The Creepening of Dogwood House
The Creepening of Dogwood House
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Publisher's Hardcover ©2024--
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HarperCollins
Annotation: The Walter Award Honor–winning author of Root Magic returns with a terrifying story in the Southern Gothic tradition, in... more
Genre: [Horror fiction]
 
Reviews: 2
Catalog Number: #381528
Format: Publisher's Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright Date: 2024
Edition Date: 2024 Release Date: 07/30/24
Pages: 257 pages
ISBN: 0-06-325140-X
ISBN 13: 978-0-06-325140-3
Dewey: Fic
LCCN: 2023944470
Dimensions: 22 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

A tragic event leads a tween to move in with his aunt and uncle in his family's mysterious ancestral home in South Carolina.Twelve-year-old Roderick Bolden has always treasured his hair. Recollections of sitting at his mother's feet while she braided his thick Afro as they chatted about their days are some of his most cherished memories. Following an accident in which his mom's car was engulfed in flames, Roddie was left orphaned, with only one living family member-Aunt Angie, his mom's sister, whom he's only met over video calls. After Roddie's spent two months in an orphanage, Aunt Angie and her new husband, Erik, finally return from a long, offline honeymoon in Brazil. Shocked by the news, they're ready to reconnect with family roots and care for Roddie. The trio moves into Dogwood House, the bone-chilling fixer-upper that his mother never told him about, even though she grew up there and it's been passed down through the generations. Aunt Angie tells Roddie about their family's hoodoo traditions, including a legend about an evil monster who wreaks havoc with people's shed hair. Royce's latest offers readers a strong, character-centered, hoodoo-infused narrative that's a tribute to the beauty of Black hair. The richly detailed settings will make readers feel as though they're right there with Roddie, and themes of family, heritage, and grief provide anchors for the creepy mystery.A thrilling, hair-raising story with strong cultural roots and a well-developed sense of place. (Horror. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

A tragic event leads a tween to move in with his aunt and uncle in his family's mysterious ancestral home in South Carolina.Twelve-year-old Roderick Bolden has always treasured his hair. Recollections of sitting at his mother's feet while she braided his thick Afro as they chatted about their days are some of his most cherished memories. Following an accident in which his mom's car was engulfed in flames, Roddie was left orphaned, with only one living family member-Aunt Angie, his mom's sister, whom he's only met over video calls. After Roddie's spent two months in an orphanage, Aunt Angie and her new husband, Erik, finally return from a long, offline honeymoon in Brazil. Shocked by the news, they're ready to reconnect with family roots and care for Roddie. The trio moves into Dogwood House, the bone-chilling fixer-upper that his mother never told him about, even though she grew up there and it's been passed down through the generations. Aunt Angie tells Roddie about their family's hoodoo traditions, including a legend about an evil monster who wreaks havoc with people's shed hair. Royce's latest offers readers a strong, character-centered, hoodoo-infused narrative that's a tribute to the beauty of Black hair. The richly detailed settings will make readers feel as though they're right there with Roddie, and themes of family, heritage, and grief provide anchors for the creepy mystery.A thrilling, hair-raising story with strong cultural roots and a well-developed sense of place. (Horror. 8-12)

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Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Kirkus Reviews
Word Count: 57,392
Reading Level: 5.3
Interest Level: 4-7
Accelerated Reader: reading level: 5.3 / points: 9.0 / quiz: 550287 / grade: Middle Grades

The Walter Award Honor–winning author of Root Magic returns with a terrifying story in the Southern Gothic tradition, inspired by the hoodoo practice of hair burning.

At night, Roddie still dreams of sitting at his mother’s feet while she braids his Afro down. But that’s a memory from before. Before his mom died in a tragic accident. Before he was taken in by an aunt he barely knows. Before his aunt brought him to Dogwood House, the creepiest place Roddie has ever seen. It was his family’s home for over a hundred years. Now the house—abandoned and rotting, draped in Spanish moss that reminds him too much of hair—is his home too.

Aunt Angie has returned to South Carolina to take care of Roddie and reconnect with their family’s hoodoo roots. Roddie, however, can’t help but feel lost. His mom had never told him anything about hoodoo, Dogwood House, or their family. And as they set about fixing the house up, Roddie discovers that there is even more his mother never said. Like why she left home when she was seventeen, never to return. Or why she insisted Aunt Angie always wear her hair in locs. Or what she knew of the strange secrets hidden deep within Dogwood House—secrets that have awoken again, and are reaching out to Roddie…


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