FINISHED:
Johnson, Hal. (2012). Immortal lycanthropes. Boston: Clarion.


[Myron, a teenager that remembers nothing about his life from before five years ago when he was in a terrible accident, is a teen that has a severe facial disfigurement (“His face was partially reconstructed… but it was still a twisted, noseless face”) who, one day while fighting off a bully, discovers that he has extraordinary powers related to the fact that he is an “immortal lycanthrope”.  Finding out that he is one of a number of immortal people who are able to turn into a specific mammal at will sets Myron off on an adventure across the country to find out who he is, all the while being pursued by members of secret societies and other immortals who believe he is “the chosen one”.  Jumping from one random, seemingly unrelated event to another – very often predicated by Myron being knocked unconscious and waking up in a strange place – the proceedings get haphazard and bizarre with an unsatisfying “resolution” that involves Myron finding out on one of the very last pages which animal he can morph into, with him then swimming off (spoiler!) to who knows where.  Though it is not front and center as in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder (Alfred A. Knopf, 2012), Myron’s severe facial deformity is rarely mentioned or used as a basis for his motivations or reactions until he, gallingly, needs to use it to swindle people by gaining sympathy.  This is an odd, often muddled, debut novel with an almost stream-of-consciousness narrative that may attract readers based on the premise alone, but which might leave them feeling kind of confused...]


STARTED:
Spinelli, Jerry. (2013). Hokey Pokey. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.


[.]


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