The Wereduck Code
The Wereduck Code
The man stood up and looked to the west. A sliver of sun remained on the horizon. It was almost time. He shuddered and plunged into the forest.
He hated the full moon almost as much as he hated what he had become. He could never show his face in public again. Not ever. He had become something terrible. A freak.
He could feel the creature inside him growing stronger, willing itself to break free. He wished he could stop it, but he couldn’t.
He entered a familiar clearing in the middle of the forest. He climbed to a rocky high point on the north slope, just below a big maple tree. It was the place his curse had begun. The place he’d first seen humans become…something hideous. The place he now found himself irresistibly drawn.
The man turned west to see the last bit of sun slip below the horizon. He let out a long breath and turned east where the moon hung fat and full above the trees.
“Whooooooo?” called a familiar voice. The sound of it seemed to come from everywhere at the same time.
“Who indeed,” said Dirk Bragg, senior investigative reporter for Really Real News, and mysterious country singer who songs were ripping up the charts. “I’m a disgusting, awful, freakish werewolf.”
Dirk threw back his head and let out a howl that drew on every bit of angst and pain within him. As the sound echoed around the clearing, he began to change into a giant grey wolf.
The Wereduck Code is the third story in the continuing adventures of a werewolf/wereduck family, the first being Wereduck and the second Cure for Wereduck. Every full moon, Kate turns into a wereduck while her mother, father and assorted relatives turn into werewolves. Her younger brother, Bobby, is eagerly awaiting the day he, too, will be a werewolf.
The story opens with Kate sending away a DNA test on herself. She is trying to figure out why her friend John is suddenly not turning into a werewolf anymore after being seriously injured. Kate thinks genetics must have something to do with it. In the meantime, Bobby is secretly listening in to a clandestine, roving radio station, D-Net, which keeps listeners up to date on everything to do with werewolves, wereducks and the search for Dirk Bragg. Bragg is the investigative reporter/suddenly famous country singer who has been causing the family so much trouble as he tries to uncover their true identifies and their hiding places. He has gone missing even as his records top the country charts, and everyone is wondering what has become of him. A road trip for the family ensues, and an unexpected turn of events puts Dirk Bragg right in front of the werewolf/wereduck family. Hilarious adventures are the result.
The Wereduck Code is best read after having read the first two books in order to give readers a full understanding of this werewolf/wereduck family. Like the first two books, the action of this story and the mishaps in which the characters find themselves involved carry the story. The action is described in slapstick comic fashion which young readers will enjoy reading.
At the beginning of the book, a lot is going on, and every chapter jumps from one character to another. First, it’s all about Kate, then the book moves to John and what’s happening in his life, then on to Bobby, and even to Dirk Bragg. The author is obviously trying to bring together many different characters in different locations and tie up loose ends as the story goes along, but I feel that young readers may get confused by all the scene changes and things happening so quickly in the story. Older readers can probably handle these transitionss although it was confusing for me at times.
All in all, The Wereduck Code is slapstick comedy with many silly antics some young readers will enjoy. The idea of werewolves and wereducks will be enough to draw children to this series of books.
Mary Harelkin Bishop is the author of the “Tunnels of Moose Jaw Adventure” series published by Coteau Books as well as many other books. She has recently retired after thirty-plus years as teacher-librarian, literacy teacher and educational consultant with Saskatoon Public Schools. Always busy and interested in kids and writing, she is currently undertaking two writing projects with schools. She is looking forward to spending more time writing, giving writers’ workshops and playing with grandchildren.