As I’ve mentioned before, I really loved Eden Royce’s Root Magic, and her Conjure Island was one of my personal favorites from last year as well as being one of the Cybils finalists. I’m very excited to share her newest book with you today!

The Creepening of Dogwood House
by Eden Royce

Walden Pond Press, 2024

ISBN 9780063251403

Review copy read via Netgalley

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…

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. 

MY THOUGHTS

Ms. Royce’s books so far have ranged from very scary, with the worst of the horror coming the humans in Root Magic, to somewhat scary but no real villain in Conjure Island. The Creepening of Dogwood House takes yet another turn, starting out just sad, with slowly building horror of a definitely supernatural variety. If you haven’t found hair terrifying before, you will after reading this book, where the horror spins out of the danger hoodoo finds in shed hair. For those who love old houses, Dogwood House definitely delivers, with ghosts, a floor plan that changes by night, and an old hand-drawn map to guide the way through the changes. Roddy himself is an appealing and believable character as he grieves his mother, tries to make sense of the happenings all around him that defy everything he’s known about the way the world works, and begins to build trust and relationships his new family. Definitely recommended for fans of old houses, ghosts, old traditions proving their worth, and rebuilding after loss.

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 14 LitCoach Lou @LitcoachLou

August 14 Katy Kramp @alibrarymama

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