Candy Bunny Reader

  Kind of a spiritual successor to My Favorite Anime Series (you can look at this page and that list under the Navigation Page above).   

  I do this tag every year sometime in June.  Check out my answers for the previous years on the Navigation page! 1. Best book you read so far this year? I've got two: The Witch Who Chases the Sun by Dawn Chen and Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura   2. Best sequel you read so far this year? Amari and the Metalwork Menace  by BB Alston and Under All the Lights by Maya Ameyaw.   3. New release you haven't read yet, but want to.  Smash or Pass by Birdie Schae 4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year. This is actually a revised edition of a book originally published in 2009, but The Diaries of Emily the Strange: The Lost Days is coming out in September 2026.   Another one is the second book of the Kiki's Delivery Service series (yes, it's a whole series) titled Kiki and the New Magic . The author is Eiko Kadono.  The book was originally published in Japanese back in 1993 and getting an English release i...

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui  is a graphic novel memoir about the author and her family and their story of being refugees during the Vietnam War, and how they came to live in the US. The author tells her story with the framing device of becoming a new mom, and her trying to understand her own parents and why they acted the way they did with her growing up. So it doubles as a surviving war story and a generational trauma story.  This was really great, heartfelt, and very informative! The author has some really gorgeous artwork.  I gave it 5 stars . Considering what this story is about, it has a lot of trigger warnings. Please read with caution. 

Posting what I have over on my Instagram, @candybunnyreader. Check out the previous parts of my favorite authors series in the Navigation Page!  

   ...and also drawing in general. It's been a while since I read something from Raina Telgemeier ! I read Smile, Sisters , and Drama way back before I started my blog. So how is this newer book of hers that she wrote with Scott McCloud ? The Cartoonists Club is about a group of friends: Mikayla, Howard, Art, and Lynda that form a club at their school dedicated to writing, drawing, and sharing comics. Each friend has some sort of struggle when it comes to writing and drawing their stories. Mikayla has a lot of ideas but usually doesn't know how to get started. Howard often times gets in trouble for focusing too much on comics and not enough on his schoolwork. Art just likes using their hands and creating things in general, and wants to hone their skills. Lynda is very shy to share what she draws because she thinks she's either not good enough or what she draws is too personal.  Luckily, with the help of their school librarian, Ms. Fatima (yes, that's her name!), the ...

    Well, as you can see, I actually listened to it on audiobook.  The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo is a novel written in verse. It's about 15 (later 16) year old Dominican-American Xiomara, who lives in the Harlem neighborhood of NYC. She writes poems narrating her life living in the place. From dealing with her overly strict and religious zealot mother to her friends, first boyfriend, and the poetry club at her school to her bond with her twin brother, Xavier. It's very cathartic for her! I really enjoyed listening to this! I found myself being moved by a lot of the poems, especially the ones about the power of community and generational trauma. It was a nice surprise since I'm a reader who doesn't usually like or read poetry.  It's a very diverse book, too! Most of the characters are Dominican, Father Sean (a priest of Xiomara's church) is Jamaican, and Xiomara's brother Xavier is gay and in an interracial relationship.  I gave it 4.5 stars , but that...