This Is Not a Werewolf Story (34 page)

I thank my teachers. Mr. Carroll, Professor Delcourt, Professor Vance, and Professor Stacey all thrilled me with their wit, intellect, and passion for old stories. I thank William Kibler, whose careful feedback allowed me to see my first scholarly article published in the journal
Speculum.
That success gave me the confidence to return to writing fiction. I thank Caroline Bynum and Peggy McCracken, whose scholarship influenced my interpretation of this story. I especially thank my students, whose kindness to one another, global awareness, and love of justice give me hope for the future.

SANDRA EVANS
drew inspiration for this story from cultural sources, including the “sympathetic werewolf ” stories of twelfth-century France, Celtic myths, and the folklore of the Pacific Northwest. In her research, she also studied everything from
ignes fatui
to mitochondrial DNA to wild animal behavior. She wrote this story for (and with input from) her nine-year-old son. Sandra is a native of Whidbey Island and earned her doctorate in French literature from the University of Washington. This is her first book for children.

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2016 by Sandra Evans

Jacket illustration copyright © 2016 by Maike Plenzke

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Book design by Debra Sfetsios-Conover

The text for this book was set in Garamond 3 LT Std.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Evans, Sandra, 1970- author.

Title: This is not a werewolf story / Sandra Evans.

Description: First edition. | New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2016. | Summary: “This is the story of boarding school student Raul, who waits for sunset—and the mysterious, marvelous phenomenon that allows him to go home”—Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015025074

ISBN 978-1-4814-4480-4 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4814-4482-8 (eBook)

Subjects: | CYAC: Shapeshifting—Fiction. | Wolves—Fiction. | Werewolves—Fiction. | Boarding schools—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction. | Families—Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Animals / Wolves & Coyotes. | JUVENILE FICTION / Legends, Myths, Fables / General. | JUVENILE FICTION / Social Issues / Friendship.

Classification: LCC PZ7.1.E93 Th 2016 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2015025074