Check out what books I've been reading this month 📚
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| Hello, everyone!
Welcome to another month where I'm starting to find a bit of balance between posting reviews and my District Library role. I managed to get five reviews written for Booklist and nine for the site, including two volume ones of some highly requested shōnen series that will hopefully satisfy a lot of readers and librarians. In between, I went to two meetings of my local Board of Supervisors for my county and pleaded with them against book censorship in our public library, to no avail, so we'll see what good trouble we can continue to get up to with that! I'm wishing you all the best for this upcoming holiday season and I'm hoping we can all get some rest, some good reads and family/fur baby time, and get some time away from book banning nonsense for sure. |
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| DEMON SLAYER, Vol 14 Tokito, the Mist Hashira, continues to fight Gyokko, one of the Upper rank Kizuki demons, in his attempt to protect the swords smiths. During this fight, Tokito's memories return, and he remembers his twin brother, Yuichiro, and his parents. He remembers his path to becoming a Demon Slayer and the hatred he feels for demons fuels his attacks against Gyokko. Sara's Rating: 9/10
Suitability Level: Grades 7-12 |
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| ALPI THE SOUL SENDER, Vol 1 In this magical tale, Alpi is a young girl who has a very important task. Great spirits bestow blessings on the regions where they live, but when they die, their bodies infect the land with terrible energy and plague the very people they once blessed. Soul Senders travel far and wide and help to send these spirits on to the afterlife and cleanse the land, but they do so at a great physical cost. Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 5-8 |
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| IN THE LAND OF LEADALE, Vol 1 One morning, Keina wakes up in the world of Leadale in the body of her high elf Cayna. In the physical world, Keina knows she is hooked up to life support, and she vaguely remembers a power outage that might have caused her to be thrown into her VRMMORPG. Now that her medically fragile body has probably died, she now has to make the most of her second life as a very powerful elf in a fantasy world that has moved on from the time she was playing the game. Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 7-12 |
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| LIKE A BUTTERFLY, Vol 1 Suiren is a beautiful, mysterious young girl starting high school and the object of many young men’s crushes. She’s quiet, mysterious, and keeps to herself often. They liken her and nickname her “mysterious flower” because of her beauty and aloofness. One day, shy but tough Kawasumi stands up for her against several bullies, and she finds herself smitten. Kawasumi’s problem mirrors Suiren’s - he doesn’t know how to talk to girls, while Suiren doesn’t know how to talk to boys without sending them into emotional tizzies. Sara's Rating: 7/10
Suitability Level: Grades 7-12 |
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| DEMON SLAYER, Vol 15 Tanjiro and the crew have prevailed once again but they are in need of some recovery at the Butterfly Mansion, although this time for not as long as before. With the developments at the end of their last battle setting Muzun’s sights on obtaining Nezuko as well as killing Tanjiro, the Demon Slayer Corps is preparing for an all-out fight. That means a strict training regimen with the Hashira and all lower-rank members are put through a rigorous trial with every Hashira. Sara's Rating: 9/10
Suitability Level: Grades 7-12 |
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| NARUTO, Vol 1 Naruto is a troublesome young ninja-in-training who is trying desperately to pass the exam and graduate from the Ninja Academy in his Village of the Hidden Leaves. His major problem is that he can't seem to master any of the techniques. His goal is to become a Hokage, the leader of all the Ninja in his village, but he doesn't see that his current struggle may make this dream impossible. One night, he gets wrapped up in a plot to steal a sacred scroll. While the scroll is in his care, Naruto manages to master one ninja technique: the Art of the Doppelganger.
Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 7-12
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| WHY RAELIANA ENDED UP AT THE DUKE'S MANSION, Vol 2 Raeliana secures a friendship with a marquis' wife as Duke Noah instructed her to, but no sooner has this task been complete than Raeliana finds herself kidnapped by the terrible Francis Brooks, the fiancé she desperately tried to avoid from volume one because of the ill fate he had in store for her character in this novel to begin with. But of course, Duke Noah saves the day. Now that Raeliana is safe, she believes the contract can be called off, but Noah seems to want to follow through with the fake arrangement for much longer.
Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 7-12
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| ONE PIECE, Vol 1 On a remote island, young Luffy D. Monkey yearns to become a pirate and sail the known seas. His heroes are a band of pirates who come through his tiny village. On one fateful visit from Luffy’s favorite pirate gang, Luffy accidentally eats the Devil’s Fruit, which makes him incredibly rubbery but will make him sink to the bottom of the ocean. In some skirmishes between mountain bandits and the pirates, In reaching adulthood, Luffy sets off from his village to gather a crew and become the best pirate. However, he doesn’t know how to navigate, and he mostly sails along in a tiny dinghy and gets into trouble.
Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 7-12
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| ONE MORE STEP, COME STAND BY MY SIDE In this collection of short stories, Takeda explores love and humanity in some non-traditional ways. In the first story, a young princess is captured and blindfolded and forced to sign treaties or make other deals that syphon away her power. In another story, a woman comes face to face with her stalker and has an honest conversation with him while they wait for the police. In yet another story, a wife who is dying of cancer makes a difficult choice for her husband so that he might live on easier without her once she's gone.
Sara's Rating: 7/10
Suitability Level: Adult
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| Want me to review a book your students are asking for? Send me an email and I'll review or add it to my to-be-read pile. |
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