Five tweens stand between their werewolf pack and a magic-devouring monster in Natalie C. Parker's first middle-grade novel.
"All her life, Riley Callahan had been looking forward to becoming a real wolf." Twelve-year-old "mosaic-green"-eyed Riley is the daughter of two werewolves and expects to join her family's pack when she transforms into a wolf "on the night of the first full moon of summer." But Riley and four other kids don't change when the full moon arrives. None of the pack leaders have an explanation for this aberration of wolf magic. Even more worryingly, a sinister creature is haunting the woods, stealing the magic of young werewolves. Could it be the Devouring Wolf, a monster many dismiss as legend? Riley and her friends--including Riley's "copper brown"-skinned cousin Dhonielle and "perfect Lydia Edgerton" who makes Riley "feel fluttery and strange"--tap into a previously unknown shared magic to stop the attacks.
The Devouring Wolf is an inspired take on classic werewolf stories as it uses fantasy to depict the common adolescent experience of "feel[ing] like you can't control parts of your body." Riley fears that, without transforming, she is "not a real wolf," but she comes to embrace her uncommon self as she bonds with the four other kids who didn't transform. Parker (the Seafire trilogy) honors the power of queer found family with her portrayal of LGBTQ+ (werewolf) youth finding strength and acceptance through community. --Alanna Felton, freelance reviewer