CARAG'S TRANSFORMATION

A 13-year-old is invited to a school for animal shape-shifting woodwalkers.

In this tale set in Wyoming, the first of a new series, Carag has been raised mostly puma, as his family distrusts and dislikes humans. But after one outing in his human form, Carag’s curiosity overwhelms him, and he decides to leave his family and try out human life. Between school bullies and foster siblings, living as a human isn’t what he imagined, but soon he’s approached by other animal shape-shifters who invite him to a special boarding school for woodwalkers. Also pushing him to go is Andrew, a wealthy, powerful man who reveals himself to be a fellow puma woodwalker—a sinister, dog-kicking type whose friendly overtures unnerve Carag. While the setup is intriguing, the school features cardboard characters and stock plots: Carag goes up against a wolf pack that bullies the “prey” animals, befriends a plucky group of misfits, and falls for the unobtainable girl who happens to be the daughter of the bully teacher. Aside from the additions of animals, readers will likely experience plot déjà vu from other books that did it better. Aside from one late action sequence, the book fails to establish stakes—the Andrew subplot is especially vague. The text, translated from German, is generally smooth, with only the rare odd word choice that would give young readers pause. Black-and-white artwork of Carag in puma form is interspersed. When human, Carag presents as White, as do most side characters; some are Indigenous.

A promising premise is squandered in this series opener.