Blog Tour: The Creepening of Dogwood House by Eden Royce

 About the Book

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…

My Thoughts...

As someone who understands that many kids in upper elementary school love reading spooky books (and as a former kid myself who used to love reading spooky books), I needed to set my current adult biases aside and read this book with an open mind (and Eden Royce even calls adults out on this in her Nerdy Book Club post for this blog tour. It's an excellent post. You should go read it.). And I'm so glad I did. It was a very similar feeling I had when a friend of mine years ago told me I had to watch Jordan Peele's horror film masterpiece Get Out because it wasn't just a horror movie; It was a social commentary. And that's what The Creepening of Dogwood House feels like... there's more than just a spooky tale here. But it's done in a very kid friendly way as it deals with grief and family history. It's not meant to be over their heads or have a separate reading experience for kids and adults. This is also a really great book for kids who aren't sure if they want to read spooky/horror books because the creep factor happens gradually. So it's a good book to help ease a potential dubious reader into the horror genre. And as Eden Royce says in the aforementioned Nerdy Book Club post, "Reading horror where kids face their most paralyzing fears head on, can help kids understand that they can do the same." I can't think of a better endorsement for reading this book and also reading more horror novels than that. 

 

About the Author

Eden Royce is a writer from Charleston, SC, now living in the Garden of England. Her debut novel, Root Magic, was a Walter Dean Myers Award Honoree, an ALA Notable Children’s Book, a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award winner, and a Nebula Award Finalist for outstanding children’s literature. Her latest book, The Creepening of Dogwood House is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Find her online at edenroyce.com. 

Download the educators guide here.

 

THE CREEPENING OF DOGWOOD HOUSE BLOG TOUR

July 30 Nerdy Book Club @nerdybookclub

August 1 A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust @bethshaum

August 1 B. Sharise Moore @b.sharise

August 7 Cassie Thomas @teachers_read

August 10 Jason DeHart, Words Images Worlds @wordsimagesworlds

August 14 LitCoach Lou @LitcoachLou

August 14 Katy Kramp @alibrarymama

Blog Tour: Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu

When Violet Hart's growing family moves into an old house for more space, she is less-than-thrilled when she discovers her new bedroom is in the attic and is plastered with a hideous yellow wallpaper. It isn't long after her family moves into the house that Violet falls ill from a mysterious virus -- that keeps her feeling sick for weeks afterwards, with no answers from her doctors. In fact, not only do her friends question whether Violet is really sick, but so do her doctors. Due to her malaise, Violet spends a lot of time in her creepy room... and she eventually starts to wonder if she's actually alone up there and also how much of her mysterious illness is related to whatever is living (or dead) in her room. 

Not Quite a Ghost is a book that any adult that has taken enough literature classes in college will immediately make the connection to the famous short story by Charlotte Perkins Gillman, "The Yellow Wallpaper." In that story, a woman is left alone to "recover" from her postpartum depression by being isolated alone up in a room where she eventually descends into madness. Instead of postpartum depression, the main character in Not Quite a Ghost is a young 6th grade girl who is being told by her friends and the medical community that there is nothing wrong with her and everything she is experiencing is in her head. So in that regard, it is a book about medical gaslighting and the very real damage it causes to real people, disguised as a ghost story. 

I  am generally not a fan of fantasy stories because so often they are hard to follow and lack fully realized and empathetic characters. But because Ursu writes characters that feel like real people, I find myself not being able to stop turning the pages of her books. Not only is Violet a protagonist you root for, but there are a lot of other wonderful characters in this book that you fall in love with, including Violet's mother and stepfather, which is unusual in children's literature to have supportive and competent parents. 

I look forward to recommending this book to readers, kids and adults alike, who are experiencing any sort of chronic illness that has resulted in being written off by their doctors, as they will most certainly see themselves in this story. 

Not Quite a Ghost Educator guide

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anne Ursu is the author of acclaimed novels The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy, The Lost Girl, Breadcrumbs, and The Real Boy, among others. Her work has been selected as a National Book Award nominee, a Kirkus Prize finalist, and as a best book of the year by Parents Magazine, Publishers Weekly, Amazon.com, and School Library Journal. She lives in Minneapolis with her family and an unruly herd of cats. Find Anne online at anneursu.com.

 

BLOG TOUR STOPS 

January 16 Nerdy Book Club @nerdybookclub

January 17 A Library Mama (@librarymama)

January 18 Charlotte's Library (@charlotteslibrary)

January 21 Teachers Who Read (@teachers_read)

January 22 Bluestocking Thinking (@bluesockgirl)

    ReadWonder (@patrickontwit)

January 23 A Foodie Bibliophile In Wanderlust (@teacherlibrarianbeth)

January 25 Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers (@grgenius)