Great! I’ll update it. 
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And also I’ll edit the nomination post, seems like the tsubasa bunko is in stock in Amazon for those who rather have physical
It has the wrong cover though, so take with a grain of salt, maybe is the wrong book.
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pretty sure it’s not actually the つばさ version. The ISBN is wrong. Should be: 4046310286
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Yeah just cross-referenced with my physical I bought in 2021, still the title is wrong, but the ISBN is a strong indication it might just be a title error, as Amazon uses ISBNs as ASIN for physical books.
Title:
Available formats: physical / ebook / full furigana
Summary - Japanese
第1巻の内容紹介: 昭和58年初夏。寒村・雛見沢村で、都会から引越してきた前原圭一は楽しい仲間に囲まれ充実の日々を送っていた。ところが……「嫌な事件だったね。…腕が一本、まだ見つかってないんだろ？」――かけがえのない日々に、惨劇の足音が忍び寄る。一時代を築いた傑作ホラーの金字塔がジュニア文庫に登場。さぁ、惨劇に挑め。 ※小・中学生に読みやすいよう総ルビ＆イラスト満載のジュニア文庫として再編集したものです。 ※本書は、2000年発表の同人ゲーム『ひぐらしのなく頃に 鬼隠し編』のシナリオをもとに、著者である竜騎士07氏自らが全面改稿し、2007年に講談社BOX、2011年に星海社文庫より、小説として刊行されたものを、加筆修正のうえ双葉社ジュニア文庫化したものです。（2020年11月現在）
Summary - English (DeepL)
Introduction to Volume 1: Early summer of 1983. In the cold village of Hinamizawa, Keiichi Maehara, who had moved here from the city, was living a full life surrounded by happy friends. However, … “It was an unpleasant incident, wasn’t it? …You still haven’t found one of his arms, have you?” --The footsteps of tragedy creep up on these irreplaceable days. The golden age of horror masterpieces is now available in the Junior Bunko collection. Now, challenge the tragedy. This book has been re-edited as a junior bunko with full-illustrations and full-illustrations to make it easy to read for elementary and junior high school students. This book is based on the scenario of the doujin game “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Onikakuroni-hen” published in 2000, which was completely revised by the author Ryuunishi 07 himself and published as a novel by Kodansha BOX in 2007 and Seikaisha Bunko in 2011. (As of November 2020)
Content Warnings
For what I have read around, is toned down version, but still possibly contains torture and murder.
Reason(s) for nominating: Found this on my last trip to Japan on a book-off. Didn’t know there was a Junior version of the light novels. There’s currently on-going in the VN club, so it might overlap for some, although there aren’t that many participants over the VN Club, for most it won’t be an issue.
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Title: 魔女の宅急便 1 | L25
Available formats: physical / ebook / audiobook
Summary - Japanese
ひとり立ちするために初めての街にやってきた１３歳の魔女キキが、新しい街で始めた商売宅急便屋さん。相棒の黒猫ジジと喜び哀しみをともにしながら街の人たちに受け入れられるようになるまでの１年を描く。
Summary - English (DeepL)
Kiki, a 13-year-old witch who has come to her first town to be on her own, starts a business, a courier service, in her new town. The film depicts a year in which she and her black cat Gigi, her partner, share joys and sorrows as they become accepted by the people of the town.
Content Warnings
None known
Reason(s) for nominating: Often held up as the first Japanese book you should read (terrible advice, but I digress), I’ve had this on my shelf forever and started it a few times before. I love the movie and would like to actually get through the book.
5 Likes
I’ve noticed that the Korean version is on Storytel. So, about the level, do you think it would still be L25 without accounting for the lack of kanji that I saw a lot of people mentionning, or if it’s relatively simple and that’s the thing that bumps its level up? I’m wondering if I should try to listen to this audiobook, but that’s just not gonna go well if it’s actually L25 and I can’t use the text as a reference, as my listening comprehension is still behind my reading comprehension level.
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I remember having the most trouble with long sentences and a little bit of vocabulary around herbs or potion making or something like that. Gut feeling I’d say it’s about the level of また、同じ夢を見ていた | L25, so yeah, it’s probably a 24-25.
I just flipped through my book and mine has kanji… unless you mean furigana which I did notice it didn’t have.
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Yep, that’s what I meant. Definitely above my listening level for audiobooks then. Thanks!
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神獣たちのふしぎな力 紫禁城の秘密のともだち: 神獣たちのふしぎな力 紫禁城の秘密のともだち | L20??
Available formats: physical / full furigana
Summary - Japanese
北京の広大な城、紫禁城を舞台にくりひろげられる、伝説の神獣たちと小学4年生の女の子、小雨（シャオユウ）の物語。
お母さんが紫禁城で働いている関係で、放課後は毎日のように紫禁城ですごす小雨。紫禁城にいる動物たちとは大の仲良し。
ある日、きれいな石のイヤリングをひろってから、小雨の耳に、いつも餌をやっていた野良猫の梨花（リーファー）の言葉が聞こえるようになって……。
中国に伝わる龍や鳳凰、ふしぎな神獣たちもたくさん登場して、それぞれと冒険がはじまります。紫禁城の宝物や建物の不思議
Summary - English
The story of a fourth-grade girl, Xiaoyu, and the legendary gods and beasts of the Forbidden City, a vast castle in Beijing.
Because her mother works in the Forbidden City, Xiaoyu spends every day after school in the Forbidden City. She is good friends with the animals in the Forbidden City.
One day, after she finds a pair of beautiful stone earrings, she begins to hear the words of Lihua, a stray cat that she has always fed. …
Many Chinese dragons, phoenixes, and mysterious gods and beasts also make appearances, and the adventure begins with each of them. Treasures and building wonders of the Forbidden City
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Content Warnings
unknown
Reason(s) for nominating: I bought this book on a shopping spree at Tsutaya Books last year, then read the first chapter or two on the plane on the way home! I really enjoyed it, and would love to finish reading it. It’s translated from Chinese, so probably great practice for anyone interested in reading China-inspired settings. (Such as 薬屋のひとりごと.) Also it has very fun illustrations.
4 Likes
What a cute cover! 
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It’s time to vote!
Have a look at the nominations, and vote for up to 5 books below. The poll will be open for just over a week. 
Which book would you like to read?
マジック・ツリーハウス 1 恐竜の谷の大冒険
そして五人がいなくなる<名探偵夢水清志郎事件ノート>
すみっこ★読書クラブ 事件ダイアリー 1
手ぶくろを買いに/ごんぎつね 10歳までに読みたい日本名作
涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱
二分間の冒険
金の国 水の国
四つ子ぐらし 1 ひみつの姉妹生活、スタート!
ふしぎな声のする町で: ものだま探偵団
星の王子さま
ふしぎアイテム博物館 変身手紙・過去カメラ ほか
ひぐらしのなく頃に 第一話 鬼隠し編 上
魔女の宅急便 1- 神獣たちのふしぎな力 紫禁城の秘密のともだち
0
voters
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There are more that I would really love to read(!), but I’m restricting myself to voting for books that I already own for the moment. Sorry for being boring. 
5 Likes
Likewise there are several I’m interested in but I’ve got to get my reading and 積ん読piles under control before joining another club! I’m gonna sit this one out but I’m watching 
4 Likes
We have our winner! 
The home thread will be up shortly where we can decide the reading schedule and pace.
ETA:
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Request: could you put a link to the most recent nomination list in the OP?
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Done! 
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One final post from me: 魔女の宅急便 has four weeks left, so I’ll go ahead and presumptively open nominations for the next pick.
Nominations are now open. The poll for the next book shall open July 13 and close July 21, with the winning book starting August 5 (as long as no one needs extra time to ship a physical copy).
Nominations List
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Title: きのうの君とみらいの君へ ~思春期の6人の物語~ | L24??
Available formats: physical / ebook / full furigana
Summary - Japanese
「女だけど、恋したのは女の先生」「ゲイであることを友だちにかくしている」「自分の身体と割り当てられた性別に、違和感がある」など……。ＬＧＢＴＱ＋当事者の、セクシュアリティ（性のあり方）になやんだ体験談を、６編の小説に。かんたんな用語集やコラムも収録。
Summary - English
“I’m a girl, but I fell in love with my female teacher,” “I’m hiding the fact that I’m gay from my friends,” “I feel uncomfortable with my body and the gender I was assigned,” etc. These are the experiences of LGBTQ+ people struggling with sexuality, and are compiled into six novels. A simple glossary and columns are also included.
(Google translate)
Content Warnings
I haven’t read the book yet so no idea!
Reason(s) for nominating: I saw this book randomly under the new released book’s section of 集英社みらい文庫 and their promotion made me curious.
According to this review, the glossary apparently is also very good and if you ever wanted to learn vocabulary surrounding queer topics this book seems to be a good starting point.
5 Likes
Very interesting find.
2 Likes
