Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater: Book Review
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Not to be lumped with other brainless werewolf books, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, is a beautifully told story narrated in two voices. Grace, the first narrator, is a seventeen-year-old high school student who spends more time staring into the woods behind her house than she does with friends. Sam, the second narrator, spends his winters as a wolf and summers as a teenage boy.
Shiver is a teenage romance, but a problematic one. Grace and Sam developed a bond when Grace was just a young girl. The bond grew over the years leading them to a deep love for one another. Only Sam is a werewolf and Grace is a human. Not the kind of relationship one dreams about.
Young adults who are finished with vampires, but still enjoy magical realism may be drawn Stiefvater’s werewolf series, The Wolves of Mercy Falls. Sam and Grace seem fairly mature for teenagers, but their story is filled with suspense and heartwarming moments to which teenagers are drawn.
I would suggest Shiver to teenage girls, and in particular, girls in the fourteen and up range. Shiver has an appeal that would grab older young adult readers without being an adult novel. Not to say that adults wouldn’t also like this book. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Books by Maggie Stiefvater
Book Talk for Shiver
Have you ever fallen for a guy that was all wrong for you? I mean, seriously wrong for you. Grace has, and the problem is that the boy is a wolf. Grace spends all her time staring out the windows of her house hoping to catch a glimpse her yellow-eyed wolf. In the winter, he is there, staring right back. But in the summer, he disappears.
Fall is coming and Grace is wondering when her wolf might return. Except that a local boy from Grace’s school has just been attacked by wolves and nearly killed. A hunting party is quickly assembled to kill the wolves in the woods outside of Mercy Falls. Grace is beside herself with worry and decides the only way to protect her wolf is the get to him before the hunting party does.
Grace’s life changes forever that day, but the race against time has just begun.
More Book Talks
- Just Listen by Sarah Dessen: Teacher Review and Book...
Sarah Dessen writes great love stories. Just Listen is a perfect example of what Dessen does well; a predictable story of girl meets boy, girl falls for boy and girl spends the rest of the novel deciding if... - City of Bones by Cassandra Clare: Teacher Review and...
Following on the wave of countless vampire novels, Cassandra Clares novel, City of Bones, has an impressive urban twist that seems to set is slightly apart. As with any book that I recommend for reluctant... - The Brothers Torres by Coert Voorhees: Teacher Revie...
Coert Voorhees takes on poignant issues facing Americas youth in his novel The Brothers Torres (2008). The young teenage narrator, Frankie, has a lot to say about life in his small New Mexico town where... - Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson: Teacher Review...
In the summer of 1793, Philadelphia stood as the nations capitol. The same summer an infestation of Yellow Fever killed thousands of Philadelphia residents and nearly decimated the city. Laurie Halse... - Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson: Teacher Review and ...
Laurie Halse Andersons recent novel, Chains, is set in Revolutionary America during a time when tensions between loyalists and patriots are perilously high. Isabel, who tells the story, is a thirteen year... - Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris: Teacher Review ...
Jean Ferris novel, Once Upon a Marigold (2002) is as much a modern fairy tale, as it is a plucky romance. Wholly suitable for younger tweens as it would be fun for the older set, the novel is a humorous...
