nonfiction – Page 2 – BookBunnies

Marshmallow reviews From Goddess to Mortal: The True-life Story of a Former Royal Kumari by Rashmila Shakya

Today Marshmallow reviews From Goddess to Mortal: The True-life Story of a Former Royal Kumari, written by Rashmila Shakya (as told to Scott Berry) and published in 2005.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like books that reveal unique and fascinating cultures through an up-close, never-seen-before lens, then this is the book for you!

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): In her first year of preschool, Rashmila was selected to become the Kumari of her Nepali valley. Essentially, this means that she became a living goddess. Since ancient times, her people have selected a new young girl to hold this position after the previous one ages out. After passing tests that checked whether her horoscopes aligned well with the current kings, Rashmila was determined to have the “32 perfections” in a physical examination; she remains committed to the exam’s innocence and maintains that there was no personal violation.

Rashmila was confirmed as the Royal Kumari at age four and sent away from her family to live in Kumari Che, the palace dedicated to the child embodying the goddess. There she lived for eight years as a literal deity, waited on almost constantly with carers and playmates who always obeyed her every whim. She woke up early every day to play with her dolls and often performed duties at festivals. She was never allowed to touch the bare ground; whenever there was anywhere to go, she was either carried by men, brought by carriage or palanquin, or a white cloth was laid before her if she had to walk a couple steps. Back at the palace, she received visitors both foreign and domestic. As she was a deity of children, mothers would often visit her with their own children and pray for healing. And she would heal them.

It is truly fascinating to hear a former Kumari – a former child deity – reveal what it was like to be a goddess, from what she remembers. This tradition is ingrained in her culture and she truly believes / ed herself to be a deity who healed illness and channelled the soul of her land.

Her term ended when she turned twelve though. She was brought back to her real family home, but felt out of place. Though her own autonomy was limited at Kumari Che, she was loved and loved it there. So coming back to a life where she must walk on her own, eat at a table with others, and pull her own weight was a bit of a difficult transition. Rashmila admits that she did not react in a very admirable way. But it is necessary to give her some grace since she spent most of her life (at that point) living as a literal goddess.

The rest of the book covers Rashmila’s experiences as she becomes a mere mortal and discovers that life for former deities does exist if you are surrounded by a loving family and driven by the desire to make something more of yourself.

Marshmallow is reading From Goddess to Mortal: The True-life Story of a Former Royal Kumari by Rashmila Shakya (as told to Scott Berry). — Marshmallow is reading *From Goddess to Mortal: The True-life Story of a Former Royal Kumari* by Rashmila Shakya (as told to Scott Berry).

Marshmallow’s Review: From Goddess to Mortal is such a fascinating book! I had not heard of the Nepali tradition of the Kumari until Sprinkles read this book and recommended I read it too. Learning about this Nepali way of life and just the culture, peoples, and traditions there in general was amazing. I would highly recommend it to all because so many distinct and wonderful things are going up in those mountains that many of us have never heard of. Reading is a perfect way to discover more about the worlds in our world that we’ve never seen or experienced.

The book is written rather simplistically (sometimes the wording is a teensy bit clunky but it is a translation, making this an overly critical comment) so it is definitely accessible to everyone. There are eight chapters and one can read it in nicely sized chunks if one wants.

I think any curious-minded individual would love From Goddess to Mortal. It is interesting from an anthropological sense as well as a psychological sense too. Reading about Rashmila’s transformation and evolution as a person is fascinating. She is sometimes very insufferable to her genetic family early on, but you have to really think about things in context because of how different her life is and was from every other human or bunny to ever exist. Her experiences are truly unique and I do not think there are really many others who have lived what she has besides other former Kumari. This is just really fascinating to me and I am sure it will equally fascinate and educate others who pick up this book!

Marshmallow’s Rating: 96%.

Marshmallow rates From Goddess to Mortal: The True-life Story of a Former Royal Kumari by Rashmila Shakya (as told to Scott Berry) 96%. — Marshmallow rates *From Goddess to Mortal: The True-life Story of a Former Royal Kumari* by Rashmila Shakya (as told to Scott Berry) 96%.

Marshmallow reviews Fiske Guide To Colleges 2026 (42nd Edition) by Edward B. Fiske

For her last review before the book bunnies take off for the month of July, Marshmallow picked a book she has spent a lot of time with these past few weeks: The Fiske Guide To Colleges 2026 (42nd Edition) by Edward B. Fiske.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you are a high school student approaching the college application season, or if you are related to one, then this is the book for you!

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): The Fiske Guide To Colleges 2026 is organized very well! It has a comprehensive table of contents at the start to lay out every opportunity for exploration it will give you in the pages to come. There is an Index by State and Country, an Index by Price, an Index by Average Debt, and The Best Buys of 2026. Those first couple pages contain enough valuable information alone to justify obtaining a copy of this book. But what really makes this more valuable than just lists alone is what lies below those lists.

The Introduction and the “Sizing Yourself Up” section remind you of what the college search is supposed to be about. Instead of hunting for the lowest sticker price or the greatest name recognition, the reader is encouraged to remember that there are infinitely more factors to take into account in what should be a search for the educational nursery that will hopefully prepare you for a successful future later on in life.

There is a handy-dandy survey you can take which helps you evaluate what it is you want in a college; this is very useful, and I am not just saying that because I love taking Buzzfeed quizzes! While taking that test, I realized that there are many more aspects to the admissions process to consider while making your list. If half of the schools on your list are not places you would actually like to be in, then you are likely making a mistake.

For those who are certain in their choices and the path they want, there is a section titled “A Guide for Preprofessionals.” There is also a page listing the schools with the strongest support for students with disabilities; this could be life changing for many. The next part is also similarly crucial. Each school has two to three pages describing what life is like for students on campus, from architectural style to weather to culture to food to average political affiliations.

Personally, I have found that finding a good fit has been very difficult for me. When most colleges are in different states and you can’t really visit most of the places on your list, getting a feel for the “vibe” of a place is pretty hard. But with this book, you can get a much better sense of what life could look like for you in different places. There is no doubt that the college applications process is a truly stressful time, but with this book you will definitely feel much more comfortable and informed as you look ahead into an uncertain future.

Marshmallow is reading Fiske Guide To Colleges 2026 (42nd Edition) by Edward B. Fiske. — Marshmallow is reading *Fiske Guide To Colleges 2026* (42nd Edition) by Edward B. Fiske.

Marshmallow’s Review: I really, really appreciate Mr. Fiske and his team. I am very glad they took the time to write beautifully detailed entries for each school, not to mention the little information bars that go with each. Each entry has a box with the school’s website, location type, private / public designation, total enrollment, undergraduate count, male to female ratio, financial aid stats, Pell Grant stats, expense, student loan stats, average debt, applicant pool size, acceptance rate, enrollment rate, graduation rate, returning freshman rate, academics assessment, social life assessment, quality of life assessment, admissions info, and strong programs. I think this is the best way to learn more about schools besides visiting a place physically. Helpful indexes also help you break down how the book analyzes and ranks different parts to consider. I specifically, especially liked how the book emphasizes the social life and quality of life of different schools. Personally, I do not want to go to a school with too much of a Greek life focus and this has been one of the clearest ways for me to get a sense of different opportunities at different schools. There is also a box at the end of each entry for each school that tells you the details of how to apply to each individual school (such as their testing policy with the SAT and ACT).

Overall, The Fiske Guide To Colleges 2026 has been a really, really helpful resource for me. It has actually opened my eyes substantially to all the different opportunities and futures there are. I used to be a lot more narrow-minded in where I was going to apply, but I’ve definitely crossed off certain places and added new ones because I realized that I simply had not known enough about each school. Every place is uniquely perfect for someone and, with this book, you can feel much safer and much more confident while you search for your place in college.

A quick note for those looking into earlier editions of the book: I also had the chance to peruse the 2024 edition, and I did not see too many differences in coverage and content. So I was happy to get my paws on the latest edition, but other recent editions can also do the job if they are easier to access.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 100%.

Marshmallow rates Fiske Guide To Colleges 2026 (42nd Edition) by Edward B. Fiske 100%. — Marshmallow rates *Fiske Guide To Colleges 2026* (42nd Edition) by Edward B. Fiske 100%.

Caramel reviews Tetris: The Games People Play by Brian “Box” Brown

Today Caramel reviews Tetris: The Games People Play by Brian “Box” Brown, first published in 2016. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: Today we are talking about a graphic novel about my favorite computer game, the one and only, the classic: Tetris!

Caramel: Yay! This is, as you said, a comic book about Tetris and how it rose to popularity.

S: So it is not quite fiction then, right?

C: No, it’s more so a fictionalization of a real event, like the movie Oppenheimer.

S: That makes sense. I am very excited that you read this book because I really like Tetris. But I also am curious about the whole phenomenon it became. It was everywhere and people were almost addicted to it for a while.

C: Yeah, this comic book explains all of that. It is interesting to me because, you know, there are a lot of games today. It seems like when Tetris came out, it was a huge deal partially because there weren’t as many big games.

S: Now that’s not quite true, there were other video games, but I think it is probably true that Tetris is a class of its own. It was so popular and it just took over.

C: And it is such a simple idea. Blocks falling down and you are trying to place them in empty spaces just the right way so the pile won’t get too big.

S: Isn’t it interesting that my favorite computer game and yours both have blocks?

C: True, but my favorite game may have slightly better resolution.

S: Well, Tetris did not really need much resolution really. But you are right of course, Minecraft is so much more visually detailed, and of course you can build so many different things with blocks in Minecraft. It is a lot more sophisticated. But you know, that was part of the appeal of Tetris. It is so basic, so simple, but it is also very challenging.

C: True. It can get really hard. Especially when it gets faster and faster.

S: Yup. So tell me a bit more about the book.

C: The book starts with a strange scene about humans and play and art and entertainment. And about why people play. There are many pages about early games people played, and art about games and how games might be related to art too. Then there are a few pages about the founding of the Japanese company Nintendo. And we get into computer games eventually. But we do meet the coder who built Tetris very early on. It was a Russian programmer named Alexey Pajitnov. He thought about how when he was a little kid, he used to play with pentominoes, which are shapes made of five squares, and how it was difficult to place them in a box when he was done playing with them. Then eventually we get back to him, and we follow him through his life, as he develops and shares Tetris with the rest of the world. He moves to the United States and the game gets even more popular.

S: That sounds interesting! Quite a crash course in the history of games!

Caramel is reading Tetris: The Games People Play by Brian "Box" Brown. — Caramel is reading *Tetris: The Games People Play* by Brian “Box” Brown.

S: Did you learn anything new from the book then?

C: Well, basically everything! I knew about the game, I have seen you play it even, but I didn’t know much else about it. I also did not know that other people liked the game as much as you do. It apparently became a really big deal. People started seeing Tetris tiles everywhere even when they were not playing and so on.

S: But I bet you can sympathize. Have you ever looked around you after playing Minecraft for a while and seeing cubic blocky things?

C: No! Because I am a normal bunny.

S: Well, hmm, that is interesting. Maybe the blocks in Minecraft are too different, there are too many different distinct shapes to make your brain go wacky like that.

C: Or … maybe I have never played Minecraft for too long. Maybe I should play more to see if I get to see things as Minecraft blocks?

S: Hmm, I don’t like that idea.

C: Oh, too bad. Because I really did like it.

S: Sure you did. Okay, let’s get back to the book. What did you think of the color scheme of the book?

C: It’s all black and white and yellow, yet the art is still detailed. It is really interesting. The game itself has a lot of color, though they are the main primary colors, but the author chose only these colors. I wonder why.

S: Yeah, that is an interesting observation, Caramel. The yellow adds color but also is not distracting. Maybe the Tetris colors would be a bit too distracting.

C: Maybe. The story was interesting though I was not expecting to learn about the games ancient Egyptians played when I began reading. I thought it would be only about Tetris.

S: But the book also has a subtitle.

C: True. The subtitle is “The Games People Play”. So I guess it makes sense that there could be more general stuff about games.

S: That part reminds me a bit of another book I read recently called Around the World in Eighty Games. I even reviewed it for a math journal.

C: That book looks interesting too. I bet it has a lot of games I don’t know about.

S: Well, you can borrow it whenever you like. I still have a copy.

C: Maybe I will.

S: Okay, Caramel, this seems to me like a good place to wrap up this review. It is after all a school night, again.

C: Yep.

S: What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Tetris: The Games People Play by Brian "Box" Brown and continues to wonder if it can provide him with any justification for more Minecraft time. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Tetris: The Games People Play* by Brian “Box” Brown and continues to wonder if it can provide him with any justification for more Minecraft time.

Caramel reviews Wampum Belts of the Iroquois by Tehanetorens

Today Caramel reviews Wampum Belts of the Iroquois, a book first published in 1999 by Tehanetorens. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: Today you are reviewing a nonfiction book. It has been a while since you last reviewed a nonfiction book, no?

Caramel: Not really. I reviewed America As It Happened: A Moment-by-Moment Journey Through Time, From Prehistory to the Present Day only a couple weeks ago, and that was nonfiction.

S: True. Okay, so this book is also nonfiction. Tell me a bit about what it is about.

C: It’s about the wampum belts, which denote or commemorate laws, treaties and commitments. The Iroquois people make them and wear them, and the book talks about a lot of different examples of these belts.

S: That sounds really interesting. Tell me more.

C: The book is about a school project. The person who wrote the book is the teacher, and his students at the Onkwehonwe Neha School worked with beads and other traditional materials to make replicas of important wampum belts. The book has a lot of different types of these belts. And the student who made each belt poses with the belt so you can see them too. They are really cool. I only wish the pictures were in color.

S: But even though they are in black and white, the pictures already show how many different types of wampum belts there are, right?

C: Yes. And for each belt, besides the photo of the child who made the belt, there is a lot of information about the belt. For example there is a belt called the Hiawatha or the ayonwatha belt, which shows the union between five nations (the five tribes making up the Iroquois), and looks like a wide dark belt with two white squares on either side of either a heart or a tree, which represents one of each nation, and they are connected by a line that symbolizes their union. It is neat how it symbolizes the five nations coming together.

S: I know that in a lot of traditional societies where rugs and carpets are woven, the people who weave them put in a lot of information into their work. These belts remind me of that kind of a tradition, a way to memorialize important events in objects that can also be used.

C: Yes, they are practical and useful but also beautiful. I really liked them.

Caramel is reading Wampum Belts of the Iroquois by Tehanetorens. — Caramel is reading *Wampum Belts of the Iroquois* by Tehanetorens.

S: Also these specific belts were able to connect the students who made them with their traditions and histories. It must have been a very engaging school project.

C: Yes, it is kind of like the ofrenda I made at school for my maternal grandfather. It was a way for me to learn more about him, because you know, I never met him, and when I was making it, you told me a lot more stories about him.

S: Yes, kind of like that. Of course that was more about your personal history, rather than the history of a whole people, but still you are right that it hopefully allowed you to connect a bit more deeply with someone from your past.

C: Yes.

S: So Caramel, what made you want to review this book?

C: You know I love fact-full books and this one is definitely full of facts. And it has lots of interesting pictures. And the kids holding their belts look so serious and proud, it is really neat to look at them. So I wanted to tell other young bunnies about it because the book is really neat.

S: That is fair.

C: There are also a lot of hand-drawn pictures in there, and those are cool too. Almost every page has some picture and so the book is really easy to read.

S: Yes, the pictures make it so engaging, you are right.

C: Of course.

S: Okay, Caramel, so maybe this is a good time to wrap up the review.

C: Again it is a school night, so I agree.

S: So let us do just that. What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Wampum Belts of the Iroquois by Tehanetorens and learning about this interesting tradition of the Iroquois. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Wampum Belts of the Iroquois* by Tehanetorens and learning about this interesting tradition of the Iroquois.