Skip to main content

SHIVER by Maggie Stiefvater


copyright date: August 2009
primarily marketed for: young adults (13 and up)

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater is not new to the world, but it is new to me.  I have had it on my shelf for years and just didn’t get around to reading it until a friend convinced me it was well worth it. 

She is a good friend.  With impeccable taste in literature.

Within the first few pages I was enchanted.  Shiver is not just an enchanting story, but the way it is written is beautiful as well.  Lines like this make me want to stop and marvel at Stievfater’s way of crafting words to trigger the readers’ emotions: “Behind the counter, I slouched on my stool in the sun and sucked in the summer as if I could hold ever drop of it inside me.”

Shiver alternates between the voice of Grace and the voice of Sam throughout the story.  Grace was attacked by wolves as a young girl and saved by a single wolf out of the pack.  Since then she has spent her winters watching for her wolf in the woods behind her house. 

Sam has been watching Grace for years.  Ever since he first met her the winter of the attack. 

Their lives finally meet when a student at Grace’s high school is dragged away by wolves. 

Although it is clear from the blurb on the back of the book that this is a werewolf story, it is so much more than that.  I thought I would never be able to get into a werewolf story.  I thought werewolf stories were so overdone by now.  None of these thoughts apply to Shiver.  It is an original, gracefully told story that I didn’t want to end. 

Luckily, it is not over for me yet.  This is the first book in a trilogy.  The world Stiefvater has created in Shiver is a world I look forward to returning to in Linger and Forever.    

Reading Threads:
Linger and Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder
Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
Labels:

Comments

  1. Linda BAugust 20, 2012 at 12:08 AM

    I'm listening to Linger right now-very good! I loved The Scorpio Races too.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green

You knew it was coming.  How could I not share?  EVERYONE MUST READ JOHN GREEN’S LATEST WORK OF ART: THE FAULT IN OUR STARS .  Throughout my life (well, at least from 4 th grade, when I was introduced to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl until now, the 7 th month of my 34 th year of noticing the universe) the name ‘Augustus’ immediately evoked an image of a chubby, stubborn, chocolate-loving boy, doted upon by his mother, with the last name of Gloop.  The name ‘Augustus’ made me giggle about this character’s gluttonous follies inside the chocolate factory. Until reading John Green’s beloved new book The Fault in Our Stars . From now on, the name ‘Augustus’ will forever evoke an entirely different image and an entirely different set of emotions.  A casually hot, lean, limping ‘Augustus Waters’ has forever replaced the ‘Augustus’ of the book I treasured as a child—an unlit cigarette held loosely between his lips.  A longing sigh ...
9 comments
Read more

A MONSTER CALLS by Patrick Ness (inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd and illustrated by Jim Kay)

“Every time the monster moved, Conor could hear the creak of wood groaning and yawning in the monster’s huge body.” In her review for the New York Times , Jessica Bruder refers to A Monster Calls as, “A story that lodges in your bones and stays there.”  This, I believe, is an understatement.  I am afraid my words, mere pixels on the screen, cannot begin to honor how truly special this book is. From his words in the Author’s Note, Patrick Ness held me spellbound.  Siobhan Dowd had developed an idea for a book about a monster and a boy whose mom had cancer.  Breast cancer cut her life short and she was unable to finish her story.  Patrick Ness, when asked to craft something from the seed of a story Dowd left behind said, “…the thing about ideas is that they grow other ideas.”  And so, A Monster Calls was born out of Dowd’s seed and Ness’s nurturing. I suppose a book with that kind of conception was bound to be incredible, but I am sure not even ...
7 comments
Read more

THE MISFITS by James Howe

copyright date: 2001 primarily marketed for: grades 4-8 In honor of No Name-Calling Week, the idea for which originated with this book, I thought I would post a review of The Misfits by James Howe.    This book has one of my favorite leads: "So here I am, not a half-hour old as a tie salesman and trying to look like I know what I am doing, which have got to be two of the biggest jokes of all time, when who should walk into Awkworth & Ames Department Store but Skeezie Tookis. " I think I like it because it is such an inviting introduction to Bobby and Skeezie, two of the four friends referred to in the book’s title.   Bobby, Skeezie, Addie, and Joe are seventh graders who decide to create their own political party to run in the student council election.   Their goal is simple: to put an end to name-calling.   Who doesn’t think that is a good idea? The wonderful things about this book aren’t limited to the positive messages about acceptance and k...
5 comments
Read more