Hoodoo is pure folk magic, if you didn't know.' -Keith Donohue, New York Times best-selling author of The Stolen Child 'The authenticity of Hoodoo's voice and this distinctive mashup of genres make Smith one to watch. Told by a narrator you won't soon forget, it is filled with myth and legend, danger and bravery.

What a fun discovery!' -Nikki Giovanni, poet and award-winning author of Rosa 'I loved this book. Schmidt, two-time Newbery Honor medalist and author of The Wednesday Wars 'Oh, wow! Hoodoo may just be the perfect book for a rainy day. 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. The straightforward plot makes this accessible to younger readers, and the atmospheric setting will certainly leave them with a chill.' -The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 'The action of the novel moves swiftly, and readers should be easily drawn into its dark, supernatural ambience.' -Publishers Weekly 'What a splendid novel. 'The horror element is just as vividly drawn, with the terrifying Stranger rivaling Barraclough's Long Lankin in his creepiness. 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. He'll just need to learn how to conjure first. The entire town is at risk from the Stranger's black magic, and only Hoodoo can defeat him.

Even worse, he soon learns the Stranger is looking for a boy. Then a mysterious man called the Stranger comes to town, and Hoodoo starts dreaming of the dead rising from their graves. But even though his name is Hoodoo, he can't seem to cast a simple spell. Now in paperback!īook Synopsis Twelve-year-old Hoodoo Hatcher was born into a family with a rich tradition of practicing folk magic: hoodoo, as most people call it. With this vivid debut, Zora Neale Hurston meets Stephen King in a supernatural Southern Gothic tale for middle grade readers.

Hoodoo by Ronald L. Smith