Shiver

Stiefvater, Maggie. Shiver. ISBN-10: 054512367, ISBN-13: 9780545123266. Scholastic Press. 2009.

Summary
As a child, Grace was attacked by wolves. She survived and has been drawn to the wolf pack in the area ever since. She has interest especially in one wolf, the one with yellow eyes that seems to watch her. Sam is watching Grace as he is caught between his two lives—a warm weather human, and a wolf when the temperatures drop. When the wolf pack comes under fire, literally, Grace and Sam meet and fall in love. But the weather is getting colder in Minnesota, and they both come to realize what their future holds.

Critical Evaluation
A town in Minnesota has a big problem with wolves. Grace was attacked by the wolves when she was a child. So was Sam. Unlike Grace, Sam's is a part-time member of the pack. When the weather changes and temperatures drop, he and the others return to their wolf form. Now a local rich kid has been killed by the pack, but his body is missing and the wolf pack is one more wolf stronger. Amidst the mystery of the missing body, and the influx of wolves on the town, Grace and Sam have finally been brought together after years of watching each other from afar. Their relationship is intense because winter is closing in with colder temperatures. The immediacy of the relationship gives this paranormal romance its spark. Readers will turn the pages as quickly as they can to find out if Sam can be saved.

Reader's Annotation
Loving a werewolf is difficult. Grace loves Sam, but Sam is about to turn back to a wolf as winter draws near. They fight to keep him warm, human, and alive.

About the Author
Maggie Stiefvater is a renaissance woman. In addition to being a fairly new author of young adult novels, she has worked as an artist and can play the piano, Celtic harp and the bagpipes. In fact she has just begin her writing career, as her first novel—Lament—was published in 2008. It was the first book in her Books of Faerie series. The series is about homicidal fairies and thus far has just the second book, Ballad (2009). That year was busy, as the first book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series (Shiver) was also released in 2009. She's continued the series paranormal romance with publishing Linger (2010) and the soon to be released Forever (2011). On her website, she alludes to working on a collection of short stories and a "super secret" stand alone novel.

Stiefvater (pronounced as steve-otter)lives in Virginia with her family and a collection of animals.

Genre
Paranormal Romance

Challenges
Absent Parents
Sexual Content

Curriculum Ties
no applications

Booktalking Ideas
Would you keep dating someone who often "changed" into something else…
If you did keep dating that person, how far would you go out of your way to help that someone to fight the change…

Awards
Australia's Silver Inky award for Best International Book (2010)

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 14+

Why I included this title...
Because I couldn't get into the Twilight series, I thought I'd try a paranormal/werewolf romance.