YA BOOK CLUB: SHIVER – CHAPTERS 1-3

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SHIVER by Maggie Stiefvater
Chapters 1-3

Grace flashbacks to when she was attacked by wolves as a young child.  One particular wolf stayed near her and never left her alone.  She thought she was going to die, but didn’t.

Sam remembers the same incident and thinks about how difficult it was to resist biting and tearing into Grace.  The terribly, cold winter had left nothing for the wolves to eat and Grace’s warm body provided too much temptation for the pack.  Sam remembers what it felt like to stop the attack and save Grace’s life.

After recuperating, Grace continued to go outside to look for the wolf that saved her.  He always stood at the edge of the woods in her backyard. Over and over she would attempt to approach the wolf, but he never allowed her to get close.  For six years she continued to look for the wolves, particularly the wolf with the yellow eyes.  The wolves followed a pattern – always in the woods during the winter and absent during the summer. The strangeness of the timing never occurred to her.

Memorable Quotes

“Their tongues melted my skin; their careless teeth ripped at my sleeves and snagged through my hair, pushed against my collarbone, the pulse at my neck.”  (1)

“I thought she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, a tiny, bloody angel in the snow, and they were going to destroy her.  I saw it.  I saw her, in a way I’d never seen anything before. And I stopped it.” (5)

Questions for consideration:

Why do you think the author allows the reader to know, right away, that Sam is the wolf that saved Grace?

Grace says, “I thought they were wolves. Only wolves.” Why do you think she has such an obsession with the yellow-eyed wolf?  Do you believe she instinctively knows he is special?

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