Monster Support Group: The Werewolf’s Tale
Laura Suarez
Flying Eye Books

Being true to yourself and celebrating difference are key themes in this the first of the new Monster Support Group series.

The book begins with Lowell entering an underground room where a meeting is being held. He sits down and begins his story.
We hear that he has recently moved to the village with his family and is struggling to fit in at his new school. He is rather different and has become the target for the bullies, Cassius Steel and his cronies. Then the changes started. Initially Lowell thought these were just ordinary, growing-up kind of changes: becoming hairier, moodier and smellier but then came the stranger changes that despite his best efforts, cannot be hidden.

After a particularly bad day at school he shut himself in his bedroom but his twin sister, Lys appeared on the scene, just as Lowell was morphing into a werewolf. This it transpires is on account of an ancient family curse. The following morning the twins visit the library to do some research about werewolves 

and come upon several books containing legends about them including the one his father had mentioned the previous night; each one mentions possible cures for the curse. 

These he tries but despite apparently having beaten the curse, the very next month on full moon night, it’s evident that the cures haven’t worked.

Back to the library go Lowell and Lys where they discover the Monster Support Group. Lowell joins the group and shares that story. Can anybody there help him with his ‘furry’ problem? Or is he happier being his unique self?

Drawing on mythology, this is a vibrantly illustrated, enjoyable story with a vital message about being yourself and that works for anyone; but those who see the werewolf trope as a metaphor for a boy’s transition from puberty through adolescence, into maturity, will find it somewhat strange that although the blurb says Lowell is twelve, he is portrayed as several years younger.