The whole high school, including the Drama Club and the Gardening Club, is still preparing for Meteor Festival. Legoshi is still working out his feelings for Haru, but he has generally come to the conclusion that he has a crush on her, and not that it is a carnivorous urge to devour her.  However, Haru had some major feelings for another member of the Drama Club, not Legoshi. She’s sweet on Louis, who regards her as a high school fling. He knows once he graduates that he will find another red deer to be his mate. To complicate matters, Juno, another grey wolf, has started coming on strong to Legoshi, and she has the same mentality that Louis has - Legoshi is the only grey wolf, so they will naturally become a mated pair in the end.

Elias has revealed his full, true form, and takes on the being known as Josef, who has been trying to capture the Church Grim in order to make a chimera.  Chise awakens from her injury inflicted by Josef, and she manages to calm Elias down back into his "human" form.  She forms a bond with the Church Grim, who becomes her familiar even though he is a fae, which means his eternal life will end when hers does.  Chise renames the Grim "Ruth" because of his loyalty. Days later, while wandering and looking for Elias, Chise comes across a man named Joel tending his garden full of beautiful roses.  He has a muse attached to him, a parasite who normally feeds on the energy of people in exchange for inspiration, but this muse is content with just being near Joel. At the very end, Chise receives an invitation from Master Lindel to return to the Dragon Sanctuary to make her wand.

Caesar continues to try to win over Nakaba, but when Loki reveals he plans to work against the royal family of Belquat, Nakaba pushes Caesar away even more. When bad dreams wake Nakaba in the middle of the night and turn out to be visions, Loki reveals that she has inherited a gift from her ancestors: the Arcana, the gift of seeing past, present, and future. The visions reveal someone trying to kill Caesar with a poisonous snake in his room! Even though she is fighting not to let Caesar into her heart, Nakaba finds she also can’t bear the thought of someone killing him. What can she do with her heart torn in two between Loki and Caesar? And how is she going to learn to harness this new power with no one from her kingdom or family to guide her?

This collection of graphic essays presents Nate Powell as he tackles with the election of 2016, difficult conversations he has with his young daughter on the power of protest and symbols (especially those used by white supremacists), and the effect of the Global Pandemic on his family and his mental state.  In early chapters, Powell recounts telling his children about then-candidate Trump (although not specifically named until the end of the book).  As white supremacy becomes a more visible component of American society, Powell reflects on writing March with John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, and trying to reconcile those protest movements with the marches by Neo Nazis through his city and state.  In the last chapter, Powell has a call-to-arms where he challenges others not to passively agree with others who are protesting, but to do some of it for yourself as well.

Mei and her father work in the kitchen for a logging camp in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the late 1800s, where they expertly make delicious meals for the loggers after a long day of hard work. Mei makes wonderful pies that everyone craves, and at night, she entertains the camp's chidlren by telling fanciful stories.  One such stories is the legend of Po Pan Yin, an elderly Chinese woman logger who watches over the camp and works in the forest with her giant blue ox.  The children accuse Mei of stealing the American legend of Paul Bunyan, but Mei makes Auntie Po into her own myth and a guardian spirit for the camp and herself.   With the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act limiting the opportunities and safety for Chinese immigrants, Mei and her father must navigate an increasingly hostile community where violence against Chinese workers is not uncommon.  On top of all of this, Mei must work out her feelings for her best friend Bee, which are becoming increasingly romantic, as well as plan for her future away from the logging camp.

This is another adventure of the lovable squirrels, Norma and Belly from Donut Feed the Squirrels.  In it, the squirrels are enjoying some apple pie when Gramps falls into an Apple Truck and gets carted off.  He thinks he's going to a picturesque farm where he'll be able to live out his life in peace, unlike the hustle and bustle of the city life.  Turns out, the farm is really a factory for making apple pies, and Gramps is in danger! Norma and Belly mount a rescue mission to save Gramps from becoming someone's dessert.

Illustrated by Tim Foley

Dan Rather's original prose book, What Unites Us, is a collection of essays, musings and observations with lots of autobiographical details, about American history and political climate.  This graphic novel adapts many of the essays from the prose version.  The historical events are not told in any sort of chronological order. Instead, Rather uses his perspective on key historical moments to illustrate bigger ideologies; things like "courage", or "patriotism."  Rather attempts to explain what is special about America, what brings us together as a nation, but also what has worked to separate us, especially partisan bickering and political turmoil.

Despite its ridiculous title, this was a really fun book. Hanako-kun is one of the seven mysteries of Yashiro’s school. She summons Hanako-kun one day because she’s heard she can be granted one wish, but Hanako is nothing like she expected. To begin with, he’s a boy bound to a toilet in the girls' bathroom! Yashiro is desperate to be part of a couple, so she eats a mermaid scale and tries to give its matching scale to a boy she has a crush on (as legend says he will be inexplicably bound to her forever), but she chickens out at the last minute. The scale turns her into a fish, but Hanako eats the matching scale to save her from a worse fate, and fights off the mermaid who has come to claim Yashiro. From that point on, Hanako and Yashiro and bound together with a supernatural bond. Yashiro becomes Hanako’s assistant and the two continue to explore the supernatural elements of the school, keeping them from harming the mortal students whenever possible.

Illustrated by Chris Samnee
​
There's quite a time jump here - volume two takes place 15 years after volume 1, Owen now has a family, a home, and he’s having a bbq. Ma Guang, one of Owen's rivals from his training at the Temple of the Flaming Fist, interrupts his peaceful suburban life and tries to get Owen to come back to the temple. But, there were some terrible things that happened that made Owen sever ties with the Order, and he has no interest in going back. Ma warns Owen that if he found him, others will surely follow, and that’s exactly what happens. Deadly assassins invade Owen's home while he and his wife Kellie are out on a date, and Owen has to fight tooth and nail to protect his family.  

Illustrated by Jorge Corona
​
Abel continues his search to cure himself of the mysterious mark on his chest, and the terrifying ability he has to turn into a cyclone when he loses his temper. He leaves the traveling Carnival group, afraid he will cause more death and destruction, but, within days, Bobby decides to search for him and help him come back to his new family.  Abel’s quest leads him to the Winter Woods where a reunion with family from his past doesn’t go quite like he hopes. He then stumbles upon a city that isn’t known for being super family-friendly, and he gets swept up by a decades-long slave-labor plot.