I had planned to get back into blogging but then middle school kicked in. Dear authors, I used to think you exaggerated how awful middle school was, but no, you sugar coated it. The short reason of why I am not blogging is bullying. I have classmates who are using images from this blog to harrass me. I tried to ignore it but it has caused major impact on my mental health and school work. So, hey classmates, I want you to know the school knows now too. This experience has made me more committed to staying away from social media. It also made blogging not fun. I have read some great books but I ..read more

By Jake Burt Available January 25, 2022 Review copy provided via Netgalley Ghoul Of Windydown Vale is about a boy who saves a girl from the ghoul of Windydown vale. Simple right? No! There’s so many plot twists it’s amazing how it’s got a story you can follow, which in my opinion is a great feat to accomplish. Not only is there a love triangle (assumably) but there’s also the fact that the main character IS THE GHOUL! Its all a marketing ploy for his family inn! But that’s all I can say without spoilers haha. It’s a great read in my opinion, ever since I heard of it in book club last year I k ..read more

This book is about the vocaloid singer/idol Hatsune Miku, along with the crypton gang Rin, and Len, as well Meiko and Kaito, though they are refered to as Onee-San and Onii-San. Luka also shows up as well early on. While vocaloid isn’t an anime, as it is a singing software you buy voicebanks for, it does have a manga by the original illustrator, Kei. While unofficial, it does provide some ideas of what the vocaloids of Crypton (a company that used to use vocaloid software- they stopped in 2019 I think) which is better than nothing, as music videos that can be produced by anyone are pretty har ..read more

Oh boy this is a big giant epic series. Consisting of 8 parts, very soon to be 9, and 6 animated parts as six recently joined the ranks. When talking about Jojo, figure out which part. The valiant part 1 with Jonathan Joestar? The jailbreak-esque part 6? The nationwide race part 7? Or the slice of life manhunt part 4? It all depends. With 8 current protagonists, two different universes, and 8 different groups and settings, it’s very large. It’s been serialized for a while too. 35 years, since 1986. It’s a long series, and takes a while to read and watch as you can imagine. It’s spinoffs are l ..read more

Hello Today is the first manga Monday. I’ll be introducing a rating system for books as well. Today will feature the series “A Man And His Cat” by Umi Sakurai. This series is about Fukumaru, a cat in a pet store and the man who adopts him. The art is very expressive and the chibi art style for certain pages is really cute. Cats are also drawn very cartoony, a contrast to the semi realistic people and landscapes. The few colored pages are really nice to look at. Very wholesome story and really cool characters. You even get to look at stories of Fukumaru as a little tiny kitten. Even the minor ..read more

With anime voice actor Hi! I have been enjoying some downtime and trying to find my seventh grade balance. In general, I haven’t been too into books unless they are manga. So starting on Monday I will post a review of a manga I have recently read. We can call it Manga Mondays. With manga being more popular with kids, I help grownups understand the appeal and yes, you read them backwards ..read more

1.     When you were my age (11), did you like to read? Unfortunately, no, I did not like to read. English was my second language and books in Spanish, my native language, were not accessible. It took me a while to learn English and I was often frustrated by it. I did, though, enjoy very much listening to family stories from my mom and other relatives, and I also enjoyed telling them.   2.     What is a book that made an impact on you? The first book I read from cover to cover was at 16 years old. It was a late evening and I was ridi ..read more

By Alda P. Dobbs Book status: available September 2021 Book source: provided in exchange for review Whoops! Sorry for disappearing but that may happen for a bit. I am just trying to figure out this tween life. Today’s book was provided by the author and is based on her grandmother’s experience during the Mexican Revolution. It took me a little bit to get into it but that may have been me, not the book. Once I did get into it, I found it a quick read. This book definitely fits within the genre of coming of age in the middle of a major upheaval. (I can’t wait to read the COVID coming of ages be ..read more

Illustrated by Chad Sell Written by multiple authors Book Source: Purchased Book Status: available Hey! I’m still alive, just finishing sixth grade. Anyway, let’s talk about Cardboard Kingdom’s second book, Roar of the Beast. I’m really excited for this story! It’s really awesome that Cardboard Kingdom got a second book. The Cardboard Kingdom is a diverse world where kids can find themselves. The more stories the more kids could find confidence in being themselves. I personally love Banshee. Girl characters with anger aren’t common but guess what girls have anger and we don’t express ourselve ..read more

Have you have seen the artwork for this year’s CSLP (Collaborative Summer Library Program)? Does it look familiar? It should because the artist is Salina Yoon. She had shared about this with me a while back and I had questions about the process. Salina answered a few questions for me about the process below. How did you even get selected for it? Chrissie McGovern, the President of the CSLP at the time, was a big fan of my books. She proposed me to her group of librarians on the committee for the selection process. Once I was selected, Chrissie reached out to ask if I’d be interested. Needless ..read more