Candy Bunny Reader

Summer is almost ending and school might have started, but you are never to late to read a cute summer romance with Deaf representation! Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino is about 17 year old Lilah, who has hearing loss (or as she will call it towards the end of the novel, "Deaf gain") and knows some sign language. She struggles a lot with lack of accommodations from her peers in the hearing world. The only place she's really felt like herself (although still feeling out of place sometimes) was at Camp Gray Wolf. It's a summer camp for kids and counselors with all sorts of disabilities.  Coincidentally, Lilah is trying to find a summer job, and she gets to be a junior camp counselor for Camp Gray Wolf. Being a camp counselor isn't easy, especially with the looming threat that their camp might get shut down due to lack of funding (they do start a fundraiser for it halfway through the book). But the highlight of her summer is Isaac--another counselor. As he tries to h...

  I didn't forget that it's Disability Pride Month! Here is my pick (although really, you should read about disabled characters all year long).  Lavender Clouds by Bex Ollerton is a collection of comic strips about the author and their experience being neurodivergent (being autistic and having ADHD) and having mental health issues. The comic strips range from funny and relatable to more emotional and heartfelt. Either way, Bex's message for you as the reader is: the sky doesn't need to be clear in order to be beautiful. You can interpret what that means.  I loved this book so much! This is the book I wish I always had growing up, as an autistic person who also has anxiety. The illustrations are really pretty, too! I gave this book 5 stars .  

  Something else Rebecca Burgess and I have in common: we are both autistic!  Speak Up! is a graphic novel about Mia, an autistic girl and her best friend, a nonbinary person named Charlie. Charlie likes to write songs and Mia likes to perform them under her persona: Elle-Q. She's become big on YouTube.  Despite being popular online, Mia is quite unpopular at school due to being misunderstood as an autistic person. The person who picks on her the most is a girl named Laura. But here's the thing: Laura is secretly a huge Elle-Q fan, and she had no idea Mia is actually Elle-Q. Well, no one does, because Mia tries to keep it a secret.  But one day things get out of hand when Charlie signs them and Mia up for the school talent show and get accepted, and so now they have their first live performance that their fans are counting on them to do. And another day Mia accidentally forgets her notebook at school that contains all of her Elle-Q songs. And the last person that sh...

 TW: The disease that shares its name with a zodiac sign, some ableism Stars in their Eyes by Jessica Walton and Aska is about Maisie, an amputee who goes to her first ever fan convention with her mother. She and her mother love to geek out on all sorts of shows, and Maisie is excited to see an actress from one of her favorite shows, Midnight Girls, who is an amputee just like her. While there Maisie and her mother meet Ollie and their dad, who are volunteers and the convention, and they immediately become friends. Ollie and Maisie find out they love a lot of the same things, especially when they see shows that have people who are like them (nonbinary, bi, and/or disabled).  Unfortunately, the panel Maisie wanted to go to gets cancelled because her favorite actress gets really sick. So she spends more time with Ollie, and they get really close. Maisie wonders how they will stay close when each one of them lives so far away. Everything I that I like in storytelling was presen...

  Today we will talk about another recent favorite author of mine! This post won't be a long one. The first books I read from Kay O'Neill was their Tea Dragon Society series, which I read last year. I loved them so much! Especially the third book. Here's my review for the first book. This year I picked up Aquicorn Cove, The Moth Keeper, and Princess Princess Ever After. They were all great! Especially the Mothkeeper. That one is my favorite from them so far. You can read the reviews for each book here (just click the title): Aquicorn Cove The Moth Keeper Princess Princess Ever After I love Kay O'Neill's books because they are all very whimsical, enchanting, and heartwarming. They also have great queer and disability representation!

  All of the books I read in September!  I read a total of 17 books . Most were short books or graphic novels. It was mostly a good reading month. Except for that one book I gave 2 stars.  Links to Goodreads descriptions will be provided. Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix -4.5 stars To All the Boys I Loved Before by Jenny Han -2 stars Take Me Home Tonight by Morgan Matson -4 stars Everything Leads to You by Nina Lacour -4 stars A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard -4 stars The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz -5 stars A Psalm for the Wild Built, and it's sequel, A Prayer for the Crown Shy , both by Becky Chambers , A Psalm got 4.5 stars, A Prayer got 5 stars.  Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar -5 stars Yotsuba&! Volumes 1-3 by Kiyohiko Azuma -all 5 stars! Seance Tea Party by Remina Yee -4.5 stars Huda F Are You by Huda Fahmy -5 stars Gigi Shin is not a Nerd by Lyla Lee -5 stars Homebody by Theo Parish -5 stars Mamo b...

It's Deaf Awareness Month, so why not share the book perfect for this occasion that I just read and got as a present from a family friend?! A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard is about Steffi, a girl in her last year of high school who has selective mutism. She is hearing, but she also can communicate through sign language (specifically BSL, since the story is set in Britain). She gets assigned to help out a new student in her school named Rhys, who is deaf. Slowly, they become friends and they become a couple. Through Rhys, Steffi is able to meet more people who support her and her disability and alternate communication styles after struggling with them for so long.  Such a cute romance book! And great disability representation, too. I though this book would be perfect to share this month since it's Deaf Awareness Month.  But I did give it 4 stars . There is some mild ableism sprinkled throughout the book (although it is handled well at the end). One character is mention...

  Aw man, this was kind of disappointing... Josee the Tiger and the Fish by Seiko Tanabe and Nao Emoto is about Tsuneo, a college student who likes scuba diving and wants to study abroad in Mexico. He works various jobs to save up for his travels. One day he accidentally runs into a wheelchair user and artist (painter) named Kumiko who prefers to go by Josee, and her grandmother. Things get off to a rocky start, but Josee's grandmother decides to hire Tsuneo to be Josee's caretaker. As he keeps coming to take care of Josee every day, he finds out she's been isolated by her grandmother practically her whole life due to her disability. Only now as Tsuneo keeps taking her out, she slowly starts to experience things she never has before.  This story sounded like something right up my alley, and it did do plenty of things I liked. I liked the disability rep, Josee's art, a new friend she makes who is a librarian, Josee's picture book story that's loosely about her a...

OMG this manga is so cute you guys! A Sign of Affection by Suu Morishita follows Yuki, a stylish and shy college student who also happens to be deaf. One day while on the train when a foreigner tries talking to her and she can't understand what they are saying, she is rescued by a guy who likes to travel abroad and speaks multiple languages, named Istuomi. Yuki later sees Itsuomi again at a cafe that her best friend Rin likes to invite her to. Itsuomi happens to work there, and his cousin Kyoya is the owner. Rin has a crush on Kyoya, too. The story so far involves Yuki's feelings for Itsuomi as the two grow closer and eventually become a couple, with their friend groups watching from the sidelines. Yuki also teaches Itsuomi  sign language! This is such a chill, sweet, and warm hug of a romance series so far. I think it has become a new all time favorite. I love how the main character happens to be deaf and a lot about deaf culture and sign language are intertwined in the story...

  What's the last sapphic book you read? If You'll Have Me by Eunnie follows Momo--a shy, quiet girl in her first year of college with few friends and a low-key life. One day, she delivers notes and homework for a class to a classmate of her friend and roommate, Kayla. While there, she sees a girl named PG for the first time in the classmate's dorm room. PG has rumors going around about her that she doesn't stay in a relationship with anyone for too long, and she uses people for her own benefit a lot. The truth is, PG is just a shy as Momo is, and has trouble maintaining any kind of relationship, romantic and platonic, due to something that happened to her in her past with an old friend.  Momo and PG meet for real for the first time at a party, and even dance together! From then on out, they start hanging out more and get to know each other better, and fall in love. They both experience stepping out of their comfort zone for the first time and confront their pasts, too...

My third favorite Sharon Creech book, after Bloomability and Ruby Holler ! Granny Torrelli Makes Soup is about Rosie, who recently had a misunderstanding with her best friend, Bailey (a boy). Rosie's grandmother, whom she calls Granny Torrelli, helps Rosie with her problem by having Rosie help her cook some soup, while she tells her a story of a similar situation that happened to her back when she lived in Italy. The second half of the book, after  Rosie and Bailey make up,  follows another dilemma, with  Rosie and Bailey meeting a new girl name Janine and thinking their friendship will fall apart. This time, Granny Torrelli has them help her make spaghetti and meatballs. She tells them another similar story from her youth, and then a pasta party happens.  It's a short book, but it really packs an emotional punch. What else did you expect from Sharon Creech? The food descriptions really had me thinking the food was delicious. I'm in the mood for soup and pasta, to...

OMG.  This is a new all-time favorite! Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa is about Sentaro, an ex-convict who is paying off debt he owes by working at a small dorayaki shop. One day an elderly woman named Tokue comes in and notices the "now hiring" sign, and she asks Sentaro if she could work there. Sentaro notices that her fingers are all crooked, too, and he wonders if it's a good idea to hire her. After Tokue has him her try her own sweet bean paste recipe for the dorayaki, Sentaro loves it and hires her. More and more people start to drop by the shop and business is booming. One customer who visits frequently is a teenager named Wakana, who doesn't have a good relationship with her parents but eventually becomes friends with Sentaro and Tokue. Sentaro is happy that the shop is doing well thanks to Tokue, but the owner (his boss) finds out about Tokue and her crooked fingers, and she tells Sentaro she found out that Tokue came from a sanatorium that housed people...

  I can't delve too deep into them since they are the 2nd and 3rd book of the series, but I will tell you right now that I loved them and I gave them both 5 stars! They are just as heartwarming, whimsical, magical, and sweet as the first one, and have both great LGBT and disability rep. I will tell you the 2nd book is a prequel to the first one. And in the third book the characters from both the 1st and 2nd book all come together for a perfect conclusion.  The Tea Dragon Society series is now an all-time favorite graphic novel series for me. It literally had everything I love in fictional storytelling. Thank you Kay O'Neill for your creation!

🎵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...

  This past week I read the graphic novel Mooncakes by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker . And boy was it magical! The story stars Nova, who lives with her grandmothers who run a witchcraft shop. Nova's childhood friend (who is also a werewolf), Tam, comes back to town, and Nova is happy to rekindle her friendship with them. But at the same time, weird things have been happening in the forest near Nova's house, usually glowing lights going off at random times. Nova discovers it's a demon horse! For some reason, the demon horse is mostly after Tam. Nova, Tam, Nova's grandmothers, and Nova's friend Tatyana try to figure out where the demon horse came from, and why is it so interested in Tam, and what spells and potions can they use to ward it off.  I don't know what other words to use to describe how enchanting and heartwarming this story was! If you want another urban fantasy book about witches, mysteries, family, and friendship, check this book out! I gave is 5 stars ...