HEAR HER HOWL

After Rue Holloway was caught kissing a girl, her mom enrolled her at Sacred Heart Academy, “in the middle of East Jesus Nowheresville,” where students are instilled with values of purity and deference. Rue, who’s labeled “too much,” has no desire to be a “good girl,” so she’s intrigued by her classmate Charlotte Savage—the rule-breaking, social outcast senator’s daughter, who sneaks off into the forest at night. When Rue befriends Charlotte and learns her secret—she can transform into a wolf—Rue is inspired to rebel and discover the wild wolf within herself. As the girls’ relationship deepens beyond friendship, other classmates who are fighting against societal and parental expectations join their pack. The more they embrace their truest selves, though, the closer danger lurks; there are those who would prefer to keep wild girls caged. The strict, stifling school setting heightens the feeling of confinement, while the power and ferocity of the girls in their wolf form is vivid and awe-inspiring. This boldly feminist story highlights varied experiences and obstacles while resolutely asserting that every woman and girl deserves to thrive and feel free. The themes are timeless; the mid-1990s era is cued through some pop-culture references and an absence of cellphones and social media. Rue and Charlotte are white, and there’s racial diversity among the other students.