Charlottetown-based journalist Dave Atkinson attempts to bring a fresh perspective to the somewhat tired werewolf genre with his middle-grade debut.

Kate, a teenager in a family of werewolves, comes of age and answers the call of the wild under the transformational light of a full moon, but remains true to her inner nature by becoming not a wolf, but a duck. Rather than howling at the moon and racing through the woods with her lupine relatives, Kate prefers to quack and turn bottom-up in a pond as she searches for slimy water plants to eat. It’s a cute idea that has plenty of potential for humour, but, in the end, it’s just another werewolf story with an interesting twist that doesn’t totally succeed.

Kate and her family live an isolated life in a cabin deep in a New Brunswick forest, where they are safe to lead their double lives unobserved. Their security is threatened when two new werewolves, a father and son, appear in their territory. The duo is being trailed by a wacko but determined tabloid reporter named Dirk Bragg, who plots to expose them all in an international storm of publicity. Kate must use all her newly discovered wereduck abilities to help her family fight for their freedom.

There’s a hint of romance, a journey toward self-realization, and an exciting denouement, but the story falls short of being wholly satisfying. The characters are pencil sketches without the shading filled in, and their actions feel plot-driven and unconvincing. The only real element of horror comes when one of the characters commits an act of violent betrayal that brings the action to a boiling point, but his motivation for the evil deed seems to come out of nowhere.

Wereduck could have been a funny, irreverent take on the traditional werewolf story, but it doesn’t go far enough to make an effective parody. Light and amusing, the novel skims the surface, but never dives deep enough to fully engage the reader.