Candy Bunny Reader

    This is the third book in the Norendy  Tales series by Kate DiCamillo . Each book is a standalone story, but all set in the same world. You can read the reviews of the the first two books in this series here: (one is The Puppets of Spelhorst , the second is The Hotel Balzaar .) Lost Evangeline is the tale of a shoemaker who dreams of being a sailor. One day he finds a tiny girl (tiny like Thumbelina!) in a boot, and he decides to adopt her and name her Evangeline. The shoemaker loves telling stories about the sea to Evangeline. Evangeline also likes to sings and play games with her father. All is well at first, but... One day the servant of a sickly rich woman hears Evangeline singing, and he decides to trade the shoemaker's wife for her, thinking her singing will cure the sick Madame. He offers hundreds of gold coins. Evangeline's mother, the shoemaker's wife, jumps at the chance to send her tiny daughter away while she is asleep, as she believed Evangeline brought a...

  This book was recommended by @xoxobookishgirl over on Instagram, and is part of the 12 books 12 friends challenge. This is the last one! Doughnuts Under A Crescent Moon by Shio Usui f ollows Uno Hinako, a twentysomething who tries to have a normal life by following society's expectations of looking a certain way to try to fall in love, but she is not happy. One day one of her coworkers named Asahi Sato finds her crying alone in a park, and she cheers her up by sharing doughnuts with her. The two quickly become friends, and Uno starts trying to unlearn her people-pleasing behavior, but it isn't easy. Luckily, she has fun hanging out with Sato and her younger sister, and bonding over food.  So far I loved this first volume! I gave it 5 stars . It has everything I like in storytelling: queer characters, slice of life elements, and food. I also love the messages of how "normal" looks different from person to person. I am excited to read the next three volumes (it's ...

  You can click here to view Part 1, where I rank the movies from the 2000s.  Here are my rankings for the animated Barbie movies from the 2010s. I am a lot more opinionated this time around.  Again, these are just my opinions! 20.   Barbie in her Sisters in a Puppy Chase - Y’all, this is my least favorite Barbie movie ever. Barbie was so out of character in this movie, and I didn’t like how she was constantly putting her and her sisters in danger. 19. Barbie: A Perfect Christmas- It was so melodramatic and boring. 18. Barbie: Spy Squad- pretty boring. Also, they weren’t even good at being spies for the majority of the movie! 17. Barbie: The Princess and the Popstar- the main characters were really annoying. It’s also just hard not to compare it to the Princess and the Pauper. 16. Barbie: Princess Power— pretty forgettable. The character designs and animation were also kind of wonky. 15. Barbie: Video Game Hero- it’s cool to see Barbie coding, and ...

A short story collection!  Transmogrify contains short stories written by the following authors: Saundra Mitchell, Sonora Reyes, Renee Reynolds, AR Capetta, Cory McCarthy, Francesca Tacchi, Ayida Shonibar, Nik Traxler, g haron davis, Jonathan Kastin, Mason Deaver, Ash Noveau, Cam Montgomery, Dove Salvatierra, and Emerly Lee.  Each short story features trans characters in a magical setting, whether contemporary or high fantasy, and they all use magic to empower themselves.  I gave this book 4.5 stars , but that was just because I liked some of the short stories more than others. Most of them were really good, but there were a few I couldn't get into or I thought were just okay.   My favorite short stories from this book are: Verity (a story about a magic mirror), Dragons Name Themselves (about two friends and a pet dragon), The Hallow King (a revenge story on Halloween), Genderella, and Espijimos (has folk magic and magical realism). 

  It's been a while since I did an entry in this long running series of mine! Here are some more underrated books I've read over the years that I think need more love:  1. Firefly Summer by Morgan Matson -Ryanna spends the summer with her mom's side of the family for the very first time, and they go on a scavenger hunt to prevent their campgrounds from being shutdown. Also the author's middle grade debut!  2. Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin -set at an inn, a boy named Rendi helps his new friends restore the moon in the sky with help from a mysterious storyteller. Interwoven throughout the story are lots of Chinese folk tales!  3. Call the Name of the Night manga series by Tama Mitsuboshi --a short but heartwarming shojo manga series about a girl named Mira who comes to accept her magical powers. Great for cottagecore lovers!  4. Bianca Torre is Afraid of Everything by Justine Winans --Bianca, their best friend Anderson, and crush Elaine solve a murder myste...

  One of my special interests is Barbie, particularly the Barbie movies (only the animated ones, I don't plan to watch the live action one). This is my own ranking of the ones from the 2000s. Please keep in mind this is my own personal opinion! I do actually like all of the movies, but I like some more than others. I do not own Barbie. Barbie is owned by Mattel.  16. Three Musketeers -story was interesting, but it did feel dragged out at times 15. The Barbie Diaries -good story but a huge outlier because it’s not a whimsical fantasy story, which I prefer for Barbie. The animation quality is pretty bad, too. 14. Fairytopia -a good story but Elina’s subplot about not having wings and then getting wings felt a bit ableist. They should’ve at least made her wings removable. 13. Thumbelina -good story but not really about Barbie, or a character she plays 12. The Nutcracker -good movie but I felt it didn’t have very high stakes. Then again, it was the first Barbie movie mad...

Trigger Warnings: child dying, family members dying, toxic relationships, body horror The Deep Dark by Molly Ostertag  is a YA graphic novel set in southern California. It is a mixture of different genres: urban fantasy, mystery, and horror. The story follows Magdelena (or "Mags" for short) as she struggles dealing with her mental health after an incident that ended with a childhood friend dying. Mags felt that it was all her fault. She also is trying to rekindle her friendship with her other childhood friend, Nessa. Nessa also seems to be harboring some struggles of her own. The characters' struggles seem to mostly come from an unusual creature that lives in Mags's basement... I gave this book 4 stars . It was a great book, but surprisingly darker than the previous books of the author's that I have read before. All of the trigger warnings are listed above. I think the mental health rep, Latine rep, and queer rep were done really well!

A double review (kind of)! The Firelight Apprentice by Bree Paulsen (same author as the Garlic duology) is set in a steampunk-ish city after a war. The main character Safi is a young girl with a gift for magic. Her older sister Ada is hesitant to send her to an apprentice, especially with the combination of liches (monsters who steal people's magic) roaming around, and after they've lost their mother in the war. The girls' father thinks that it would be good for Safi to hone her powers, and maybe even be a magician for the king. Safi gets to become the apprentice for a group of traveling magicians after seeing one of their shows one day. She learns quickly and enjoys her time with them, but back home things don't look so good... I'll leave it there! This graphic novel was just as heartwarming and magical as the other two books I've read from the author! I think she is slowly becoming a favorite author of mine. I gave it 5 stars !  As for Hilda and the Troll b...

    Because this is only three manga volumes long. I Want to be A Wall by Honomi Shirono is a slice of life manga series about a newlywed couple. The wife is named Yuriko and she is asexual. The husband is named Gaku and he is a closeted gay guy  (well, to everyone else except Yuriko)  with an unrequited crush on his childhood friend Sousuke (who is also their gardener). Neither one of them is actually in love with each other, but they still support each other platonically.  Along the way, we end up learning more about Yuriko and Gaku's past as well as more about their respective families and friends. They all end up making really big decisions about their futures.  This series was so heartfelt and emotional, and pretty funny at times, too. It had great commentaries on people marrying for different reasons. It's not always for romantic love, and that's totally valid! There's plenty of great queer representation, too. As an asexual person myself, I related ...

By Your Side by Kasie West is a YA contemporary romance story. Our main character Autumn accidentally gets locked in the library over a long weekend. Much to her surprise, a guy from her school is there, too. His name is Dax, and he has a reputation at school for being a "bad boy". As the two try to survive in the library, Autumn gets to know Dax and finds out he's actually really nice! But now she has to deal with her feelings for Dax and her longtime best guy friend--Jeff.  On the surface, it sounds like a silly YA love triangle book, but it actually ends up being a lot deeper than that. This book deals a lot with anxiety, loneliness, and finding a sense of belonging in the world. It was so evocative of so many emotions! I gave it 5 stars . I'm so glad I found another Kasie West book that I love. 

  Well, it's a long list so instead of dividing it up by month, I will divide it up by ratings. The 5 stars books  Witch Hat Atelier Volume 13 by Kamome Shirahama Call the Name of the Night Volume 5 by Tama Mitsuboshi Gigi Shin Live From Manhattan by Lyla Lee A Song for You and I by Kay O'Neill The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen Tiny Dancer by Siena Siegel Somali and the Forest Spirit Volumes 2 and 3 by Yako Gureishi Our Not So Lonely Planet Volumes 5 and 6 by Mone Sorai Wings of Starlight by Alison Shaft Lavender Clouds by Bex Ollerton The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity Volumes 7 and 8 by Saki Mikami A Sign of Affection Volume 11 by Suu Morishita The Nighthouse Keeper by Lora Senf Ashes of the Academy by Faith Erin Hicks  In the Name of the Mermaid Princess Volumes 2 and 4 by Yoshino Fumikawa Eden of Witches Volume 2 by Yumeji Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend One Piece Heroines Volume 1 by Eichiro Oda The Savior's Book Cafe Story in Anothe...