren Tarshis, Lauren Tarshis and adapted by Georgia Ball, nature, new jersey, shark attacks, sharks, survival stories, United States - 20th Century ·
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I only finished Part I and already knew I liked it

Ethel's Song: Ethel Rosenberg's Life in Poems by Barbara Krasner

August 10, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I know little about Ethel Greenglass/Rosenberg’s life other than “the big one” (you know that thing about her and her husband being spies for the Soviet Union). But who was Ethel Rosenberg? In Ethel’s Song: Ethel Rosenberg’s Life in Poems we see the woman from a child, to school girl, to a worker, to married woman, to finally the accused spy. We see her life, her hopes, her thoughts, her dreams, her love of singing and acting, her devotion to Julius Rosenberg, and of course, […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, History, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Religion, Romance, Young Adult Tagged With: Barbara Krasner, Communism, espionage, Ethel Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg, family, Julius Rosenberg, politics, Social Themes, United States - 20th Century

BlackRaven's CBR15 Review No:583 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, History, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Religion, Romance, Young Adult · Tags: Barbara Krasner, Communism, espionage, Ethel Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg, family, Julius Rosenberg, politics, Social Themes, United States - 20th Century ·
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Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Johnny Cash, happened because there was Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Rock, Rosetta, Rock! Roll, Rosetta, Roll!: Presenting Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rock & Roll by Tonya Bolden

July 5, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

 cbr15bingo Queer Lives: never officially confirmed, but she is a queer icon/role model and probably was either bisexual or a lesbian.  You need many books in your life. And Rock, Rosetta, Rock! Roll, Rosetta, Roll!: Presenting Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rock & Roll, is one of them. Tonya Bolden took a woman that I knew a little about and reinforced that information and added some new as well. And Little Rosetta and the Talking Guitar: The Musical Story of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Children's Books, History, Non-Fiction, Poetry Tagged With: Blues musicians, cbr15bingo, Godmother of Rock & Roll, music, R. Gregory Christie, Rosetta Tharpe, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Tonya Bolden, United States - 20th Century, Women singers

BlackRaven's CBR15 Review No:467 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Children's Books, History, Non-Fiction, Poetry · Tags: Blues musicians, cbr15bingo, Godmother of Rock & Roll, music, R. Gregory Christie, Rosetta Tharpe, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Tonya Bolden, United States - 20th Century, Women singers ·
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