Ascendance of a bookworm vol 2 by 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
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In the last volume, Myne gathered some reeds and cut them down very small in order to make papyrus. In this volume, she starts weaving her very thin strands together, but it’s just too hard of work for her small hands. Her mother weaves cloth on an apparatus in order to prepare for Tuuli’s baptism ceremony coming in the summer, and Myne wants to make a hairpin for her to liven up the outfit. Dad makes a small wooden crochet needle and hairpin, while Myne crochets a few flowers. Myne decides that she next wants to try making clay tablets, but she needs to build up enough strength to actually walk to the forest first. The first goal is to make it to the gate: if she makes it, Otto will teacher her how to write while she rests, then she can come home. Myne helps Otto with some of the math on his year end under report, so he thinks having her as an unofficial assistant would be great! Myne finally makes it to the forest and finds some clay, but the tablets don’t turn out the way she wants them to.

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Myne's struggles are so cute and disheartening at the same time. For all the books she read in her previous life, she has a lot of problems remembering the early forms of writing in order to get her hands on a full-length book. She has such passion for reading and books but such a long road ahead of her, especially because she has to learn a new writing system. She does use Japanese on her clay tablets, but that means nobody but her will be able to read it. I appreciate the attention to detail, and think the pacing of this is really well done. Some readers might be frustrated with how long it's going to take Myne to get to her books, but I think it's a realistic depiction given what she needs to accomplish.

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

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: vol 1

Publisher: J-Novel Club
Publication Date: November 3, 2020
ISBN: 9781718372511 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 9/10, Suitability: Elementary School, Suitability: Middle School, Manga, Family, ​J-Novel Club