Hello, here I’m sharing another book review with you. Yes, this is another ARC I received this week. I’m excited for sharing my impression and feelings about this book here. This a new YA fantasy duology which is inspired by Chinese mythology and I’m glad to get the chance to read the ARC for the UK edition which will be released on February 2 (my birthdayyy!!). The US edition has been released in the first week of January, so I think some people have already read this book, so please share your reading experience here below too!

Goodreads rating             : 4.29

My rating                         : 4.50

Length                              : 380 pages

Book type                         : novel, first book in a duology

Series                                : Song of the Last Kingdom

Keywords                         : young adult, fantasy, chinese mythology inspired, romance, adventure,

                                           demons, magic school, rebellion 

Trigger warnings               : blood, death, death of parents, violence, kidnapping, gaslighting, war,

                                             racism, panic attack, losing control of oneself, torture, sexual assault,

                                             human trafficking, colonialism, injury details, child abuse, murder, grief,

                                             self harm, cannibalism (mentioned), genocide (mentioned)

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night  by Amélie Wen Zhao | Book Review

When I first got the ARC for Song of Silver, Flame Like Night, I kept my expectations low, since I have met other books with beautiful book title and cover which didn’t live up to my expectations. I decided to read this book since I’m a person who is attracted towards beautiful cover and title. The title is intriguing enough for me (as someone who is a stranger to Chinese mythology), like what kind of song a silver could make and how the flame appears to resemble a night. The title creates the vision of yin and yang in my mind, where the silver is the white part and the night is the black part. So I decided it’s gonna be an interesting book to read.

BLURB

“In a fallen kingdom, one girl carries the key to discovering the secrets of her nation’s past—and unleashing the demons that sleep at its heart. An epic fantasy series inspired by the mythology and folklore of ancient China.

Once, Lan had a different name. Now, she goes by the one the Elantian colonizers gave her when they invaded her kingdom, killed her mother, and outlawed her people’s magic. She spends her nights as a songgirl in Haak’gong, a city transformed by the conquerors,  and spends her days scavenging for remnants of the past. For anything that might help her understand the strange mark burned into her arm by her mother, in her last act before she died.

No one can see the mysterious mark—an untranslatable Hin character—except Lan. Until the night a boy appears at the teahouse and saves her life.

Zen is a practitioner—one of the fabled magicians of the Last Kingdom, whose abilities were rumored to be drawn from the demons they communed with. Magic believed to be long lost. Magic to be hidden from the Elantians at all costs.

When Zen comes across Lan’s unusual qi, he recognizes what she is: a practitioner with a powerful ability hidden in the mark on her arm. He’s never seen anything like it—but he knows: if there are answers, they lie deep in the pine forests and misty mountains of the Last Kingdom, with an order of practitioning masters planning to overthrow the Elantian regime.

Both Lan and Zen have secrets buried deep within. Fate has connected them, but their destiny remains unwritten. Both hold the power to liberate their land. And both hold the power to destroy the world.”

I got an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) from Netgalley and HarperCollins UK of Song of Silver, Flame Like Night. The reviews I’ve posted here are mine and purely based on my reading experience.

BOOK REVIEW

It's a perfect book for Daughter of the Moon Goddess fans and those who love reading books inspired by Chinese mythology. Song of Silver, Flame like Night is YA fantasy (and a little bit romance) book which absorbs every reader to its world and holds their attention until the very last words. Told in multiple POVs, mainly our main characters Lan and Zen, the author gives them balanced portion of pages to tell their stories with distinctive voices. You can easily know which one is Lan's and Zen's since the two spoke differently. Through the two main characters of the book, we are able to see the world and what really happened there. The multiple POVs successfully add more depth to the story and how it’s viewed through each of the main characters even though I’m not really into the parts where one character was left wondering what happened when the readers already knew everything from another character.

Honestly this is a little bit difficult to follow at first since it used new terms like Last Kingdom, Elantians, some characters and places, but it gets easier as we get deeper into the book. Some explanations were longer than the others especially about the magic system and world building related ones, yet since it's given to the right character to 'explain', it's an okay for me. I usually get bored with long explanations and facts about how the world works and what happened in the history since it needs more energy to remember all of them, but this book told everything slowly and I found it easy to hold the information provided here. I even gave a nickname for one character who had all the facts and provided us with the info as the walking-tomes since it’s suited the characters well.

For the romance part, as a reader who prefer less romance part in a fantasy book, this book has the right amount of romance I need in a book even though it needs a little bit more pages to show the chemistry between the two main characters.

Continuity and consistency are the heart of this book. We can’t miss a single conversations or words spoken by a character and forget them since those are the ones which influenced how the main characters made their decisions and lead them to their chosen path. This is not only the information and other serious stuff, but also the jokes. You can find the characters reliving the same jokes over and over again in the right time.

I love how Book 1 ended especially the last chapter and epilogue which showed the readers what to expect within the next book.

WHAT I LIKE

🏔 The stunning cover of the UK edition is my most favorite cover so far. It has the four demon gods from Chinese mythology and using more saturated colors which is my preference for a fantasy book cover.

🏔 The title itself holds special place in my heart since I’m a person who is into beautifully titled book. Song of Silver, Flame Like Night is really a beautiful title.

🏔 Balanced-portion for both main characters and how they introduced themselves to the readers

🏔 Mysterious two main characters who will uncover their own secrets throughout the journey (even though the revelation about one of our MCs was something I have expected)

🏔 Chinese mythology aspect

🏔 Beautiful narration about nature and feelings

🏔 The romance portion is just right for me

🏔 Fast-paced book which holds the readers’ attention until the end

🏔 The ending for Book 1 is the type of ending I live for

🏔 The hidden magic school 

🏔 The magic system

🏔 The beautiful map in the beginning of the book

🏔 Mysterious seals and past to uncover through an adventure

🏔 Strangers helping each other in the midst of war

WHAT I THINK IT COULD BE BETTER NEXT

🏔 The enemy side didn’t get more depth so they appeared to be just evil and one dimensional

🏔 The chemistry for the two main characters need more pages to show the readers how their feelings towards each other and how it grows

YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK IF YOU

🏔 Want to read a Chinese mythology inspired book with less portion of romance

🏔 Don’t want to be committed to a long series since it’s a duology

🏔 Love a YA fantasy with multiple POV

🏔 Want to plunge into a world where Four Demon Gods existed and the war was everywhere

🏔 Love reading book and witnessing how the characters developed

🏔 Love a book with beautiful book and cover

LINKS YOU MIGHT NEED

My reading thread on twitter

My review on Storygraph

My review on Goodreads

Hello! This is the first book review I made on 2023. Today I read a cute graphic novel titled The Sprite and the Gardener and I love it. I need to let everyone know about this graphic novel, so after reviewing this on Goodreads, Storygraph and twitter, I decided to make a short blog post here too.

Goodreads rating             : 4.13

My rating                         : 5.00

Length                              : 89 pages

Book type                         : graphic novel

Keywords                         : graphic novel, garden, gardening, plants, flowers, diverse characters, sprite

                                            finished in one sitting, quick read, lighthearted

The Sprite and the Gardener by Rii Abrego & Joe Whitt | Book Review

Long time ago as a kid I wasn’t good at gardening, the plant I transferred from a pot to garden always experienced near-death experience or the seed I planted remained as a seed, so I wish I had a plant fairy power to take care of them. It’s until I grew up and learned biology and about the science of growing plants. Now, even though I don’t have a garden of my own and I can’t plant anything here, I love seeing flowers, trees, or just a little plants I meet during my morning walk. Seeing them is relaxing and it uplifting my mood. Not only real plants, I love reading fiction books where nature description is everywhere or plant illustrations are filling the pages. I’m so happy to get a chance to read this beautiful graphic novel and share it here.

BLURB

“Long, long ago, sprites were the caretakers of gardens. Every flower was grown by their hand. But when humans appeared and began growing their own gardens, the sprites’ magical talents soon became a thing of the past. When Wisteria, an ambitious, kind-hearted sprite, starts to ask questions about the way things used to be, she’ll begin to unearth her long-lost talent of gardening. But her newly honed skills might not be the welcome surprise she intends them to be.

The Sprite and the Gardener, the debut graphic novel by Joe Whitt and Rii Abrego, is bursting with whimsical art and vibrant characters. Join our neighborhood of sprites in this beautiful, gentle fantasy where both gardens and friendships begin to blossom.”

I got an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) from Netgalley and Oni Press of The Sprite and the Gardener, yet the reviews I’ve posted here are mine and purely based on my reading experience.

THE SHORT REVIEW

I love this graphic novel. A simple story about asking a help and working together. I love the art style, the color palette, and how short the story yet it deliver the authors' message beautifully. The sprites appeared in different appearances and I love how diverse their skin color and body size are. I cried as a reader when I saw the characters' happy face and the beauty of flowers blooming and plants growing. A strong graphic novel debut and I want to read more from them. I recommend this graphic novel for everyone who wants to read a lighthearted, quick, beautiful and happy story about plants, human and sprites.

WHAT I LOVE

🌷 The cover

🌷 The beautiful art style

🌷 The color palette

🌷 The diverse characters especially the sprites

🌷 The message it delivered

🌷 The gardening and working together themes

🌷 Relatable characters

🌷 Book length is under 100 pages

🌷 The witty heartwarming narration about sprites and human relationship

YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK IF YOU

🌷 Love gardens and/or gardening

🌷 Want to start your reading year with a quick read

🌷 Love lighthearted and relaxing read

🌷 Love beautiful art style with spring color palette

🌷 Need a story about asking a help and working together

🌷 Need a lot of smiles in a book you read

LINKS YOU MIGHT NEED

🌷 Some sample pages of The Sprite and the Gardener

🌷 My reading thread on twitter

🌷 My review on Storygraph

🌷 My review on Goodreads

This made the first blog post on 2023 and it’s not entirely related to books, but yeah, I’m asking a book recommendation by the end of this blog post. I only made this blog post to save what I’m currently thinking. It might be useful for the future me when she came across this one.

So, recently I’ve been thinking about compliments and gratitude. Those two are powerful and most people encourage us to implement compliment and gratitude into our lives. Honestly I wasn’t a compliment and gratitude person when it comes to relationship with other people. I only secretly complimented or felt grateful for other people, never said them out loud. I think it’s because how I was raised, you know, Asian family (no, not all of Asian family, but some of them, and my family was part of the uncomfortable one). Nobody taught me these powerful stuff, nobody said thanks to me when I helped them, or said great to my 100% score at school. So I grew up not knowing that doing good things is good and it deserves good words too. I learned about compliment and gratitude at school, and I excelled at these subjects, but I almost never said it to my family members. I don’t really remember why but the vibes and the situation used to discourage me to do it.

It’s until I was older and having my own friend group, I could finally practiced what I've learned at school to about gratitude and compliments to other people. It felt so weird at first, but it’s so good to let these feelings known.

Then I met a new type of people who react differently to “thank you” words and compliment. When I say “thank you” or praise them for their dress or compliment how clean the room is, they turn it into criticism towards me. Yes, they’re way older than me. For example : I said thank you for helping me with some stuff, then this person said that I need to learn more about this and this and never give up, and it turned into a whole lecture about motivation and stuff. I said thank you because I felt grateful and I didn’t expect a reply from the other person. So it shocked me.

The other time I said the floor was clean and asked what kind of product they use. They turned it into another criticism that I was lazy to clean my own floor to not know what kind of technique or product to clean it well, and it turned into another lecture about battling the laziness. I tried other topics and word combination but the reactions were always similar, most of the time it’s related to God and religion topics. Sometimes I feel disappointed, sad or annoyed, the other time I wonder how creative a human brain can be when it comes to giving lecture to other people about their weakness or negative traits.

Dude. Have you ever met this kind of person? And if you are the one into psychological learning, I need to understand what drive these people to make these reactions and what thing I need to do the best when they started their lecture.

For now, I stop complimenting or saying thank you to people who gave these kind of reactions and I minimalize the conversation with them. I stop it because I don’t want to hurt myself, I don’t do it from hate, but fears I think. I read it somewhere that when you criticize people, you project your own fears or discontentment of yourself towards others, so I don’t know, I think it bothers me to know that these people remember their hate or fears about themselves through gratitude and compliments from other people including me.

I met several book characters who share similar traits or experience similar things to me and I can deeply relate to them, such as Keiko from Convenience Store Woman, Morrigan from Nevermoor series, Sophie from Keeper of the Lost Cities series and Ove from A Man Called Ove. For now, I haven’t met a character who experienced what I’ve experienced in this blog post, or a book with a character who reacted differently to compliment and gratitude similar to paragraph above. I think if something like this is made into a book means someone has already figured this out and used it as their book theme, so I want to learn about it from a book too.

So, this is it, the short public diary slash book recs request. If you find this blog post and you know the answer for my questions or the book I need to read, don’t hesitate to comment below. I don’t bite.

Sesuai yang aku sebutkan di video Jalan-Jalan ke Periplus Malang, aku pengen bikin blog tentang pengalaman aku belanja buku di Year End Sale Periplus tahun ini. Tahun ini adalah tahun pertama aku belanja di Year End Sale Periplus karena sebelumnya belum ada Periplus di Malang, jadi harus belanja via web periplus atau minta bantuan jastip. Entah kenapa aku gak belanja sama sekali di tahun sebelumnya, mungkin karena gak ada buku yang aku incer kali ya.

Disclaimer : baik versi video maupun versi blog ini, buku konten iklan Periplus ya, ini konten yang aku buat untuk membagikan pengalaman aku aja (dan juga biar blog dan channel aku gak sepi, hahaha)

YEAR END SALE PERIPLUS

Year End Sale Periplus ini memungkinkan kalian beli buku-buku impor baik paperback maupun hardcover dengan diskon hingga 50% (bahkan ada yang sampai 90% di webnya). Sebelum dibuka, udah dikasih kisi-kisi nih sama Periplus melalui katalog online yang berisi buku-buku apa aja yang tersedia di Year End Sale kali ini.

KATALOG ONLINE

Dari katalog tersebut aku mulai mencatat buku-buku apa aja yang pengen aku beli kayak Firekeeper’s Daughter yang hardcover hanya 89.000, terus ada The Ogress and the Orphans, The Prison Healer, Wilderlore, dan masih banyak lagi. Begitu Year End Sale dimulai, ternyata buku-buku inceranku ga ada semua di web periplus. Setelah diskusi dengan Kak Stef, maka kami menyimpulkan buku-buku itu hanya bisa dibeli di offline store.

PERIPLUS MALANG

Di bulan Oktober, Periplus buka cabang di Malang yang lokasinya ada di Ranch Market. Kan Ranch Market ada 2 ya, awalnya aku salah toko dong, sehingga pas sampai di sana aku gak nemu Periplusnya di mana. Seneng banget sih, aku sempet kepikiran juga lho sebelumnya kalau suatu hari nanti bakal ada Periplus di Malang, soalnya Periplus terdekat dari sini kan di Surabaya gitu.

Seperti yang bisa kalian lihat di Bookstore Vlog aku, tampilan raknya sudah berbeda dari pertama aku dateng dibandingkan dengan saat aku dateng di bulan Desember.

Udah banyak buku-buku baru yang dateng juga kayak The Very Merry Murder Club, Legends & Lattes dan Stellarlune (yang aku selesai baca di bulan Desember ini). 

Terus, setiap kali aku ke Periplus selalu rame gitu, banyak orang, jadi aku kalo motoin buku inceranku buat aku beli next time gitu jadi agak sungkan, soalnya banyak orang lewat dan ruangannya gak begitu lebar. Memanjang sepanjang Ranch Market bagian samping kasirnya gitu guys.

BELI DI OFFLINE STORE

Awalnya aku gak kepikiran mau nanya ke Periplus Malang, terus pas lihat akun Instagram, mereka juga update Year End Sale ini dong dan katanya bisa dibeli di toko. Terus aku nanyain buku inceranku via chat WhatsApp. Ternyata buku-buku yang aku incer ini ga ada di toko, jadi harus dipesenin ke Jekarta dulu. Bahkan ada yang stoknya udah habis seperti Firekeeper’s Daughter, jadi aku beli 2 buku yang dua-duanya bakal dikirim dari Jakarta.

ONGKIR

Ongkirnya gak ada. aku hanya bayar seharga buku yang udah diskon 50% via transfer bank baru setelah bukunya sampai (gak sampe 5 hari udah dateng) aku bisa ambil di Periplus Malang.

CARA AKU PESAN BUKU YEAR END SALE PERIPLUS

1. Chat admin Periplus Malang via WhatsApp dengan mengirimkan screenshot buku-buku inceran dari katalog online Periplus.

2. Jika bukunya ada di toko, kamu bisa langsung ambil.

3. Kalau bukunya gak ada di toko, admin bakal nanyain ke toko Periplus lain.

4. Kalau udah gak ada buku yang dipesen, kamu bisa langsung minta nota tagihan ke admin sekaligus kode pembayaran / nomor rekening untuk transfer biayanya

5. Setelah dapet nota tagihan, kamu transfer dulu, dan kamu tinggal menunggu bukunya datang

6. Jangan lupa kasih nama kamu untuk pengambilan. Jadi pesanan kamu atas nama siapa gitu. soalnya aku lupa kan kasih nama, waktu pengambilan, sehingga di nota aku dikasih nama shainalite kayak yang tertera di WhatsApp aku, sementara aku gak nyadar aku pakai nama itu. Kakak adminnya bingung dong nyariin bukunya yang mana, jadi aku harus nunjukin chat WhatsAppnya dulu.

PEMBAYARAN

Aku sempet dikasih kode pembayaran untuk virtual account, sebelumnya aku bisa bayar pakai virtual account ini pakai bank apa aja, nah berhubung sekarang aku pakai BSI, ga ada menu virtual account dong, aku jadi bingung. Aku coba bayar pakai Jenius, sudah muncul nama aku juga, tapi waktu aku kirim, dia gagal gitu. Jadi aku dikirimin nomor rekening bank biasa gitu sama adminnya biar bisa transfer.

Jika kalian tinggal di kota lain, kalian bisa menghubungi Periplus terdekat ya guys, dan kemungkinan caranya agak beda tergantung tokonya.

MINI BOOK HAUL

Aku dapet 2 buku inceranku di Year End Sale Periplus yaitu Wilderlore : The Accidental Aprrentice oleh Amanda Foody yang merupakan buku pertama dari Wilderlore series. Buku kedua yaitu The Ogress and the Orphans oleh Kelly Barnhill yang merupakan buku standalone dari penulis buku The Girl Who Drank the Moon. Kedua buku ini tebalnya di atas 250 halaman, jadi bakal aku baca next time kalau ada readathon Neverland Book Club kali ya. Untuk penampakan buku-bukunya gimana, silakan menonton video Periplus Mini Book Haul karena di situ lebih jelas, gimana ukuran buku, jenis kertas, ilustrasi dan cuplikan bab pertama dari bukunya.

DISKON 50% ITU NYATA

Kesimpulannya jika selama ini aku melihat promo diskon 50% periplus sebagai sesutatu yang jauh dan tak terjangkau, maka tahun ini semua itu sudah tidak ada lagi di kamusku. Diskon 50% itu nyata, mudah, dan deket banget. It’s not too good to be true. It’s good and it’s true!

LINK YANG MUNGKIN BERFAEDAH

Jalan-Jalan ke Periplus Malang + Year End Sale Mini Book Haul

Year End Sale Periplus (katalog) : ada tambahan produk juga ternyata guys!

Year End Sale Periplus (online)

Periplus Malang Instagram

Jadi, gimana dengan kalian, apa kalian sempet beli buku di Year End Sale Periplus? Kalau kebetulan kalian tinggal di Malang, bisa minta bantuan Periplus Malang untuk pesen buku-buku inceran kalian karena Year End Sale ini bakal terus ada sampai 3 Januari tahun depan lho.

Hai, aku kembali dengan ulasan buku middle grade yang bertema winter nih. Aku baca buku ini karena ikutan Wintery Hollow Readathon oleh Neverland Book Club yang diadakan di bulan Desember hingga Januari. Seneng banget aku mengakhiri readathon dengan buku yang sangat aku suka dan menjadi salah satu best book aku di tahun 2022.

Series                          : The Explorers’ Club #1

Length                         : 320 pages

Where to read              : Scribd

Released date               : November 2, 2017

Date read                     : December 6-9, 2022

Keywords                    : middle grade, adventure, Iceland, fantasy, friendship, family

Trigger warning          : blood, amputation (mentioned), death

The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club by Alex Bell | Book Review

BLURB

“Stella Starflake Pearl knows, without a doubt, that she was born to be an adventurer. It’s too bad girls are forbidden from becoming explorers.

But Stella’s father has never been one to play by the rules.

Leaving behind her pet polar bear, Gruff, and beloved unicorn, Magic, Stella and Felix set off on an expedition to the snowy Icelands. There, Stella plans to prove herself as a junior explorer, worthy of membership in the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club. So when Stella and three other junior explorers are separated from the rest of their expedition, she has the perfect opportunity. Can they explore the frozen wilderness and live to tell the tale?

The first in Alex Bell’s imaginative new series, The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club is a fun and daring adventure filled with magic, outlaws, and fantastic faraway lands.”

HAL YANG AKU SUKA

🧊 Karakter di dalam buku ini diperkenalkan satu per satu dan dengan karakteristik atau deskripsi yang unik baik untuk karakter manusia, hewan atau magical creature lainnya seperti fairy. Karakter anak-anak seumuran Stella juga beragam baik dari kemampuan maupun ciri-ciri fisik mereka seperti Beanie yang half-elf yang punya kebiasaan tertentu, kemudian Shay yang punya kemampuan yang sangat bermanfaat saat berpetualang dengan serigala, dan ada Ethan yang digambarkan sebagai cowok yang grumpy dengan kata-kata yang pedas tapi selalu menjadi korban makhluk-makhluk aneh yang mereka temukan.

🧊 Narasi yang digunakan dalam buku ini dalam menggambarkan setting sangat detail baik rumah Felix dan Stella, kapal yang mereka gunakan untuk berpetualang, gedung markas Polar Bear Explorers’ Club hingga situasi Iceland dengan saljunya yang tebal dan makhluk-makhluk misterius yang mereka temukan.

🧊 Gaya penulisan di buku ini tergolong mudah dipahami. Awalnya aku ingin membaca buku lain yang lebih tipis dari buku ini tapi ternyata waktu aku coba baca, bahasa Inggrisnya cukup sulit meskipun sama-sama middle grade.

🧊 Buku ini sama sekali gak ada bagian yang membosankan buat aku meskipun buku ini adalah buku petualangan yang melibatkan serigala dan unicorn serta kapal laut. Pacing dari buku ini juga sedang-sedang saja, gak cepet banget, gak lambat banget. Antara dialog dan deskripsi juga seimbang, pokoknya gak bakal kerasa baca buku ini tau-tau udah menyelesaikan beberapa chapter. Pengungkapan mengenai identitas Stella juga menarik menurut aku meskipun tidak mengejutkan karena sudah ada beberapa hint yang dimunculkan di beberapa bab di awal.

🧊 Kisah mengenai petualangan Stella dan kawan-kawan di buku ini sangat menarik buat aku terutama karena banyak sekali magical creatures yang baru buat aku yang dimunculkan di buku ini, misteri tentang identitas Stella hingga gimana semua hal yang ada di buku ini berhubungan dengan kumis dan mustache grooming.

🧊 Semua hal yang ingin diketahui pembaca sudah dijelaskan dengan sangat jelas di buku ini, mulai dari motif tiap karakter, gimana mereka bertindak, setting yang digunakan, magic system dan beberapa peraturan yang ada. world buildingnya cucok, suka banget daerah bersalju dan musim dingin yang dijadikan destinasi klub petualang.

🧊 Secara keseluruhan aku sangat suka buku ini terutama bagian perkumisan yang dimunculkan di sepanjang ceritanya, aku selalu ketawa di tiap babnya, bahkan di bagian yang mengharukan yang bikin aku hampir nangis juga setelahnya masih berhubungan dengan kumis yang bikin aku gagal nangis.

🧊 Found family trope! Suka banget buku-buku dengan trope ini termasuk buku The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club ini yang menurut aku heartwarming, kadang mengharukan dan banyak bikin ketawa.

HAL YANG GAK AKU SUKA

Gak ada. Kumis adalah koentji untuk menghapuskan segala kekurangan dari sebuah buku!

HAL YANG AKU PELAJARI

Koemis adalah koentji!

KUTIPAN FAVORIT

"I'm sure a great number of extraordinary and incredible things have been achieved despite others saying that they cannot be done."

"I tried to be normal once, and it made me utterly miserable."

"It is no great achievement to be the same as everybody else, Stella. Being different is a perfectly fine thing to be."

"Being shy is a personality trait. Not a fault."

"Wolves can be like that too. Sometimes they want to be part of the pack, other times they just want to be left in peace. Nothing wrong with that at all."

"... you should never be too absolutely sure that you're in the right and the other fellow is in the wrong. Sometimes you're the silly fool who needs to learn something."

"I think that anyone who won't let you down, who'll be there for you no matter what, counts as family."

"No one is born to be anything! You decide for yourself."

RATING

5/5 STARS

BACALAH BUKU INI JIKA KAMU SUKA

🧊 KOEMIS!

🧊 Buku middle grade petualangan yang melibatkan tempat bersalju, serigala, unicorn, fairy dan berbagai magical creatures lainnya

🧊 Trope found family

🧊 Buku middle grade dengan tema persahabatan

🧊 Buku middle grade yang bahasa Inggrisnya tidak terlalu sulit

🧊 Buku middle grade yang tiap babnya lumayan panjang kalau di scribd sekitar 20-an halaman per bab

🧊 Tokoh utama perempuan yang ceria dan pemberani (dalam hal berpetualang)

🧊 Buku middle grade dengan sedikit ilustrasi di dalamnya

🧊 Tokoh utama yang punya banyak peliharaan di rumah termasuk polar bear!

🧊 Buku yang bisa bikin kamu ketawa

🧊 Karakter ayah yang punya filosofi hidup yang sangat relatable dengan anak muda

🧊Buku dengan banyak hewan yang dimunculkan dan mengandung pesan untuk memperlakukan hewan sebaik mungkin

Jadi ada yang sudah pernah baca buku The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club ini? Kasih tau di kolom komentar ya!

Halo hai! Sebentar lagi tahun baru, sudah merencanakan mau baca buku apa aja tahun depan? Atau kamu masih ga tau gimana caranya memotivasi diri sendiri untuk membaca buku-buku yang sudah kamu beli? Kali ini aku mau membagikan beberapa template reading tracker yang bisa kamu gunakan untuk mencatat, mereview bahkan menambah semangat kegiatan membaca kamu.

(Hi! New year is coming. Have you planned your next reading year? Or are you currently in a need of motivation for reading your already bought books? In this blog post, I share some reading tracker templates for you to track, review even boost your reading motivation.)

7 Simple Reading Tracker Inspiration and Templates

Kalau kamu pengguna planner atau bullet journal, kamu pasti sudah tidak asing lagi dengan tracker yang satu ini, bahkan mungkin kamu sudah punya template kamu sendiri. Bagi yang sama sekali belum pernah bikin reading tracker atau lagi males bikin sendiri atau lagi gak ada ide mau bikin reading tracker kayak gimana, beberapa jenis reading tracker di bawah ini bisa kamu contoh di journal kamu atau kamu bisa download filenya untuk kamu print sendiri!

(If you use planner or bullet journal, reading tracker is your best friends, or at leat you know this tracker exists in this world, and you might even have your own tracker template. If you haven’t tried using any trackers or you don’t have any ideas which reading tracker you want to use, don’t worry! You can make your own using these simple reading tracker templates or you can print the files by yourself.)

Contoh yang aku sebutkan berikut adalah versi sederhana tanpa warna dengan font standar yang tentu saja gak bakal bikin kamu mikir mau nyontoh templatenya gimana. Kalau kamu lebih suka versi berwarna dengan font yang gemes, kalian bisa mendapatkannya di shainalite shop, yang linknya aku taruh di bawah masing-masing deskripsi template ya.

(Some templates I provided below are plain versions without colors using standard font which are easier to copy on your journal. If you prefer the colorful version with cuter fonts, you can get them from shainalite shop. The link for each product will be provided below.)

1. One Year Reading Tracker

(You can use this reading tracker for one whole year. You don’t need to make table or template each month. This template is similar to my Period Tracker I use on my bullet journal. You can mark the date where you read your book. The rules depend on you. There is a rectangle below the table for color coding or symbols you use here. Example : you can track your reading time here using different colors. You can also use certain symbol for marking the day you read a book without paying attention to the duration or pages read. You will see the result or your reading pattern for a year in one page. As for me, it’s more satisfying to use different colors for things you want to track)

DOWNLOAD : One Year Reading Tracker plain version (jpg)

SHOP : One Year Reading Tracker colored version (printed)

2. One Month Reading Tracker

Reading tracker yang ini digunakan untuk tracking bacaan selama sebulan, jadi kotaknya lebih gede-gede. Kekurangannya adalah kalian harus bikin tracker ini setiap bulan. Cara pengisian juga sama seperti One Year Reading Tracker di atas. Karena kotaknya gede, selain bisa mengisi warna, juga bisa menambah keterangan jumlah halaman maupun durasi membaca harian kalian. Bentuknya juga bisa sesuai selera, yang aku cantumkan ada bentuk segienam, bintang dan persegi.

(This reading tracker is meant for one month only, so it has bigger boxes or other shapes in one page. If you use this kind of reading tracker, you need to make this each month. It’s the same as One Year Reading Tracker above when it comes to the rules. Since it has bigger shapes, you can not only fill certain color depending on your color coding, but also add other notes such as reading duration and pages read. The shapes are varied, I only attached hexagonal, star and rectangle ones here.)

DOWNLOAD : One Month Reading Tracker plain version (3 jpg files)

SHOP : One Month Reading Tracker colored version (printed)

3. One Book Reading Tracker

Kalau kalian lebih suka tracking bacaan per buku (untuk keperluan review misalnya), kalian bisa pakai tracker yang ini.  Untuk tracker ini tidak ada batas waktu sebulan atau setahun, bebas, pokoknya untuk satu judul buku saja. Di bagian lingkaran bisa kalian isi tanggal baca yang tentu saja bisa kapanpun, dan di bagian bawah langsung kalian isi durasi membaca dan jumlah halaman yang kalian baca. Di bagian atas, ada identitas buku seperti judul dan penulis, kemudian waktu awal dan selesai baca, dan juga review singkat tentang buku tersebut.

(If you like tracking each book you’re reading, you may need this tracker. It’s useful for you to make book reviews since it has space for short review. The circles can be filled by dates which can be any day you read (it doesn’t require you to read every single day) then you can fill in your reading duration and  pages read below each circle.)

DOWNLOAD : One Book Reading Tracker plain version (jpg)

SHOP : One Book Reading Tracker colored version (printed)

4. Bookmark Reading Tracker

Kalau kalian suka reading tracker yang lebih sederhana dan bisa dibawa kemana-mana, jenis reading tracker yang ini bisa kalian pakai. Selain bisa dijadikan reading tracker, juga bisa dijadikan bookmark. Kalau kalian mau bikin sendiri, bisa pakai kertas apapun mulai dari yang tipis sampai yang tebal, dan ukurannya sesuai bookmark yang kalian inginkan. Kalau di contoh yang aku pakai ini ukurannya 5 x 13 cm. Cara pengisian juga sama seperti reading tracker sebelumnya, terserah kalian.

(This tracker is meant for you who love simpler and easier to bring type of tracker. Not only reading tracker, it’s also a bookmark! If you want to make this by yourself, pick whatever paper you like and cut it to your preference. For this sample, I use 5 x 13 cm size. You can tick or mark the shapes with the days you read your book by any colors you like.)

DOWNLOAD : Bookmark Reading Tracker plain version (3 jpg files)

SHOP : Bookmark Reading Tracker colored version (printed)

5. Reading Progress Tracker

Jenis tracker yang ini bisa digunakan untuk beberapa buku yang kalian baca. Sesuai judulnya, dengan menggunakan tracker ini kalian bisa mengetahui reading progress tiap buku yang ada di current reads kalian. Template yang  ini cocok buat kalian yang suka baca buku lebih dari satu secara bersamaan. Di bagian kolom progress, ada 10 kotak yang bisa kalian isi setiap kalian menyelesaikan 10% dari buku yang kalian baca.

(This tracker can be used for multiple books you’re currently reading. By using this tracker, you will know your reading progress for each book on your current reads. This template is suitable for those who love reading more than one book at once. Progress column contains 10 smaller columns which you can mark / color for every 10% read of your book.)

DOWNLOAD : Reading Progress Tracker plain version (jpg)

SHOP : Reading Progress Tracker colored version (printed)

6. Nostalgia Reading Tracker

Judulnya begini karena aku ga tau harus ngasih judul apa lagi, karena reading tracker ini mengingatkan aku ke buku panduan Ramadhan dimana ada tracker buat membaca Al-Qur’an. Modelannya kayak gini. Bedanya kalau Al-Qur’an biasanya pakai nama surat, kalau yang ini pakai judul buku,sehingga kalian bisa tracking lebih dari 1 buku yang sedang kalian baca. Kemudian kalian mengisi tanggal berapa kalian baca dan halaman mulai dan halaman terakhir yang kalian baca hari itu.

(I decided to give this title to this tracker since I haven’t found any other name and it always reminds me of my old school days’ Ramadhan tracker where we filled it with our Holy Qur’an reading progress. The template is similar, for Qur’an tracker, it has surah as the first column, but here we changed it to book title, so you can read multiple books each day. Then you fill your reading date as well as page stated and page ended.)

DOWNLOAD : Nostalgia Reading Tracker plain version (jpg)

SHOP : Nostalgia Reading Tracker colored version (printed)

7. Reading Time Tracker

Kalau kalian sedang menantang diri sendiri untuk membaca dalam durasi waktu tertentu setiap hari, reading tracker yang satu ini bisa kalian gunakan. Ada 4 blok dalam satu halaman, setiap blok berisi 60 kotak, setiap kotak melambangkan 1 menit. Kamu tinggal menandai kotak-kotak ini jika sesuai dengan durasi baca kamu. Jika sudah mencapai 1 jam atau 60 menit, bakal pindah ke blok selanjutnya. Kamu bisa mengubah tulisan menit di bawah tiap blok sesuai keinginan kalian.

(If you’re currently doing a challenge for yourself to read certain minutes everyday, this reading tracker can be useful. There are 4 blocks in one page where each block contains 60 boxes. One box represents one minute you spend reading. You only need to mark the boxes depends on your reading duration. When you have reached one hour or 60 minutes, you’ll move to the next block. You can custom the writing below each block to your preference.)

DOWNLOAD : Reading Time Tracker plain version (jpg)

SHOP : Reading Time Tracker colored version (printed)

Jadi, sudah menentukan mau pakai reading tracker yang mana nih? Reading tracker biasa digunakan untuk memotivasi atau memulai kebiasaan membaca, namun tidak menutup kemungkinan orang yang sudah teerbiasa membaca setiap hari juga membutuhkan tracker ini, untuk keperluan review atau keperluan lain seperti tugas sekolah atau penelitian seputar kebiasaan membaca. Jika kalian punya tracker yang berbeda, bisa share di kolom komentar, siapa tau aku juga tertarik ingin mencoba jenis tracker baru.