I got this softcover at Barnes and Noble today, unable to resist the idea of a cute post-apocalyptic manga about a girl and her gigantic mutant spider friend {wry grin}. Turns out it's a really charming tale, despite the poignant background - something awful has happened, though we don't get much in the way of detail in this volume beyond "the world was flooded back when my dad was little", so there's just this eerie emptiness behind the story-thread.

Young Nagi seems to live a fairly comfortable life in her remote mountain home, tending the garden and doing chores - and marking the days since her father left, while imagining him sitting at the table with her. And then one day she comes face-to-face with a spider-like being the size of a sofa, and is understandably scared - but the spider proves helpful and curious, and soon Nagi's accepted it into the house and is cheerfully demonstrating how to prepare the latest harvest! (Yes, the book goes into some detail about the meal-preparations; who'd have expected recipes in a book with this title?)

While Spider does seem friendly, its sheer spider-ness may put off some viewers - and there's a scene where it opens a gaping, fanged maw to take its first bite of Nagi's yummy food, a frightening sight!

Later in this volume another person shows up; he seems civil enough, but Nagi is wary - and then in the last frame there's a shocking new development... I'll be interested to see how this series continues!

I left the book in this Little Free Library on this very warm day; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2018 You're Such an Animal release challenge. ***

Went looking for this, but it wasn't in the library box, but found it over by the new little store in the park!