Cute middle school age graphic novel. Likable main character with a good relationship shown with her mom with a reasonable amount of teen angst and conflict with her. I’d recommend for the right age reader.

Artie Irvin snuck out one night and saw a wolf transform into her mom. She was so excited to find out she had a wolf heritage that she convinced her mom to teach her everything she knew. The story is really cute and it is easy to get sucked in. The story was a bit predictable for me, but this is a book meant for YA and predictability is not a bad thing. It helps my students learn skills like foreshadowing and prediction. I enjoyed the book and I think my students will also.

4 stars

2.5/5 (rounded down)

I thought this overall was very eh. It took me over a week to get through the first half of this digital arc and thankfully the second half was a lot more interesting. I wish it had talked more about the toxic relationship between two of the characters but I don't really have high expectations for middle grades. I loved that there was a wlw relationship in this and I semi enjoyed the series. I disliked most of the characters though unfortunately so I was just kind of annoyed by them throughout the whole reading process of this book.

Thankfully there weren't many plot holes in this which is something I see in most graphic novels and mangas. The story was pretty bland and was a little slow, specifically in the beginning, and then the end wrapped up very fast. this was a semi-short read as it was under 300 pages and didn't have heavy writing but it still took me a while to get through it because I was mostly uninterested in what was going on. I think actual readers that are in the middle-grade age range will be much more invested than I was.

I would recommend this to middle-grade readers who enjoy wolves/werewolves and a bit of drama and mystery.

Book: Artie and the Wolf Moon
Author: Olivia Stephens
___
Blurb:
After sneaking out against her mother's wishes, Artie Irvin spots a massive wolf—then watches it don a bathrobe and transform into her mom. Thrilled to discover she comes from a line of werewolves, Artie asks her mom to share everything—including the story of Artie's late father. Her mom reluctantly agrees. And to help Artie figure out her own wolflike abilities, her mom recruits some old family friends.

Artie thrives in her new community and even develops a crush on her new friend Maya. But as she learns the history of werewolves and her own parents' past, she'll find that wolves aren't the scariest thing in the woods—vampires are.
___

🐺 The book is a tale of family, community, love, grief, growing up, finding your identity- who you truly are , where you come from and how does that affect you.
🐺 The book along with the message that staying together is a strength also conveys the beauty of relationships whether it's between a family or amongst a whole community.
🐺 It also have an amazing story with the folklore of vampire and werewolves. It's a supernatural coming-of-age story which I thoroughly enjoyed.
🐺 The art..Ah! I can never get enough of graphic novels. The illustrations were amazing.
🐺 The icing on the cake- the protagonist is queer, badass, inquisitive and flawed.
🐺 I completed the book in one go and will be re-reading it for sure.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

Artie and the Wolf Moon is a powerful story about family and freedom that celebrates individuality as a crucial component to community. A community can only grow stronger by accepting members' diverse talents and interests. Artie and her mother learn these lessons as Artie discovers her inherited werewolf powers.

Werewolves, in Stephens' universe, came into being as a family of escaped enslaved persons met a wolf mother on their run. The mothers recognized their shared responsibility for protecting their communities, and the wolf granted the whole family the power to transform into wolves.

The major enemy of werwolves are vampires, who are born from death and thrive on it. Killing a vampire results in more vampires: everyone a vampire has killed will rise when they are killed.

Werewolves in the story are black, and vampires are white, but not every black person is a werewolf nor every white person a vampire -- the story is more nuanced than that. The vampires are not mindlessly evil, either, they are calculating and cruel, and dead set on destroying werewolves for no other reason than they exist.

Artie is a junior high student discovering not only her wolf powers, but also her sexuality. She finds her first love when her mother finally brings her back into the werewolf community. It's very sweet.

I enjoyed this book, even though I'm not the intended audience. I would definitely recommend it to middle grade and YA comic fans.

I was provided an ARC copy through Netgalley for a fair and honest review.

Phenomenal mid-grade graphic novel. I love this and will be buying it for myself and for my local library!! Fun story - intense action, family ties, little bit of (middle school) romance - and great art. Good messages about finding/being yourself, overcoming bullying, forgiving family with a delightful bit on maybe-possibly finding a girlfriend.

Eighth grader (Artemis) finds out she is (half)-werewolf and that there is much more to her past than her mother has told her. As she comes into her own, danger lurks just waiting to take a bite.

**I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

I adored this graphic novel so much! The art style itself was absolutely stunning and captivating, perfectly crafting the atmosphere of each scene, to touching moments between Artie's parents in the past, eerie slivers of information about vampires, and Artie's emotional turmoil over new and old friendships. The story itself was deeply beautiful, using werewolf packs as representations of community and exploring the pain tacked onto losing access to your own. Artie's desire to connect with her werewolf heritage ties into this wonderfully, through both her increasingly honest relationship with her mother as well as friendships and romances with the children of her mother's old friends. Of course the concept stands on its own, but the symbolism beneath the werewolf and vampire lore is what made this book so compelling because so many kids struggle to relate to their familial culture, especially when from mixed heritage backgrounds. The way Artie was welcomed into this community but also had to discover for herself what it means to be a werewolf is something I think readers of all ages but especially children will connect with. Ultimately this was a wonderful read, kept me thoroughly engaged the entire time, and went above and beyond telling a beautiful story through beautiful art. Would absolutely read more of this author's work in the future.

What a great graphic novel debut! There is a frame early on where Artie is sleeping with one leg under the covers and the other out and dang, if that is not the most relatable thing. I loved the romance on the side of the main story and I really loved the whole story concept overall. Perfect for fans of Teen Wolf (or old school fans of Twilight).

CW: bullying, racism, death of parent

Black girl magic, Werewolves, and family that is built from those who love you for you, all come together in this wonderful graphic novel to make a story that I could reread over and over. I loved the ties of Artie and her mom and their history and present all meshed together. I loved the mythology mixed with the very real feelings of being a teen and figuring yourself out along the way.

Thank you Lerner Publishing Group for providing me with an early copy of Artie and The Wolf Moon.

I love this story so much! everything from the art to the story telling was beautiful.

This is a story about learning about one’s self, of family, of how family isn’t always just about blood, and also falling in love with life. it’s also about grieving a loved one you never had the chance to meet.

I never knew I needed a story, especially a graphic novel, that mixes werewolf and Black culture together. But now that I know that, I want more.

I don’t think there will be a second volume by how it ended, but I want more from this author!

Will be buying a physical print once it is released.

This is a wonderfully illustrated story that focuses on identity- finding out who you really are, where you come from, and how this influences who you become. After finding out she comes from a family of werewolves, Artie dives into her new community and embraces this new part of her identity. However, she soon realizes that the wild werewolves she's running around with aren't the most dangerous things in the woods, it's vampires she needs to worry about.

3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for early access to this graphic novel! I adored this graphic novel so much. The aspect of returning to your family is something I found to be very sweet and the touches of supernatural were well done! I personally found myself having to remember my place at times in this graphic novel as it would scroll way past where I last read so that would take me out of the story at times.

Artie and the Wolf Moon is a cute story about a girl who discovers that she and her mother are werewolves. She learns about her family's past including a lot about her father who died before she was born. And she and her mom connect with old friends and relatives so that Artie can better understand her heritage and what it means to be a werewolf.

In addition to a touching family story, there is some really unique and interesting lore about both werewolves and vampires in this book. I thought it was a fun middle grade graphic novel but I wish the pacing was a little more even. It seemed to me that the vampires appeared rather suddenly only to rush the story to a quick climax and ending.

I really enjoyed this story. Artie is a fantastic character. I love the strong focus this book has on family. I also appreciated the universe’s really unique rules on vampires and werewolves. Very nice.

Thank you NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group for this early review copy!

WOW, this might be my absolute new favorite graphic novel!!!!! I just could not put this book down and I ended up reading the entire book in one sitting.

While this book is only 256 pages, it felt like so much longer (in the best way possible). I can't believe how much happened in this graphic novel.

At the start of this graphic novel, we are introduced to Artemis "Artie" Irvin who is a young girl who loves photography and lives alone with her mother after the death of her father. One night Artie sneaks out of her house to take some photos and discovers that her mother is a werewolf... and so is Artie...

HOWEVER, Artie soon discovers that not only are werewolves real, but so are vampires and that there is conflict between the vampires and werewolves. One of my favorite parts of this graphic novel was learning the history for both the werewolves and vampires and the events that led to the main conflict.

This graphic novel deals with so many important topics such as first crushes, family, friendship, and grief. The relationship between Artie and her mother is one of the best relationships between a mother and a daughter that I have read in a long time. The artwork is also absolutely stunning.

I highly recommend this graphic novel. It deserves all of the stars. I am definitely going to be rereading this closer to the release date in September and I will immediately be pre-ordering a copy for my home collection!

Thanks NetGalley for giving me a copy of this amazing graphic novel in exchange for an honest review!

How do I explain how perfect this graphic novel is?
The first thing I liked was the illustration but as I progressed I ended up trapped by the plot.

It tells the story of Artie, the daughter of a single mother, who lived alone with her until one night she learned that her mother can transformed into a wolf. It narrates the story of Artie's transformation intertwined, in an excellent way, with the love story of her parents and of her mother with her family.
It's about family, grief and growing up, but from different points of view, which makes the story more interesting.

I love it, it's very quick to read because the story grips you to the point where all you need is to know more, super entertaining and emotional.

I just finished it and I want to read it again. I recommend it to everyone, no matter how old you are, if you see this read it.

Artie and the Wolf Moon is a supernatural coming-of-age graphic novel. Artie is a budding photographer that finds out about the existence of werewolves and vampires while navigating new crushes. I feel conflicted about the story. It was easy to read. And the graphics were nice. But, the storyline never really got going well before a chapter would abruptly end. I was also confused at who or what the story was sometimes referring to. And, though we got a few answers by the end, I think we're left with even more unanswered. I did like the book enough to continue if hopefully it becomes a series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC

So, this is a short graphic novel for young tweens/teens about a young Black girl who discovers she comes from a family of werewolves.

And for what it is? I give it five (5) stars.

Artie loves photography, it's how she feels connected to her late father. And one day, she asks her mom, a park ranger, if she can go out late to photograph the full moon. Her mother says no and of course, Artie doesn't listen.

She finds a good spot and when she hears snapping wood and sees a wolf, she freaks and rushes back home only to see the wolf turn into her mother. And after beginning, learns the truth of her family.

This story got me right in the heart. She doesn't have a father and when she learns about what she is, her mother takes her to meet some friends of hers who are also werewolves. To teach her and to help her get a hold of her new abilities.

It's here that she meets Maya. And their crush is the sweetest thing I've ever seen.

The rest of my review is on my blog https://theworldsbetweenpages.wordpress.com/2021/06/12/artie-and-the-wolf-moon-by-olivia-stephens/

This was a fun graphic novel for early age teens who like werewolves and vampires. I liked the different twist on vampires that the author created. The story of Artie and her family was very interesting with likable characters. If this were a series I’d read the next one.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC I received.

Obrigado, NetGalley, por fornecer uma cópia em troca de uma avaliação sincera!

Eu AMEI esse quadrinho.
Amei de todas as formas possíveis: a arte dele, a construção dos personagens e da narrativa, a forma como tudo vai se desenrolando aos poucos e construindo um cenário que tem, por um lado, questões da vida comum e também de uma vivência extraordinária como lobisomens/shapeshifters/troca-pele.

Acho que corro risco de ficar repetitivo, mas realmente tiveram muitas coisas que adorei no desenrolar dessa história, em especial porque toca num aspecto que eu adoro na relação minorias x monstros, que é a reapropriação do monstro como representação de uma vivência marginalizada e oprimida. Em muitos aspectos essa história trata disso, em especial quando fazemos as leituras equiparando a forma como pessoas negras viviam/vivem e como a família de lobos de Artie se relaciona entre si.

A forma como todas essas questões foram sendo exploradas pouco a pouco, se abrindo e fechando com cuidado, me deixou muito satisfeito, o que em parte me deixou surpreso — às vezes é difícil pegar histórias que são volume único em quadrinhos com uma abertura e encerramento tão redondinho, que não te fazem pensar "precisava de mais explicações aqui". No caso de "Artie" e suas 260 páginas, não tenho dúvidas de que o tamanho estava adequado e tudo o que foi tratado foi feito de forma mais que satisfatória, seja na relação mãe e filha, luto pela perda, discussões de relações familiares, retorno às raízes, amizades tóxicas, descobertas na adolescência...

É lindo, maravilhoso.

Muito bom mesmo, recomendo demais essa história!

Aviso de conteúdo: bullying, luto, violência gráfica, sangue, amizades abusivas