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

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

Publisher Summary:
Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Columbus, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjërring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking. 

To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer for a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of night, they'll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.

A traditional haunted house story in a thoroughly contemporary setting, Horrorstör is designed to retain its luster and natural appearance for a lifetime of use. Pleasingly proportioned with generous French flaps and a softcover binding, Horrorstör delivers the psychological terror you need in the elegant package you deserve. 


I am not generally a fan of the horror genre, but I'll tell you what I am a fan of: subverting and satirizing genres I don't like. Horrorstör does just that. It is a traditional horror novel in plot, but the setting of a contemporary IKEA-esque furniture store along with the entire exposition that takes jabs at its corporate culture is anything but traditional. Another aspect of the story that subverts that traditional horror genre is, spoiler alert (highlight the white space if you want to read the spoiler): the black guy in the story doesn't die!

What people will most likely notice in terms of Horrorstör's uniqueness and subverting of the horror genre is its packaging. Designed to look like a furniture store catalog, right down to the chapter titles named for pieces of Orsk furniture that sound very similar to the names of items you would find in an IKEA catalog, you can't help but notice Horrorstör on a bookstore or library bookshelf.

Once the story got to the action of the horror tale, however, I wasn't so interested because as I said, I'm generally not a fan of the horror genre. But all that led up to the scary stuff was really fun and original and I applaud Grady Hendrix for his ingenuity. It takes something completely new and "never before seen" for me to sit up and take notice of a book from a genre I normally care nothing about. Horrorstör did that in spades.

Check out the book trailer:



Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
Expected Publication: September 23, 2014
Publisher: Quirk Books
Pages: 240
Genre: Horror
Audience: Adult/Young Adult
Disclosure: Review copy provided by publisher

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