The Creepening of Dogwood House

A period of upheaval and heartbreak in a Black preteen’s life is exacerbated by supernatural forces in this emotional Southern horror by Royce (Conjure Island). Twelve-year-old Roderick Bolden has been in the care of Williamson Orphanage ever since his mother’s death. That is, until the intervention of Aunt Angela Hamilton, Roddie’s only living relative, whom he’s never met. Grieving the loss of her estranged sister, Aunt Angie welcomes Roddie to Dogwood House, the family’s ancestral home. The mansion, “a monster place in the middle of nowhere,” has been languishing in disrepair, and Aunt Angie intends to restore it. Grateful for his new home, Roddie is nonetheless unsettled by the dilapidated structure and the disturbing things he encounters, such as discovering clumps of hair under peeling wallpaper and a skeletal figure in an upstairs window. After Roddie finds a map of Dogwood House drawn by his mother, Aunt Angie informs him of the family’s hoodoo culture. Now, Roddie must connect with his cultural history to ward off the evil spirits that have taken notice of him. Royce employs marvelously eerie ambiance to craft a tale that is at once a moving narrative about grief and remembrance and a frightening, slow-burning haunted house adventure. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich, & Bourret. (July)