Manga | Readers Be Advised

Six sensational gaming stories

Between eSports and gaming as a hobby, video games are everywhere, so there are of course major plots of books for teens centered around it. Here are my favorites.

Game Over: Rise of the Raid Mob by M. J. Sullivan: The first in a series, though I’ve only read the first so far. The integrated content is what got me hooked.
Cat + Gamer by Wataru Nadatani: A twenty-something girl who games and a cat. It’s the most delightful manga.
Slay by Britney Morris: I think this book was so well-plotted AND includes so much to talk about featuring Black girls in gaming.
Bunker 10 by J. A. Henderson: This is one that doesn’t get as much love because it came out a while ago, but the teen geniuses holed up in a bunker with an *explosive* ending has the makings of an epic story.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: Instant classic.
Warcross by Marie Lu: A snarky, competent, do-it-yourself girl in Emika Chen and a massive empire collide.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on June 5, 2024 in Fiction, Manga, Middle grade, Young Adult

Teen sports books

11 Feb

With the one of the biggest nights in sports happening tonight, I wanted to highlight twelve teen sports books from the more nontraditional sports rather than the mainstream ones with an inspirational one-liner.

No Barriers: A Blind Man’s Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon (Young Adult Adaptation) by Erik Weihenmayer and Buddy Levy about kayaking
- There’s nothing you can’t do if you set your mind to it.
Life In Motion (Young Readers Edition) by Misty Copeland about ballet
- Dance like you mean it.
Proud: Living My American Dream (Young Readers Edition) by Ibtihaj Muhammad about fencing
- En garde!
Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston about cheerleading
- You’re stronger than you appear.
Press Play by Eric Devine about lacrosse (and football)
- Don’t let the bad people win.
Leverage by Joshua Cohen about male gymnastics (and football)
- Stand up when it matters.
Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy by Faith Erin Hicks about girls hockey
- Be who you are.
Blue Box by Kouji Miura about badminton (and basketball)
- All’s fair in love and sports.
One Good Punch by Rich Wallace about boxing
- If you get knocked down, get back up again.
The Fire, The Water, and Maudie McGinn about surfing
- You have to start somewhere.
Peak by Roland Smith about rock climbing/mountain climbing
- It’s in your blood.
Swim the Fly by Don Calame about swimming
- Surround yourself with people who support you and make you laugh.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on February 11, 2024 in Fiction, Graphic novels, Manga, Nonfiction, Young Adult

This week

30 Dec

I love the week between Christmas and New Year not only because I have it off since I work in education, but because I get to read because it’s vacation. Plenty of audiobook listening when cleaning and organizing plus plenty of tea sipping print book time. So when I saw a blogger @epiblogue’s Instagram post:

I felt seen. It’s a fun series of ladies lounging and reading their books. This one was my favorite and yes, this is exactly what “that week between Christmas & NYE” looks like for me minus the extra thick frock and fan, however I do have a chaise and a book. Endless books. This week has included Duel by the Bagleys, Tremors in the Blood: Murder, Obsession, and the Birth of the Lie Detector by Katwala, Ruptured by Rossmassler Fritz, Mascot by Waters and Sorrel, Crazy Food Truck by Ogaki, All the Fighting Parts by Sawyerr, Home Made: A Story of Grief, Groceries, Showing Up- and What We Make When We Make Dinner by Hauck, New Year’s Kiss by Matthews, The Shadow Prince by Durham, and 100 Unforgettable Dresses by Rubenstein.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 30, 2023 in Adult, Audiobooks, Authors, Fiction, Manga, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Verse, Young Adult

Best of 2023: YA extra love

24 Dec

Like the people whose birthday falls on or near a holiday, they’re often overlooked (but not always!) Books hit readers at opportune times or speak to an experience that connects to their life in a meaningful way. Here are a few that I wanted to give a little extra love to.

The creative juices flowing in these stories in how they’re told and what focus they took were what made these stellar additions to the top books of 2023 for teens.

You’ll notice the only format I didn’t focus specifically on was manga. I read widely in this format as well but often the series have been longstanding and thus not specifically published in 2023. There are always new series coming out as well but it’s hard to pinpoint publication when they are published in the United States. Yet I couldn’t not talk about my favorites of the year that may or may not have been published in 2023, but were read in 2023.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 24, 2023 in Cover Love, Fiction, Manga, Reflections, Young Adult

Over this next year

24 Nov

The day before Thanksgiving I turned the page to chapter 40 (a bookish pun I couldn’t resist). Coming up on the day, I thought about the fun little things I could do to make it special because I was excited about moving to another age bracket. So I came up with a list of 40 books that I would reread this year– generally books I own because books I own are books that I had previously read and knew I needed to own.

But I admit that I rarely reread books. It’s either a committee assignment that forces a book reread, an upcoming author visit, or in the case of Saga, a comfort read during the pandemic. It’s still rare. Yet, I wanted to recapture the feelings I had years or decades ago with this retrospective over the course of this upcoming year.

These books have changed my thinking, warmed my soul, or hearken back to another time in my life. I’ll be updating my journey periodically on Instagram. Here were the books I settled on.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 24, 2023 in Adult, Authors, Childrens, Comics, Cover Love, Fiction, Graphic novels, Illustrators, Manga, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Poetry, Reflections, Style, Verse, Young Adult

Romance, romantasy, & cuteness

18 Nov

In a recent professional development, the portmanteau romantasy was dropped and in the last 48 hours I’ve used it and seen it used in publisher emails. With the publication of certain new titles that are making book nerds swoon, it has officially entered the lexicon heavily. Then there are the romance titles which have been heavily requested for the last several years. And happy love stories that lay on the cuteness. Here’s a short list of some favorites in the three categories:

A First Time for Everything by Santat– cuteness
You Bet Your Heart by Parker– romance
Always Never by Lafebre– romance
Julieta and the Romeos by Andreu– romance
Horimiya by Hero– romance
The Princess and the Grilled Cheese by Muniz– cuteness
Ryan and Avery by Levithan– romance
Fangs by Andersen– romantasy
Check & Mate by Hazelwood– romance
Crumbs by Stirling– romantasy

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 18, 2023 in Adult, Authors, Comics, Cover Love, Fiction, Graphic novels, Illustrators, Manga, Middle grade, Young Adult

New book smell

17 Nov

Finally the boxes arrived! We had a teaser box come the day before- the final box of the order arriving before the first set of boxes were shipped. Of all of the books in the boxes, I’ve been looking for one in particular– volume three of Fangirl: The Graphic Novel who has had an eager reader asking daily about when it will arrive. So my first free moment today, I started tearing into the nine boxes. Can you guess which box had the book in it? You’re right, the LAST box I opened.

Knowing that we have a set of ninth grade classes coming in tomorrow for their second round of books for independent reading, I wanted to try to get as many stickered as possible so we can lend as many as we can. Simply because nothing beats that new book smell.

Among the newly published, repurchases, and additional copies– some of my favorites that I spied in the boxes include:

Anatomy by Dana Schwartz
Promise Boys by Nick Brooks
The Hate U Give and On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Death Note volumes 1-13 by Tsugumi Ohba
The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson AND Carrie by Stephen King
Always Isn’t Forever by J.C. Cervantes

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 17, 2023 in Authors, Fiction, Graphic novels, Manga, Young Adult

Manga they’re thankful for

15 Nov

Yesterday during Japanese Culture Club, after the opening “what’s your favorite Thanksgiving dish?” and general announcements, we wanted to share out our favorite manga- manga we’re most thankful for. These were just a few–

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 15, 2023 in Adult, Manga

Friends to lovers

06 Nov

Today I finished Elise Bryant’s 2021 Happily Ever Afters after being introduced to her work when I read the lovely Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling and immediately knew I needed to go back to read Bryant’s previous books.

This one celebrates the friends to lovers trope that is just as juicy as an enemies to lovers. In this one Tessa finds that Sam has all the elements of a good companion including being compassionate to her disabled older brother, being an amazing baker, and a caring guy willing to stand up for her and be wholly himself.

In addition, here are few others that are both enemies to lovers and friends to lovers tropes to check out if you’re interested. Which trope is your favorite?

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 6, 2023 in Audiobooks, Cover Love, Fiction, Manga, Young Adult

Indie bookstores

02 Nov

Local indie bookstores are the best. It’s a place where community events celebrate reading culture, books and tangential reading items can be purchased for personal delight or as a gift, and everybody knows your name? Yes, well there are a few booksellers at my local bookstore that I’ve known for years both in a professional capacity and a personal one.

I was delighted during a recent visit that Cheryl remembered my love for the manga series Witch Hat Atelier and she mentioned that the spinoff series Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen was coming out. She said she’d order one for me if I wanted. Absolutely!

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon. In chilly upstate New York weather I drove on over after getting the call and I’m now the proud owner of the first volume in the new series.

Thank you to The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza for being a friend! Plus, for the cheap seats in the back, local indie bookstores are the best.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 2, 2023 in Book Birthday, Manga, Miscellaneous, Reflections, Young Adult