Candy Bunny Reader

Are you a huge foodie like me? Then you might like these books! What's your favorite book with food as a central theme?   1.The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar 2. Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree 3. Chef's Kiss by Jarrett Melendez 4. The Baker and the Bard by Fern Haught 5. Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee 6. The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz 7. Cake Pop Crush by Suzanne Nelson 8.  The Cupcake Diaries series by Coco Simon 9.  Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa 10. Turtle Bread by Kim Joy 11. Basil and Oregano by Melissa Caprigione 12. Batter Royale by Leisl Adams  13. A Banh Mi for Two by Trinity Ngyuen (honorable mention) 14. Kitchen Princess manga series by Natsumi Ando (honorable mention)

This is a sample list of some books I've read before making this blog about books. And I highly recommend all of them! You might already recognize several of these books since I've talked about them a couple of times on my before. But here they all are in a nice little list.  1. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 2. The Sun is also a Star by Nicola Yoon 3. Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu 4. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson 5. Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley 6. Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix 7. Running out of Time  by Margaret Peterson Haddix 8.  The Shadow Children series  by Margaret Peterson Haddix 9.  Schooled by Gordon Korman 10. Anne of Green Gables (only the first three books) by LM Montgomery 11. Kisses and Croissants by Anne-Sophie Johanneau 12. Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon 13. I'll Be the One by Lyla Lee 14. Shoeshine Girl by Clyde Robert Bulla 15. Smile (and the sequel Sisters ) by Reina Telgemeier 16. Drama   by Rei...

  Welcome back! Today we will talk about bestselling author Kate DiCamillo! The first book I read from her was The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane , way back when I was in third grade. This book was sooo beautiful, it instantly became an all time favorite, and it's still my favorite DiCamillo book. The second book I read from her when I was in fourth grade was the popular Because of Winn-Dixie . I actually watched the movie years earlier and enjoyed it, and I liked the book, too.  But I didn't pick up another DiCamillo book until I became an adult. The book I picked up was The Magician's Elephant, which I reviewed back in 2023 (link here ). I loved it, too! I plan on watching the movie sometime. I then read The Puppets of Spelhorst , which was also fun (link to review here ). A sequel for it came out recently, and I have it on my TBR. Unfortunately, I DNF The Tiger Rising . It was too sad for me. Now the rest of her books are on my TBR. I did actually watch the movie fo...

  Yeah, I just talked about the first book a few days ago, but I got to talk about the sequel! Something I rarely ever do, but that's because this sequel blew my mind! Unfamiliar Volume 2 by Haley Newsome is the sequel to Unfamiliar Volume 1 . In this sequel, it is a lot more story driven, a lot more darker, and a lot more serious. There's more character development, and twists about some characters we've met in previous volumes. While out witchy girls continue dealing with mishaps mostly involving ghosts, two of our characters fall in love (yup, a Sapphic romance! 😃). But overall, it still has the same cozy vibes just like the first book. A pure 5 star book ! I hope I convinced you to put these books on your TBR if you haven't already. I'd seriously love to read anything else this author puts out! I've also started watching her YouTube channel. 😉

I only read 5 books last month, but they were all highly rated! I hope you found a new favorite book in April, too. 1. The Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate DiCamillo. This is the first of a new series by Kate DiCamillo. It follows 5 sentient puppets: a girl, a boy, a kind, a wolf, and an owl. They used to be owned by an old sailor with the last name Spelhorst. The puppets get donated and bought by two rich young sisters named Emma and Martha. They decide to write and perform a play with the puppets, but a series of mishaps happen that get in the way of play being performed, but when it gets performed, it turns out to be a success. Very whimsical and fairy-tale like short book. Gave it 5 stars . Full review here .  2. Avatar North and South Part 1, 2, and 3 by Gene Yang. Still continuing on with the Avatar graphic novel sequels, this time set in Katara and Sokka's homeland, the Southern Water Tribe. All 5 stars ! 3. Granny Torrelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech. Another top favorite of mi...

Another great book by Kate DiCamillo ! The Puppets of Spelhorst is about 5 sentient puppets: a boy, a girl, a king, an owl, and a wolf. They get bought by an old sailor with the last name Spelhorst. After the sailor dies, the box gets donated, bought, and gifted to two young rich sisters--Emma and Martha. They decide to write a play for the puppets that they can perform, but before they can, the puppets get into some mishaps in and around the girls' house. Eventually the play is performed, and the puppets find out what their true purpose is. I love the whimsical style the story was written in. It felt like a modern day fairy tale. I'd say this book is like a mixture of DiCamillo's two other most popular books: The Magician's Elephant and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. They are both short books with a huge emotional impact, and they are both about sentient toys.  Apparently this is also the first in a series. I can't wait to read more! It is a pure 5 star ...

Have you ever been unsure if you were going to like a popular book, but you give it a try and you end up liking it? That's what happened to me with this book! She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippencott and Alyson Derrick is about two young women in their first year of college--Alex and Molly. Alex does not have the best life at home (parents had a nasty divorce, mother fell into alcoholism, financial struggles, etc.) and she just broke up with her girlfriend, Natalie. Molly is very shy and had friendship troubles in high school, and she wants to get out of her comfort zone in college and finally make some real friends. Alex and Molly meet at a party and Alex finds out about Molly's crush on another girl named Cora. Cora actually went to Molly's high school and is now at the same university. Alex befriends Molly and they make a deal to help Molly get Cora. Alex also makes a deal with her ex-girlfriend Natalie to show her that she is capable of opening up to people by befriend...

It's been a while since I read a Margaret Peterson Haddix book. The last one I read was the last book of the Shadow Children series in the first half of this year. The School for Whatnots by Margaret Peterson Haddix is about Max, a rich 10 year old boy whose rich family wants him to grow up with the best life possible. So his parents sign a contract for him to go to school with whatnots. Whatnots are very humanoid robots that look like real children, but they are all super well behaved and polite. Max does not know that he went to school with a bunch of humanoid robots, until he receives a strange note from his best friend from school, a girl named Josie. Josie herself has her own secret, too. She is actually a real human. Her family is very poor but her father agreed to let her sign up for the high-class whatnot school as it guarantees great education--which could be a key to a financially better future--as long as Josie pretends to be a robot.  Anyway, Josie's note to Max r...

I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this! The first volume of Magical Boy by The Kao is about Max--a trans guy who is descended from a line of magical warriors who have to protect the earth from these giant bug monsters who feed off of peoples' negative feelings. The magical warriors of his family got their powers from the goddess Aurora. Max doesn't like this new magical warrior responsibility at first, as his outfit looks really feminine, and his mother (the previous magical warrior) expects him to do his magical duties the traditional way. That includes "acting" really feminine, something Max is obviously uncomfortable with. But with the help of his friend Jen, a new friend named Sean, and an enemy turned friend named Pyper, Max begins to do things his own way. They work together to try to stop the bug monsters from destroying the Earth. His magical outfit also looks less feminine over time.  This book was a blast! I loved this take on a magical warrior...

I read a total of 7 books! It was a great reading month. Links to full reviews will be applied when necessary. Let me know how your reading month went! 1. The Last Cherry Blossom by Kathleen Burkinshaw -a historical fiction book set during and after WW2 in Hiroshima, in Japan. We follow the everyday life of 12 year old Yuriko as she deals with new changes within her own family and also best friend, Machiko. We also see her deal with the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing. It is loosely based off of the author's mother's own life. This book will take you through a rollercoaster of emotions! I gave it 5 stars . Full review here . 2. Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend -a middle grade fantasy book about Morrigan Crow, an preteen girl who doesn't have the best life. She was born on Eventide--considered an unlucky day in her community. She is blamed for everything bad that happens, and her curse dooms her to die on her 11th birthday. But on her birthday, ...

Just like the last book I reviewed on here, you don't know how long I've been wanting to get around to this book. Bicycling with Butterflies by Sara Dykman is a memoir about the author's true story of how she charted and followed the migration paths of monarch butterflies from Mexico to Canada and back to Mexico again. She completed the whole journey via biking! Every chapter of the book recounts every place Dykman biked through and stopped at. She found lots of monarchs, but all sorts of other wildlife too, most important of them all being milkweed, which is what monarch butterflies need to lay their eggs. She also talked about how and where she would find places to camp out in her tent for the nights she was on the road. It wasn't always easy! During her journey she would sometimes go to schools and universities to talk about her journey and scientific research and facts she knew about monarch butterflies. She also talked about all of the people she met along the way...

  Middle School and Other Disasters: Worst Broommate Ever! by Wanda Coven is a middle grade book (first of a series) of a girl named Heidi Heckelbeck who starts middle school at a boarding school that secretly offers magic classes (casting spells and stuff like that, not magic tricks). Heidi herself comes from a long line of witches who attended the same boarding school. Heidi is nervous about starting middle school without her family nearby and her friends from elementary school, but when she arrives there, she ends up loving the campus. She also runs into an old friend of hers named Sunny, and also becomes friends with Sunny's roommate, Annabelle. Unfortunately, Heidi's roommate is a girl she always had a huge rivalry with since second grade: a girl named Melanie Maplethrope! Now she thinks middle school will be a nightmare, but then she learns she and Melanie have a lot more in common than they thought...and maybe they could become friends? Man, this book was so refreshing ...

  Now this is a book that lives up to the hype! The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers is about a group of space travelers in a spaceship called the Wayfarer who have been selected to create a space tunnel between two planets that recently had a war with each other in hopes to bring peace. The setting is in the far future where Earth has become mostly inhabitable and many humans have left Earth to go live on other planets (mostly Mars). Those humans are called Exodans, by the way. However, the real focus of the story is about the relationships (friendship, family, and romantic) between our main space traveling team and the wordbuilding as they visit and talk about many different planets along the way. The cast is as follows: Rosemary, a human from Mars who gets to work on the Wayfarer as a clerk and is trying to escape her dark past. Then there's Ashby, another human who is the stern but kind captain of the Wayfarer, and is in a relationship with the captain of a...

(Pic was found on Google Images) Yes, another book I read months ago that I couldn't review because of the HarperCollins strike. But here we are now! Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech is about two 13 year old orphans named Dallas and Florida. They've never had a trusted adult in their lives that they felt safe around, because they are usually taken in by a foster family that get sick of them after a while, and then return them to the run-down orphanage they grew up in, run by a mean couple named Mr. and Mrs.  Trepid. Dallas and Florida constantly dream of becoming runaways by sneaking onto the train that sometimes runs through the town. Not far from the small town they live in, there is a farm called Ruby Holler where an elderly couple named Tiller and Sairy live. They decide to go on two separate trips (a canoeing trip for Tiller and a camping trip for Sairy) and also decide to take in Dallas and Florida and invite them on their trips (Florida will go with Tiller, Dallas wil...

🎵I am so happy because I finally got around to reading this book!🎵 It took me so long to find this book be available at my local library and when I did see it, I snagged it as quickly as I could.  The Tea Dragon Society by Kay O'Neill is about Greta, a girl who works at her parent's blacksmith shop, but it hasn't been doing so well since the tools that they make are less in demand. One day while walking outside, she rescues a little dragon, which happens to be a tea dragon owned by a family friend named Hesekiel. Tea dragons are special dragons that sprout leaves on their backs that can be used to make all kinds of tea, depending on what herb the dragon grows. When Greta returns the tea dragon to Hesekiel, she meets another girl about her age there who doesn't speak much and has memory loss. Her name is Minette, and she used to be a prophetess in training. Greta and Minette decide to hang out and become friends, and then they both learn more about raising tea dragons...

  So here are all the books I read last month! I read a total of 8 books.  Witch Hat Atelier Volume 8 by Kamome Shirahama -Well, this is obviously a sequel that is several books into the story. All I can say is it's still a masterpiece. 5 stars You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson -a YA contemporary novel about a girl named Liz who wants to go to a prestigious college to be in their orchestra and then go to medical school. But she didn't get the financial aid she applied for, so she decides to join the race to become prom queen and get a scholarship. She falls in love with another one of the contestants, a girl named Mack. 5 stars Witch Hat Atelier Volume 9 by Kamome Shirahama -The reason this one got half a point off was because of one chapter I didn't read in this book. But there was a content warning in the beginning and it even said you didn't have to read that chapter in order to understand the rest of the story. Other than that, great sequel! 4.5 stars Wit...

Since it's (approximately?) halfway through the year, I thought I would share with you my favorite books of the year so far. These are all 5 star books. I also put links to their respective review pages if you want to check those out/revisit them. Just click on the title of the book. (Well, most of these have reviews...those that don't are usually sequels in series that I obviously can't talk about because that will go into spoiler territory!) Among the Brave by Margaret Peterson Haddix Heartstopper Volume 4 by Alice Oseman Heartstopper Yearbook by Alice Oseman Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree Sleeping Around by Morgan Vega Talli: Daughter of the Moon by Sulhya Among the Enemy by Margaret Peterson Haddix Among the Free by Margaret Peterson Haddix Bone Volumes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 by Jeff Smith Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur Nancy Drew and the Bungalow Mystery by Carolyn Keene Witch Hat Atelier Volumes 1 , 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, and 10 by Kamome Shirahama Nancy Drew an...

  It feels like this book was written just for me! Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan is a fantasy novel inspired by Chinese folklore. Xingyin is the daughter of the moon goddess, Chang'e, and she grew up in isolation with her mother and her maid Ping'er in the Pure Light Palace (the moon). Her mother is being held prisoner by the Celestial Emperor and Empress for drinking an elixer that was actually for Xingyin's father, a mortal who slayed a bunch a sunbirds. One day when Xingyin's magical powers awaken and she uses them, the Celestial royals sense her magic and come to her house wondering what is going on. Luckily they don't see Xingyin, but her mother Chang'e tells her it's not safe for her to stay in her own house and has to go out into the world.  Xingyin then finds herself in the Celestial Kingdom for the first time, and develops the goal of freeing her mother from imprisonment. She then goes on a long journey where meets both many wonderfu...

I promised you a long time ago I would make a part 2! Here are other underrated books I have read in the last few years that I recommend you read as well. 1. Sleeping Around by Morgan Vega This is a YA novel about 18-year old violinist Coralee Reed who grew up in the foster care system (and gets extended foster care in the beginning of the book) and is starting her first year of college. Due to a miscommunication, she is unable to get into the dorm that is associated with the music program of her college, and has to share a room with two other girls until she gets a permanent solution. While Corey (her nickname) is navigating her new life at college, she wonders if she will ever find her place in the world, especially after having grown up going around from foster home to foster home and not having a stable group of friends at her many schools. Additionally, a formerly rocky relationship she had with another violinist named Dylan is starting to change for the better. You can check out ...

  Here is the link to the audiobook video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APG1upS8LDw&ab_channel=ChristopherWilliams This is my first audiobook of the year. It is of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's novella The Little Prince. While it may look like a kid's picture book story (and can still be read as one), it is also a story of deep philosophical themes that can hit harder when you are an adult. That's why the book is so popular among adults as well. The plot itself is about an unnamed narrator who is a pilot who crash landed in the Sahara Desert. As he is trying to fix his plane, a young boy, The Little Prince, asks him to draw him a sheep. The narrator is not confident in his drawing skills as he gave up drawing as a kid a long time ago when the grown ups in his life couldn't understand his drawings of boa constrictors. He draws a sheep inside of a box for The Little Prince, which satisfies him, and then he tells the narrator about his planet and flower, his journey o...