Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“But Ma used to say, not everyone circles the same sun. I never knew what she meant by that until Monday went missing.”

Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

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Someone here already reviewed this and I’m kind of sad to submit another repeat review. BUT I read it and I gotta count it! “This is the story of how my best friend disappeared. How nobody noticed she was gone except me. And how nobody cared until they found her . . . one year later.” That’s actually a pretty good summary of this book, supplied by the main character, 14-year-old Claudia.  She and Monday have been thick as thieves most of their lives, other than summers that […]

“My personal motto has always been if you’ve already dug yourself a hole too deep to climb out of, you may as well keep digging.”

Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry

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Michael Ausman is seething. His father has uprooted their family yet again for a job promotion — this time Michael was barely two months into his junior year. Now he is faced with making yet another new group of friends in another new school, and to make matters worse, that school is a Catholic one. Michael is an atheist, and he has no interest in setting down any roots lest they be ripped back out again. But on the first day of school, he is […]

Now Hear This

The Poet X: A Novel by Elizabeth Acevedo

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The Poet X is a novel written in verse and the recipient of many prestigious awards including the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. In this impressive debut work, Elizabeth Acevedo demonstrates with passion and heart both the power and the vital necessity of being heard, especially when you are a young woman of color. And conversely, the novel shows the terrible destructive power of being silenced, ignored and relegated to an object, a mere physical body subject to the rules and punishments of […]

“As it turned out, a pissed-off drag queen with a grappling hook was a force to be reckoned with.”

Death Prefers Blondes by Caleb Roehrig

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This book was featured on the GFY website, highly recommended by the Fug Girls, where it was touted as a cross between Alias and RuPaul’s Drag Race.  That comparison alone made me take notice!  As per the blurb:  Teenage socialite Margo Manning leads a dangerous double life. By day, she dodges the paparazzi while soaking up California sunshine. By night, however, she dodges security cameras and armed guards, pulling off high-stakes cat burglaries with a team of flamboyant young men. In and out of disguise, she’s in […]

This was just a sad invention/It wasn’t real, I know

Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich

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“We start with stars in our eyes/We start believing that we belong/But every sun doesn’t rise/And no one tells you where you went wrong…” Fresh off my obsession with the musical Hamilton, I decided to check out the show Dear Evan Hansen. As I am a poor woman who doesn’t live anywhere near Broadway, I did this by listening to the soundtrack. It’s sad and amazing and so emotional. When I received the Dear Evan Hansen novelization from Pajiba Krampus Exchange, I was excited for […]

A heartbreaking YA mystery

Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

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“This is the story of how my best friend disappeared. How nobody noticed she was gone except me. And how nobody cared until they found her … one year later.” Thus opens this riveting YA novel which deals with the topic of missing girls of color and our criminal indifference to them. Winner of the 2019 Coretta Scott King Book Award/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, Monday’s Not Coming is the story of the disappearance of Monday Charles, an 8th grader from a tough Washington, […]



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