Your Momma's a Werewolf

Shivers #18

by M.D. Spenser

FAMILY FRIGHT NIGHT...

Iggy's mom has a great idea. A week of camping in the wild woods of Michigan. Iggy and his best friend, Mole, can't wait. They think it'll be trees and birds; hiking and hunting; fishing and swimming. But, those woods are dark and deep and deadly. Where bears fight; snakes strike; and a lone wolf's bite turns Mom into a monster. Can Iggy and Mole save themselves? Will they be able to get Mom to stop howling and back to being normal? No way!!

A FULL MOON OF FEAR....



Cover Design by George Paturzo
Cover Illustration by Eddie Roseboom

Genres: Horror, Werewolves, Middle Grade, Childrens

125 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 24, 1996

About the author

M.D. Spenser is a children's author, journalist and music critic. Born in the United States, he lives now in the UK.

"The Enchanted Attic," Book 1 of his popular SHIVERS series of novels for children, was republished as an e-book in August 2011. It is available at amazone.com, Barnes & Noble, Sony and iBookstory. Book 2, "A Ghastly Shade of Green," and Book 3, "Ghost Writer," followed shortly afterwards.


The rest of the 36-book series will be published as ebooks over time.

Also, an internet petition is circulating asking that the entire 36-book series be republished in paperback: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/md...

Reviews

[Alex (The Bookubus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished another Shivers book.This one is called Your Momma's A Werewolf.The story is about Iggy and his friend Mole getting a chance to go on vacation with his mom In this cabin In a small town called Deckerville.Mole is a history buff so he does a Little research before he goes with Iggy.He learned that this town has a weird little story about two soldiers going missing inside a fort with no traces of how they disappeared.When the kids arrive they are disappointed to learn that this place has no TV or anything.Iggys mom tries to convince them to enjoy the little things.The two boys decide to investigate the Fort that the two soldiers were last seen according to Moles history book and as there exploring they run into a wolf and it literally attacks.I honestly didn't expect this to be real and expected this to be more of a dream sequence but no this is fully real.The wolf jumps on Iggy until his mom comes out and tries to chase off the wolf but she gets attacked to.Mole all of a sudden has a shotgun and shoots the wolf and he runs away.Yeah this book has some good werewolf action.Durring the tussle we find out Iggy's mom has been bitten by the wolf.Shortly after this Iggy's mom begins to behave very differently.For one she is shaving her face one morning and when Iggy asks whats going on she blames hormones.She also eats raw bacon and is very angry when people try to help her.And it's actually kinda scary.The kids and the mom end up going to the general store.The mom is dressed in a disguise with sunglasses and a hat. Iggy runs into this sweet old lady thats lived in Deckerville her whole life.Iggy asks her about the local legend about the missing soldiers and she tells him that the story involves wolves and Iggy puts the pieces together and he assumes his mom is a werewolf.The full moon is approaching and Iggy and Mole must figure out a way to save his mom without using silver bullets of course.So the kids  steal the van and drive until they crash into a log in the road and here we meet the greatest character in the book.I don't remember his name but he is actually hilarious.He's a hermit that is wearing Mitch match clothes and the kids talk to him about what's going on.This is basically the ending so that's all I'm going to say.I really had a lot of fun with this book.Some things felt random like the random dog popping up and the ending.Otherwise, this was a great Shivers book and a really fun werewolf book  in general.I also thought the final page was very cute.I give Your Momma's A Werewolf a four out of five stars.

[Pulp_Fiction_Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very simple and coherent story. We have a small cast of characters, an isolated location, strong atmosphere and some good lore. There's no mystery aspect to this and there's no twists or reveals. On the whole a lot of this adds up to making this an entertaining and concise story but at the same time stops it from getting a higher rating as it's very straight forward. It also borrows heavily from 'The Werewolf Of Fever Swamp' Goosebumps book. (3.5 rounded down).

[Nader Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple story about werewolves and it wasn't devoid of some horror and excitement, but I thought it would be better to discuss the plot more and delve into some backstory also about it, Because the conclusion was not completely satisfactory and the final showdown also was very simple.
(Verdict: 6.8/10)

[SBC · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a very simple story, which followed a simple idea that werewolves are absolute evil. The title doesn't really match because it is told in the 1st person so should be more 'My Momma's a Werewolf' than Your. Iggy is the main character and he and his friend Mole, who is into history and reading, go on holiday to a cabin in the mountains with his mom (his dad is never mentioned but we know he gets on really well with his Mom). This place they go to has this legend of soldiers at the fort it is named after, who all disappeared without a trace one year. They go for a walk in the woods and get attacked by a really monstrously big wolf (one look into its yellow eyes and see evil). Mum gets bitten by it while saving Iggy (his Mom is a really cool type of Mom, had an interesting past in the rock business, but it's almost as though her wild past leads to this current present). When Mom starts to turn into a werewolf she gets a very nasty personality, as if the werewolf has taken over her body. The belief here is that she starts to change around the full moon, and once has changed will be a monstrously large evil wolf forever (no sense the wolves are human anymore or can be again). Luckily they bump into a guy in the woods who is a researcher of the abnormal and his ex-girlfriend knew a bit about werewolves. They discover if they can get some fur from the first werewolf and mix it with water and make mom drink it she will recover. This they do, voila, Iggy gets his wonderful mom back. So his Mom is cool because unconventional (but also the sense her unconventionality leads to this near-demise). Simple good vs evil tale, no sense that the current evil wolf was once a human and needs rescuing, or contains any humanity.

[Roxana Rathbun · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book brings back so many memories of my childhood sitting outside with a pile of children's horror books. Great stories for kids interested in scary stories. The writing is similar to R.L. Stine but often without the twists found in the Goosebumps series.

[Owen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was a basic storyteller book not special in any way.
Boring story

[Jess reads more · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great take on the werewolf genre!

As a young boy takes a family vacation with his mum and friend - he encouters a nasty wolf, who attacks his mum whilst hiking.

The two boys notice his mom isn't the same after the attack and discover what really happened that day...

[Laura Jet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cheesy kids thriller

[Enzo]

amazing

[Mike Irving · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books along with Goosebumps takes me back to my childhood. I read this book yo my young Son and must admit that I enjoyed it properly more than him.

It is a simple read for kids around 8-12 years of age. Not to scary for them and cool little story.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, it’s Shivers time again. That’s always a gamble. I’ve been hyped for this one since I heard the title and I hear it lives up to it. So let’s see if it does.

Iggy Rockwell is off on vacation with his Mom and friend Mole (real name John) to a cabin in the woods near Fort Clarksville. They have a fair time even without TV and such. However, they have an encounter with a wolf and when Mom saves Iggy from it, she gets bitten. And soon she starts acting weird, from growing hair to getting randomly angry. Is it possible that his Momma’s a werewolf?

This is a solid one, easily one of the better and more solid Shivers I’ve read. It doesn’t do anything amazing, it’s no Creepy Clothes or Weirdo Waldo but it does most things right. It gets started early enough and doesn’t take long to establish the supernatural threat. It takes a bit to get to mommy wolf but it’s able to spend most of the time riffing on it.

To get the flaws out of the way, there’s some humor that tries a bit too hard to be quirky. I appreciate that every character has personality to an extent but a few bits feel forced. There’s some minor filler like a couple fake outs or this dog that ultimately doesn’t do much. It doesn’t even die, that’s how you know this isn’t MD Spenser.

The main issue is that the writing feels too basic to sell the horrors. There’s enough tension from the ideas but it doesn’t quite have the atmosphere or bite that it needs. Compare this to some of Stine’s werewolf books and you can see the difference. Not a big deal but it does hold this back as horror.

It’s on the safer end for Shivers but in a good way. It can have enough suspense without going edgelord with it. It could have gone a bit further but we get blood a couple times at least. And a kid uses a gun on a wolf, that’s gotta count for something.

Pacing is solid and the characters work. Again, each has some quirk that fleshes them out a bit. Mom used to be a punk rock band and named Iggy after Iggy Pop, and Mole is into history. These traits aren’t always important but they add flavor. And there are some nice relationships here. Iggy and Mole are solid friends despite being at odds and there’s a good moment with them later on.

Iggy and Mom get along despite some misgivings and he legit cares about her as she goes through this werewolf stuff. There’s a mild human element to this one, including a cute ending note. It’s nothing too deep but it adds to it.

Overall, it could go further but it’s one of the more whole feeling Shivers books. It’s a decent idea that is decently paced and has some solid characters and nice moments. Nothing is done so amazingly well that it becomes a kids horror classic but it’s solid which I can appreciate.

A nice refreshing book from Shivers. Next time, we head to Bone Chillers for a book I’ve been hyped for ever since I heard of it. See ya then.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my third Shivers book that I've read and again it's another book over 4 stars. There's something so comforting about the way M.D. Spenser writes, I'm always guaranteed well written characters, plot and atmosphere. I really did enjoy the characters staying in a cabin in the woods and having to deal with a paranormal situation and overall I rate 4.25/5 ☆

I hope that it won't be long before I come across another Shivers book in a Charity Shop because I want to read them all!

[Carol Clifford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, just like i'll love any book that has something to do with werewolves in it.

I liked this book, but i'm really glad I didn't pay for it. It would've been a waste of money. The story was original but his writing style is just like R.L. Stine's, i've got two more books of his to read and i'll read them just so I can say I read them. Who knows maybe i'll like them more than this one.

This is definitely a kids book though. Maybe fourth to sixth grade approved. When books like divergent and Stephen king haven't warped their minds. It wasn't all that scary or interesting for me but i've been exposed to Stephen king's books, it could most likely scare a younger child if they haven't been exposed to horror stories and have an over active imagination.

I loved his description of the woods and cabin they were in and his friend Mole. (I mean really who wouldn't want a brainiac named Mole). He is the only reason why I didn't give up on the book sooner. A good book for younger children.