Zimbabwe – Cannonball Read 17

Be careful what to wish for when trying to earn your Adventure badge in Scouts

The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Farmer

February 17, 2020 by Bothari43 Leave a Comment

This adventure story feels more on the Y end than the A end of YA, but with some thrills and dangers that might be scary for littler readers. The three children of General Matsika – brave Tendai, the oldest at 13, assertive sister Rita, and four-year-old Kuda – are not allowed to leave the family compound. They have everything they could ever need, including fancy futuristic school lessons and a live-in Praise Singer who acts as tutor and babysitter. Their father has spent his career […]

Every time I laugh I know that I am laughing into the darkness

July 31, 2018 by Dusty Highway 1 Comment

Petina Gappah’s The Book of Memory is a remarkable and taut exploration of prejudice, history, and of course, memory. The book’s narrator and namesake, Memory, is an albino woman on death row in a Zimbabwean prison who is encouraged by her new lawyer to write her story for an American journalist who may be able to help win her freedom. Memory writes of the stark everyday life in prison and of the circumstances that have brought her there. But to fully explain, she must begin […]

There Are Some Children Here

December 30, 2014 by Jenny S Leave a Comment

This book is one that I won’t easily forget; it tells one girl’s story across two different worlds–the first a shantytown in Zimbabwe and the second in suburban Detroit. The story begins as Darling and her friends explore their neighborhoods as well as wealthier enclaves that border them. They are poor and hungry and chock full of American cultural touchstones and attitude. They sometimes discuss the time before–when they went to school and lived in houses–before the military came–but mostly they play in the world […]

Your bangs are curled, your lashes whirled, but still the world is cruel.

April 11, 2014 by Fiat.Luxury Leave a Comment

This book was tough for me to rate. I didn’t really NOT like it, and the plot was good, and it was an easy read. But I have notes. I liked the plot: Vimbai, hairdresser in Harare, Zimbabwe, enjoys local fame as the best hairdresser around until an unknown (male!) hairdresser comes in and steals her thunder. Her old loyal customers are won over by this new hair magician and she, of course, is overcome with jealousy. Gradually, we learn her story: she’s a […]

We Need New Names

January 22, 2014 by Fiat.Luxury 1 Comment

I recently moved to Malawi, so as part of this year’s Cannonball I’m going to include at least ten books by African writers. Last year I started with Chinua Achebe’s classic Things Fall Apart and then picked up Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and then the superb Half of a Yellow Sun, which was one of my favorite books of last year–seriously, go read it immediately. We Need New Names received a lot of praise (NPR’s Great Reads of 2013, NYTimes’ Notable Books of the Year, finalist for […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

Help Our Mission