Ascendance of a bookworm Vol 1 Miya Kazuki

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I'll Do Anything to become a Librarian! Part 1: If there aren't any books, I'll just have to make some!, illustrated by Suzuka

Our heroine is a college student who loves books, but who is unfortunately smashed to death by her beloved books. As her dying wish, she hopes to be reincarnated into a place where she can read books all the time. Instead, she’s reincarnated as a tiny, sickly, five year old girl named Myne, in a world where books are extremely expensive and super rare. She tries to find supplies to make books, but the supplies are also extremely expensive. So, Myne decides to try to make what she needs to put together a book. She asks her older sister to get reed plants to try and make papyrus, but she doesn't totally remember how to make papyrus. If only she could remember that one book she read that one time!

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This story was super cute and fun even though there are a ton of reincarnation stories out there, but I totally might be biased as a librarian reading this. There wasn't enough time to really know our gal as a college girl, but Myne is supremely adorable. She has very cutsy, chiby proportions, and her tantrums about how inaccessible books are are all pretty precious. The escence of this reminds me of A Witch's Printing Office with a person transported to another  world resorting to making their own books, but this story came without the fan-service and problematic story elements. Myne's new family is poor, but resourceful and overall cheerful, likable people.  

This story would be perfectly fine in lower grade levels, and would hopefully find a readership with students who love to read books.

Buyer beware - there is a light novel series that came out first, of which this is series is adapted, so make sure you're getting the manga version if that's what you want.

Sara's Rating: 9/10
Suitability Level: Grades 3-8

Publisher: J-Novel Club
Publication Date: September 17, 2020
ISBN: 9781718372504 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 9/10, Suitability: Elementary School, Suitability: Middle School, Manga, Family