Hoodoo
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
"I loved this book. Told by a narrator you won't soon forget, it is filled with myth and legend, danger and bravery. Hoodoo is pure folk magic."—Keith Donohue, New York Times bestselling author
Twelve-year-old Hoodoo Hatcher was born into a family with a rich tradition of practicing folk magic: hoodoo, as most people call it. But even though his name is Hoodoo, he can't seem to cast a simple spell. Then a mysterious man called the Stranger comes to town, and Hoodoo starts dreaming of the dead rising from their graves. Even worse, he soon learns the Stranger is looking for a boy. Not just any boy. A boy named Hoodoo. The entire town is at risk from the Stranger's black magic, and only Hoodoo can defeat him. He'll just need to learn how to conjure first. Set amid the swamps, red soil, and sweltering heat of small-town Alabama in the 1930s, Hoodoo is infused with a big dose of creepiness leavened with gentle humor.
"What a splendid novel. Reader, be prepared to have your foundations shaken: this is a world that is deeper, more wondrous, more spiritually charged than you may have ever imagined."—Gary D. Schmidt, two-time Newbery Honor medalist and author of The Wednesday Wars
"The authenticity of Hoodoo's voice and this distinctive mashup of genres make Smith one to watch. Seekers of the scary and 'something different' need look no further."—Kirkus Reviews
"The chilling supernatural Southern Gothic plot action is enhanced by atmospheric description of rural life in Depression-era Alabama . . . Readers will particularly enjoy Hoodoo's authentic and engaging narrative voice."—School Library Journa
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Smith debuts with a supernatural coming-of-age story set in a 1930s Alabama town. Twelve-year-old Hoodoo Hatcher was born into a magical family, but he has no knack for folk magic himself. His father was "a powerful mojo man" who allegedly met with a "bad end" after placing a curse on a man. One day a stranger comes to collect a debt left by Hoodoo's father, and the boy must learn to access the supernatural to help his father in the afterlife. Hoodoo's distinctive first-person narrative is speckled with lively dialect and atmospheric details of Southern life, from fried catfish dinners and moonshine to "mojo bags" full of cat's-eye stone and rat bone. The action of the novel moves swiftly, and readers should be easily drawn into its dark, supernatural ambience. There's little doubt that Hoodoo will prevail, yet chilling moments throughout will keep readers on edge: "The Stranger smiled, but he didn't have any teeth, just a mouth full of black, oozing swamp water." Ages 10 12.
