Candy Bunny Reader

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. 

Yesterday I read Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol in one sitting. That's usually how long it takes me to read graphic novels, which is a breeze!  This is a urban fantasy/horror story that draws some inspiration from the author's own life. The story is about a Russian-American girl named Anya who is having a hard time at school--from having a friend who is a bad influence, to crushing on a guy who doesn't like her back the same way, and having less than stellar grades. One day when trying to skip school, she falls into a well and finds a skeleton and ghost there. They belong to a girl named Emily Reilly, who died there 90 years earlier. At first they don't get along, but Emily's ghost and Anya become friends, and her life starts to improve a little...or so she thinks.  That's all I can say before it gets into spoiler territory.  This was a really good book and I really enjoyed it! You're probably wondering where the parts inspired by the author's own life...