COYOTE QUEEN

As the call of the wild meets the call of the runway, 12-year-old Fud faces scary problems at home.

Writing that the despised nickname “Fud” is one of several wrenching elements in this novel drawn from her own life, Vitalis plants protagonist Felicity Ulyssa “Fud” Dahlers and her mom, a victim of domestic abuse, in a Wyoming trailer with unstable ex-boxer Larry, whose increasingly frequent blow-ups are plainly heading nowhere good. Desperate to escape, Fud seizes on the (slim) chance of a cash prize offered by a local beauty pageant and undertakes a major makeover with help from aggressively friendly new neighbor Leigh. But along with disturbing visions of being a coyote and feral urges so strong that she actually attacks a mean girl at school, Fud’s senses of smell and hearing seem suddenly more acute, her hair and nails grow oddly, she has spells of coyotelike color blindness—and once, briefly, she even sports a tail. How much of this is imaginary, the author leaves readers to decide, but either way, a tragically familiar tale of abuse is layered onto a raw and multifaceted coming-of-age story. Fud’s memorably unconventional pageant performance will win hearts and minds, as will her cry for help and the strong, constructive response it brings. Main characters read white; Fud’s long-gone father came from Spain, and there’s a racially diverse supporting cast. The author adds child abuse helplines and resources to her eloquent afterword.

Rich, strange, and winningly intense.