Blog Post on Shiver

I recently read Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and it is the story of a girl that meets a werewolf that has watched over here for many years. I thought this book was very good. One issue I want to touch upon are how animals are treated in the book. In Shiver, the main character Grace was attached by wolves when she was eight years old. She mentions how people in her small town grew angry and tried to hunt and kill the wolves.
Another incident like this happens, when a teenager that lives in the town gets attached by "wolves" and is found dead. All the people try to hunt the wolves and "solve" the problem, even though they don't have enough proof it was them. I think the the author is trying to get us to feel sympathetic to animals, and that is what the main character Grace is feeling. Although it is very unlikely that a wolf attacks someone, it is impossible for such thing as a werewolf to exist. When Sam (the wolf) turns into a human he is shown as almost perfect. In real life, this is unrealistic. Why would someone treat an animal so harshly, but be so kind to a wolf that was turned into a human?
The author also wanted us to appreciate the beauty of nature too, with long paragraphs and pages talking about the beautiful woods. I think the woods symbolizes a peaceful haven, a place where for a little while there are no problems. I also noticed in the book that whenever Sam and Grace go into the woods, they go in happy and usually come out running for their lives. The woods are the home of Sam, and they reflect all his troubles and happiness that he has faced.
In all, I liked Shiver and would want to read the sequel. I think some of the some plot ideas and interpretations that I made for this book will carry over and continue to be a major part of the book.