Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Two pieces of history around the world

A Place Called Galveston by Andrea Shapiro

Claudia Said Sí!: The Story of Mexico's First Woman President by Deborah Bodin Cohen, Kerry Olitzky and Carlos Vélez Aguilera

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Recently I mentioned to a friend of mine that there are a lot of political titles happening, even in the children’s genres. And most are slanted seriously and obviously in one direction or the other. Therefore, when I find something that is not political, but could fit current events I try to pay attention.  Two of those books are A Place Called Galveston by Andrea Shapiro and illustrator Valerya Milovanova, as well as Claudia Said Sí!: The Story of Mexico’s First Woman President by Deborah […]

Are you a Lucy Stoner?

One Girl's Voice : How Lucy Stone Helped Change the Law of the Land by Vivian Kirkfield and Rebecca Gibbon

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You have probably heard of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but have you heard about Lucy Stone? You might not have, but you should as she would influence Anthony and others to join the women’s rights movement and to keep up the good fight. The title One Girl’s Voice : How Lucy Stone Helped Change the Law of the Land by Vivian Kirkfield and illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon inspired me to google Women’s Right Activists to see if Stone’s name came up. Even […]

There goes the maddest woman this town has ever seen

The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza

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This was a book club selection for me – while it definitely is the kind of thing I enjoy (hello, Kate Morton novels), this one wouldn’t have been on my radar at all. The novel alternates chapters between Sara, a chef in Philadelphia with a failed restaurant and a failed marriage, and her great-grandmother Serafina, a young mother in early 20th century Sicily (spanning 1908-1925 to be exact). Sara’s beloved great-aunt Rosie has died and part of her last will is to send Sara off […]

I’m gunna study the stars and there ain’t nuttin’ you can do about it!

Shining Star: Vera Rubin Discovers Dark Matter by Suzanne Slade

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What is dark matter? Well, if you are looking for an answer, you won’t exactly find it in Shining Star: Vera Rubin Discovers Dark Matter. Instead, in this picture book (due November 2023, and yes, I read it via an online reader copy) you will find the biography of Dr. Vera Rubin, a young girl who in the 1940’s said, “World. I’m going to study the stars!” And she did, all the while raising a family and facing discrimination. Her studies, ingenuity, tenacity, and a […]

“Bon appétit!” “Enjoy your meal!”

Born Hungry: Julia Child Becomes the French Chef by Alex Prud’Homme

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Julia Child was just bada$$. Working in the Office of Strategic Services, learning to cook as an “older” woman, inventing a formula that was a shark repellent (wonder if that is where Batman got his Bat-Shark Repellent?) and just being herself, Child was and would become (in her words) Born Hungry: Julia Child Becomes the French Chef and would teach others that it was worth the time to learn how to do thing the “right way” when it came to cooking the perfect dish or […]

Two Alphabet books to try out

A is for Awesome!: 23 Iconic Women Who Changed the World by Eva Chen

An ABC of Flowers by Jutta Hilpuesch

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A is for Awesome!: 23 Iconic Women Who Changed the World would have been almost a perfect alphabet/history book and been a five rating if the age-old dilemma of X Y Z had not come up. Instead of people being here (Y could have been Yoko Ono, though I admit I am having a little trouble finding X and Z, but considering Beyoncé is represented, Eva Chen could have had Xuxa or Zoë Kravitz), instead words that have the letters and mentions how “wonderful” you the […]



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