Shifting

Gr 8 Up—Maggie Mae Mortensen, 17, has been in 12 foster homes and has had nearly 20 arrests for indecent exposure. She is taken from Albuquerque to a new foster home in Silver City, NM, and starts in a new school for the last few months of her senior year. Immediately, she is drawn to handsome, rich, and popular Bridger O'Connell, but she can't control her problem: she's a shape-shifter. Every month at the full moon, she turns into an animal. That's why she's found naked in the streets after changing back to human form. Maggie Mae makes some friends, finds a job, forms a good relationship with her foster parent, and starts a budding romance with Bridger. Things are going okay—except for the fact that SkinWalkers, people who are able to become an animal by wearing their skin, are trying to kill her. A blend of paranormal romance and Navajo legend, Wiggins's debut novel is an engaging story that's difficult to put down. Recommend it to fans of Maggie Stiefvater's "Wolves of Mercy Falls" series (Scholastic).—Melissa Stock, Arapahoe Library District, Englewood, CO