Candy Bunny Reader

Sheeta's Little Big World is manga trilogy by Yuki Kamba . It seems to take inspiration from the Studio Ghibli movie The Secret World of Arrietty , with elements of survival stories. Sheeta lives with other littlefolk in a small village in the woods somewhere after he was abandoned by his father. He becomes close friends with another boy named Nala. One day, the two boys see smoke coming from a giant tree from afar, and Nala runs away to see what it is. Sheeta then has a mission to find Nala and find his father, too. Sheeta relunctantly teams up with another littlefolk named Izuna, who holds a grudge against Sheeta's father for something he did to him in his past. As they travel, they learn to survive of the land, and encounter other littlefolk with problems they help to solve. It doesn't sound too bad, doesn't it? That's what I thought at first. The first book had a solid beginning. Book 2 still wasn;t too bad--I just didn't like how a large chunk of it was sp...

  TW: Loss of a parent How to Talk to Your Succulent by Zoe Presico is about Adara--a plant-loving preteen girl who just lost her mother. She and her father move from California to Michigan to live with her grandma. Adara is unhappy about the sudden move and she feels distant from her father. Luckily, she does manage to make one friend--a girl her age named Winnie who loves to draw. Winnie has been having problems with her family at home, too.  One day Adara's father tries to cheer her up by buying her a new plant. She ends up buying a succulent--which was her mother's favorite plant. She names the succulent Perle. From there she discovers she can actually talk to plants, just like her mom! Adara's new plant friends help her navigate this new chapter in her life, and it isn't always easy.  Even if you've never experienced what Adara experienced, I think everyone can relate in some way to this book. Growing pains, feeling alone, etc. are all present in this book. U...

Another manga that I just picked up on a whim! Eden of Witches Volume 1 by Yumeji is set in a world where witches live separately from humans (since humans fear them) and have a deep connection with nature. The main character, Pili, is an apprentice of an elderly witch name Toura. One day Toura gets sick and Pili tries to go to the nearby village for help. But she catches the attention of Zakum, a guy who wants to capture her and study her. Pili manages to fight off Zakum and his henchmen with the help of Oak--who was previously Toura's familiar. Pili and Oak set off to find Eden--which was Toura's dream.  So far their journey has been off to a rough start. Pili gets injured and gets help from a boy from another village named Bo. Bo and his uncle take care of Pili until she gets better (and she even helps them plant some seeds!), but the rest of the people in their village suspect she is a witch. They want to hand her over to the government so they can get a large reward to sa...

A Song for You and I by Kay O'Neill is about Rowan, who is an apprentice nature ranger. They get assigned to watch some fields. If they are successful at their task, they will get their name carved on the door of the academy they go to.  Everyday on Rowan's fields, there are some sheep that like to come and graze there. Also every day there is another person named Leone who likes sitting and playing violin music for the sheep. But one day as Rowan tries to rescue Leone from an intense thunderstorm, their winged horse Kes gets her wing injured. As they wait for Kes's wing to heal, Rowan and Leone start getting to know each other better as they hang out more everyday and run errands together.  Well, it's not a very long story and I don't want to tell you too much, so you'll have to read the book to see how everything turns out! Unless you've already read it.  Yeah, I don't know what else to say except it's another great book by this favorite author of...

    Why'd it take me so long to get around to this? It was great! Taproot by Keezy Young follows a young gardener named Hamal, who can see ghosts. Every around him that he works with thinks he's weird. But Hamal is just happy to have so many friendly ghosts to keep him company. He usually talks to this one ghost named Blue. The two have gotten really close recently.  There is a reaper who lives in the forest nearby, and they've found out about Hamal practicing necromancy without a license. They threaten Blue about it whenever he visits the forest. Blue and Hamal come up with a plan to ease the reaper and for Hamal to get his license to talk to and work with ghosts. And for the two of them to be together! This was such a simple but very heartwarming story! I liked Blue and Hamal's dynamic, and I loved the message about the cycles and balance of natural life.  I did give it 4 stars though, but that was mostly due to pacing issues. I also thought the second half of th...

  This book was a used copy that used to be a library book. Fun fact: the author of this book actually visited my middle school way back when I was a student in middle school (in the early 2010s)! I never forgot him, the books he talked about, and the inspiration behind his books. This book that I just read was one of them. Maybe I am a little late to the party, but it's better late than never! The Prince who Fell from the Sky by John Claude Bemis is set in a post-apocalyptic Earth where all the humans (referred to as "Skinless Ones" and "Old Devils" throughout the book) have left and left their relics behind. Nature has taken over completely. Our main character is an old bear named Casseomae, who is sort of an outcast in the Forest she lives in. One day a starship falls from the sky, and a human boy emerges from it. Casseomae decides to protect the boy as if he was her cub. But then the Ogeema (the wolf leader of the forest) finds out about Casseomae and the b...

  Another great book by one of my favorite authors! Did you know around the time this book was released (October 2024), an actual flood happened in Asheville, NC, which is where this book also happens to take place? It was also because of a hurricane: Hurricane Helene. Robert Beatty decided that a portion of his sales from this book will go to help victims of the floods. i bought a copy of this book to help out the cause. Thank you, Mr. Beatty! Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood is a middle grade urban fantasy novel about 13 year old Sylvia Doe, who has run away from another foster family back to Highground Home for Children, where she feels she truly belongs. This is quite a problem for her social worker and the state, since she can't permanently live in the place like an orphanage from the old days (the book takes place in modern times). But on top of that, Hurricane Jessamine has passed through the area and has flooded the area, destroying a lot of things and hurting a lot of p...

Well, even though most of what I've been reading has been disappointing recently, I do have this one nonfiction book on my TBR about foxes I'd like to checkout sometime! Here it is: (Pic was found on Google Images) Do you like reading about animals, too?

Kay O'Neill is officially a favorite author of mine! Eventually you will see them in my favorite authors series. The Moth Keeper takes place in a world where there is a day village and a night village. The night village has a sacred plant that keeps the village afloat. Our protagonist Anya lives in the night village, and she becomes the keeper of the moths that was gifted by the Night Spirit that help the Night Flower bloom. The moths help pollinate the flower. Being the Moth Keeper is a big responsibility and while she is glad that she is helping so many people, she feels overwhelmed and sometimes lonely. But when things go wrong, Anya's community has her back in more ways than she realized.  I think this book is truly my favorite book from Kay O'Neill so far! It was so magical and so sweet. The characters were awesome and the artwork is gorgeous as usual. There's also queer rep and albinism rep, too! It was a 5 star book for me. 

  Funny enough, this book's title has the word "stranger" in it! I read this book last year and it blew my mind. It's the true story of this guy named Christopher Knight who willingly lived in isolation in Maine for 27 years (1986-2013). He was dubbed the "North Pond Hermit". This book is written by a journalist who interviewed Christopher shortly after he was arrested. You can read the full review on my blog here . Do you know any other strange but true stories?

So glad I finally found this first book! I've been wanting to read it for a long time. The Witch Boy by Molly Ostertag is about Aster--a boy who comes from a family where the women are witches and the men are shapeshifters. However, Aster has trouble with his shapeshifting powers, and he doesn't feel in touch with shapeshifting in general. He'd rather be a witch. He secretly looks at the witchcraft lessons the girls in his family take, and he tries out some spells of his own. His family is not happy with his witch activities whenever they catch him in the act. The only one who is happy with his witch activities and is cool with watching him do them is a new friend named Charlie.  At the same time, some of the boys in Aster's family have been mysteriously  disappearing. Aster decides to use his witch powers to save the day, even if it will stir up drama. I gave this book 5 stars . This was another pleasant, magical book by Molly Ostertag! The first book I read from her/...

Another underrated masterpiece by my new favorite author! Willa of the Wood by Robert Beatty is a historical fantasy middle grade book about Willa, who is a Faeran. The Faeran are a magical creature species that live in the Appalachian Mountains' forests, and live in clans. Willa is a jaetter--which, in her clan, are Faeran who are assigned to steal items from day-folk (humans) during the night for the padaran (the clan leader who is basically treated like a god).  But within the swoop of one night, she discovers some things that changes everything she knew about her clan and day-folk in general. To put it simply, the old ways, wisdom, and magic of her clan are dying, and many of those in her clan aren't as benevolent as they seem to be.  Willa feels like her world is shattering, but she finds solace and company in the least expected of people.  This book was full of unexpected surprises! What I love about Robert's Beatty's writing is how atmospheric and emotional it i...

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...

An underrated manga by THE Hayao Miyazaki . It's only one volume long! It was actually published back in the 1980s but it didn't get an English translation until now (well, 2022). Shuna's Journey follows Shuna, who is the prince of a small valley in the mountains which is experiencing a famine. One day Shuna meets a traveler who has some small golden seeds that are unable to be planted, but the traveler tells Shuna that he can find a giant field where golden grain grows to feed his people. The field is in the far west where the moon resides.  On his journey he runs into some slave traders, and rescues two girls from them. One is named Thea and the other girl is her sister. They are supposedly fallen princesses. Shuna tells Thea his plan, and she is happy for him and tells him if he succeeds, she should meet him in a village in the north.  But Shuna then hears from another traveler that the place Shuna needs to get to so he can find the all the golden grain is hard to rea...