YA BOOK CLUB: SHIVER – CHAPTERS 17-20

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SHIVER by Maggie Stiefvater
Chapters 17-20

Grace and Sam are in a used car lot sitting in a Bronco she might want to buy while they wait for the salesman to return.  Grace asks how Sam turns into a wolf and Sam says he shifts into a wolf when the temperature gets cold enough.  He explains that longer you are a wolf, the warmer it has to be to shift back to a human.  They talk some about Jack and how he had provoked the wolves by shooting them with a BB gun until he got bitten.  Sam learned about Jack’s attack because wolves communicate through images sent to one another.

Sam shares more about what it was like for him when he first got bit.  He was sick for weeks and kept changing back and forth from human to wolf.  Once it got warm his parents thought he was cured.  They learned he wasn’t when winter came.  They are both serving life sentences for what they did to Sam.

Sam asks Grace about what it was like after she was bitten. She recalls having the flu afterwards but not much else.  A month or two after the attack she was locked in the car and should not survived the heat, but she did.

Sam drives Grace to school in her newly acquired Bronco and Rachel sees him kiss her.  Rachel tells Grace that there was a wolf at school the previous day.  When Rachel describes him, Grace knows it has to be Jack.  When they are getting ready to head to class, Grace sees Isabel Culpepper against the wall, looking sad and despondent.

As Sam lays next to Grace that night, the news about Jack made him think of another angry werewolf, Christa.  Beck had to kill Christa so she didn’t kill more people or expose their life.  Sam hopes it doesn’t come down to him having to kill Jack.

Memorable Quotes

“Right before I drifted back to sleep again, my breathing slowing to match his, I had a brief burning thought: I can’t live without this

Questions for consideration:

What did you think about the revelations in these chapters?

Do you understand Sam better?

Are there any details you think will be explored further in future chapters?

Do you think there is any foreshadowing in these chapters?

What do you think about the developing relationship between Grace and Sam?

More here.