Its All About Children Thursday-Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater

This week on All About Children Thursday, I have the much talked about Young Adult book, Shiver.



SHIVER
by Maggie Stiefvater
Scholastic Paperback (June 2010)© 2009
978-0-545-12327-3
400 pages
Young Adult

Summary
As a young girl, Grace was attacked by a pack of wolves in her back yard in Mercy Falls. She was saved by one wolf with yellow eyes. She has never forgotten her wolf and often she sees them gather on the fringe of her woods. She thinks of them often with curious interest. Sam lives his life in two forms. Part of the year, when the temperature is cold he is wolf. When the warm weather returns he is Sam again. When Grace meets Sam, she is convinced he is the wolf who saved her for his eyes give him away. Grace is drawn to Sam and they fall in love, but the cold weather is coming and life will change for both of them when Sam must return to his pack.

Review
This paranormal romance held my interest and I was curious enough to breeze through the story. It reminds me of Beauty of the Beast meets Twilight, a fairy tale without a castle and forbidden love, or rather what seems an impossible love. Grace and Sam share a precious young romance that is sweet and you want everything to work out. There are strangely no parental obstacles, because Grace is independent, her parents oblivious to her daily routines. The challenge the two face is Sam’s physiological dilemma and the occasional questions from classmates. It is difficult to review this with enough depth without giving out spoilers, but I liked this book. As a young adult book, I know this will draw an audience. Stiefvater has written an engaging story full of your typical teenage drama of love, with a paranormal dimension. A host of questions to answer and a problem to solve keep the pace moving forward. I will leave the ending a mystery for the readers. I won’t tell. Meanwhile, sitting on my nightstand is Linger. This sequel is a story I am anxious to continue as Shiver was an entertaining read.

What were they thinking.....

Grace:

“I glanced out the window at the woods, the pale lines of the trees phantoms against the dark. If my wolf was out there, I couldn’t see him. “Mom, you’re the one who told me over and over and over again: Wolves are usually peaceful.” Wolves are peaceful creatures. This had been Mom’s refrain for years. I think the only way she could keep living in this house was by convincing herself of the wolves’ relative harmlessness and insisting that my attack was a one-time event. I don’t know if she really believed that they were peaceful, but I did.” (Chapter 5)

Sam:

“I could still smell her on my fur. It clung to me, a memory of another world.” “The smell of summer on her skin, the half-recalled cadence of her voice, the sensation of her fingers on my fur. Every bit of me sang with the memory of her closeness. Too close. I couldn’t stay away.” (Chapter 7)

Author’s Website
http://www.maggiestiefvater.com/shiver/index.php