Werepenguin

All orphan Bolt Wattle has ever wanted was to find his true family. When a mysterious baron in far-off Brugaria sends for Bolt, he wonders if he's getting closer to finding his long-lost parents. But Baron Chordata appears to be a 12-year-old boy who wears tuxedos all the time, shouts at everyone, and forbids Bolt from asking questions. Things couldn't get any worse . . . until midnight, when the Baron bites Bolt and turns him into a half-boy, half-penguin. Then things really couldn't get worse - nope, wait, they get a lot worse.

When we last saw our hero Bolt Waddle, he'd narrowly escaped the clutches of the evil Baron Chordata, but not the fate of becoming a half-boy, half-penguin for life. Living with his penguin colony far from other humans, he's adjusting to life as a full-time werepenguin when his bandit friend Annika tracks him down and begs for his help. Her father has been imprisoned by the earl of Sphen, another ruthless werepenguin who rules his small country with an iron flipper.

When Bolt, Annika, and Blackburn are given another cryptic clue by Omneseus the Seer, they know the time has come to defeat the baddest werepenguin, "the Stranger", and free the world's penguins from his evil reign. Only a very special tooth can bring the Stranger down, but of course, procuring this precious item is no easy task, and it doesn't help that Bolt can't stop hearing the Stranger in his head, trying to coax him to the dark side.