The Boo Hag Flex (Tales from Cabin 23 #1)

Twelve-year-old Tasha Washington has just lost her mother, the only family she’s ever known. She’s taken in by her father, whom she’s never met. He “would rather watch basketball with his friends than get to know his own daughter,” though, so Tasha spends her time with her paternal grandmother, Ms. Washington, in her Georgia trailer park home. Tasha’s grandmother is kind, and between Ms. Washington’s presence and library of creepy tales, along with a new friend, Tasha thinks she might be on the path toward healing. That is, until a string of mysterious deaths strikes the trailer park. The circumstances lead Tasha to theorize that the deaths are murders caused by a boo hag: a creature wearing a human skin that drains mortals of their soul. Desperate to save her beloved grandmother as well as the other trailer park inhabitants, Tasha embarks on an adventure to stop the boo hag. But that’s easier said than done, especially when the being’s secret identity is less mysterious than she thinks. With this harrowing tale, Ireland (Rust in the Root) twines together grief and adventure via a pitch-perfect voice to launch a horror anthology series in which each entry will be written by a different author. Tasha’s father is Black, and her mother is “light-skinned.” Ages 8–12. Agent: Laura Rennert, Andrea Brown Literary. (May)