Coyote Queen

Fud has spent most of her life in poverty, just she and her mom trying to get by. But at least they had each other, and she always felt loved and safe. Now they are living with her mom's boyfriend Larry in his rusty old trailer, which means they live by Larry's rules. Living with Larry feels less safe with each passing day. A former boxer who was sidelined by an injury, Larry drinks a lot, and his temper has become increasingly volatile. Fud very quickly learned to be careful around him, no matter how often her mother continues to defend him. But when Larry hits her mother, Fud knows that things are never going to get better and that they need to leave.

Then Larry brings home an old boat and announces that he plans to fix it up for them to live in. Fud panics as she envisions she and her mom being trapped on a boat with no way to escape his fits of rage or his acts of violence. She knows that she needs to find enough money so that the two of them can leave before that boat becomes their prison. When a new girl moves in next door and tries to convince Fud to join her in competing in a local beauty pageant, Fud realizes that this may be the only way to get the money that she so desperately needs. As she and Leigh navigate the muddy waters of friendship, she struggles to hide the ugly realities of her home life while also contending with the maliciousness of the mean girls at school. And if all of that weren't enough, she also finds herself forming a mysterious connection to the coyotes that she hears each night. With fierce determination, Fud competes in the pageant in a way that is entirely true to herself, and she learns some important life lessons, about herself and others, along the way...including the need to recognize when it's finally time to ask for help.

Heartbreaking yet hopeful, Jessica Vitalis's latest middle grade offering will touch readers deeply while also possibly offering a lifeline to those who might need this book the most. Larry's unpredictability and aggression are frightening, and the fact that both Fud and her mother feel the constant need to be on their guard, alert to his sudden mood shifts and able to anticipate his possible reaction/overreaction to even the slightest misstep, creates a very strong sense of danger. Fud's feelings of aloneness are palpable as her mother's constant justification of Larry's behaviour creates a distance between them and serves to make Fud feel like her mother is choosing Larry over her own daughter. Fud's voice is authentic and conversational as she depicts their sorry situation, and readers will feel for her unease, her worry for her mother's safety as well as her own, and her mounting desperation. The author adroitly captures the setting, the atmosphere and the seeming hopelessness of their situation.

Similarly, Vitalis's depiction of Fud's experience's at school are all too realistic as she describes the constant jibes and slurs that Ava and her minions, the popular girls, sling at her, mocking her for her secondhand clothes and outward trappings of poverty. But young readers are given much to ponder when, after the pageant, Fud gets a small, revelatory glimpse into Ava's home life which allows her to empathize with her nemesis. Vitalis gives both Fud and her readers several opportunities to see that even the most perfect-looking lives often hide sufferings that most people never see. Her treatment of the friendship between Fud and Leigh is similarly nuanced. Fud has to work very hard to accept kindness and friendship but also learns to recognize when she has made assumptions and not been a good friend.

While Vitalis masterfully handles these various aspects of the story, the supernatural element also adds a unique dimension. From the very beginning, as Fud starts to notice a special awareness of the coyotes that roam near their secluded Wyoming home, it is clear that there is some sort of special connection there. Her dreams of being with the coyotes becoming increasing life-like, and she continues to develop traits and mannerisms and ultimately even physical characteristics of a coyote. The ways in which this ends up helping her, and she uses this unusual connection to her advantage add to the richness and complexity of the story while also leaving things somewhat vague and open-ended: was she truly beginning to morph into a coyote, or was this simply the way that her mind helped her find the strength she needed to get through the challenges of her life?

Ultimately Coyote Queen succeeds in creating a grimly realistic portrait of poverty and abuse and the hopelessness that they create. But the greatest strength of this profoundly affecting novel is in Fud's eventual realization that she needs to open up to someone she can trust and ask for help. While the story does not wrap up perfectly, it is all the more believable for that, and readers will recognize that this is only one step in Fud's long journey towards healing. Those who take the time to read the author's note at the end will be struck by the fact that much of this story was based on Vitalis's own life, which is, in itself, a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit and to the fact that even the most painful life situations don't have to last forever. In that, there is hope to be found for us all.