A series of three mystery stories with a children’s bookstore owner named Hanae who decided to become a detective. Based on the first book, all the cases involve cats in someway, though they’re not mostly about the cats. The mysteries are all pretty simple (it’s meant for elementary schoolers, after all) and not too serious.
The description from Bookwalker, for anyone interested:
子どもの本の店をしているはなえさんは、へんな事件が大好き。今回もかわいげのない猫カポネと難事件にいどみます。完ぺきなアリバイにいどむ「赤いとびらの家」、ケーキどろぼうの疑いは晴らせるのか「犯人はカポネ？」、そして怪盗ミミッチーマウスが再びあらわれる「にゃんにゃん大行進」。三つの事件は、それぞれ事件編と解決編に分かれています。解決編をみる前に、事件の謎を考えてみましょう。好評の「にゃんにゃん探偵団」シリーズ第２弾。
The first book was great. I haven’t read this book yet, but presumably it’s of similar quality. Hanae is cute as heck and all the mysteries were nice. It’s a really good difficulty for the Absolute Beginner club and is a book (with pictures) rather than a manga.
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
As mentioned, a book rather than a manga, so it has a good amount of writing that’s not just dialogue. We’ll also have had a couple of manga in a row, so changing it up would be nice.
The characters are all humans, rather than animals. Cats are involved, but are not the main focus of any stories. (This is probably more up to taste, but it is a change from the last couple of books, so I thought that might make it a pro.)
Of course, all the language is pretty simple (it’s intended for 3rd-4th graders, from what I’ve seen.)
I’ve seen people ask about doing a follow up for the first book club several times, so there’s definitely interest in the book already.
Hanae is cute as heck (her cat… maybe not so much?)
Cons
It’s a sequel, so some people might be put off by that. However, the stories in the first volume were all pretty independent, and the book has a page with introductions for all the characters, included those returning from the last book.
It’s a bit longer than the first book–135 pages vs 155, based on the Bookwalker listing. I don’t really think the extra 20 pages will be a big deal, but I figured I’d mention it.
The stories are fairly long–the first and third are around 60 pages each, while the second is around 20, based on the table of contents. So it’s a bit harder to break up into different weeks (can’t just do “one chapter per week” or something like that.) The group for the first book did around 15 pages a week, by the look of it, though it’s hard for me to figure out exactly.
We will finish Shirokuma in 4-5 weeks, depending on the vote regarding the long chapter, and Chii is gonna take from 5-7 weeks /o/
Also, have we decided if we want a break after Shirokuma, btw? I wonder where to post that poll if not
There’s a poll up on the top of this thread where you can say that you’ll be joining us. Then all you have to do is get yourself the book, and interact with us on the forums along the way!
I mean, yes. Then, isn’t everything easier said than done?
You usually say that when things are especially hard, and I don’t think buying an ebook or book online is something easier said than done.
I still don’t quite understand the intent behind that statement, though.
Do you want advice as to how to do it, or is it supposed to be a negative comment about the way things were phrased? I might be looking too much into it, and if you didn’t mean anything by it, (which I doubt going by your next comment), I apologize.
Otherwise, of course I don’t know how things are in Namibia, but you seem to have an internet connection and a WaniKani membership. Buying an ebook shouldn’t be that different, and it’s only around $4. If you don’t want to, or can’t for other reasons, then that’s fair, but I still think saying, “Easier said than done.” is a little reductive.
Not any kind of complaint or real comment, just a personal note that it is easier said than done for me as I live in Namibia. My subscription here was a gift, and debit cards are hard to use for international online purchases.
But… I have a Japanese student who is going to Japan next month, so I am going to ask him to buy me some hard copies of books! Can you suggest some that will be read by the group in the next few months?
It’s not about being lucky, it all depends on your bank. In my country one year ago, no bank offered buying online using depit cards and we had to get a Visa. But now the government enforced them to support it, if that didn’t happen I might be using an Anki deck instead of wanikani
It’s still down to the bank, at least in the US. My bank debit card is a Visa, but they don’t allow international charges with it. When I buy things overseas, I have to use a credit card that does allow international charges.
)
I wonder where to post that poll if not
