The Creepening of Dogwood House

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, leaving Roddie to navigate his grief and loss alone. 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 family secrets hidden deep within Dogwood House—a chilling paranormal mystery where the past has awoken again, and is reaching out to Roddie…

• Haunted House Story: Dogwood House has been in Roddie’s family for over a hundred years. But the abandoned, rotting home holds dark secrets, and it seems to be waking up now that he’s here.
• Hoodoo Magic: Roddie’s mom never taught him about their family’s hoodoo traditions. Now, with his aunt, he must reconnect with his roots to understand the strange power at work in the house.
• Found Family: After losing his mom, Roddie must learn to trust his Aunt Angie and her husband, Erik. But it’s hard to build a new family when the house itself seems determined to tear them apart.
• African American Protagonist: Follows twelve-year-old Roddie, a thoughtful and brave African American boy, as he navigates his sorrow and confronts a terrifying supernatural threat tied to his own family history.

"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." - Publishers Weekly

"Eden Royce's thriller has all the earmarks of a classic haunted house tale paired with deeply-woven family traditions centered on hoodoo and Black hair. While the horror plot will keep you turning the pages, it's the emotional story of grief and family healing that will have you cheering at the end." - Tracey Baptiste, New York Times-bestselling author of The Jumbies

"Royce’s latest offers readers a strong, character-centered, hoodoo-infused narrative that’s a tribute to the beauty of Black hair. Richly detailed settings and themes of family, heritage, and grief provide anchors for the creepy mystery. A thrilling, hair-raising story with strong cultural roots and a well-developed sense of place." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Royce effectively builds suspense while cleverly interweaving facts about hoodoo. She provides a realistic portrayal of the way grief ebbs and flows amidst a kid-friendly scary story that includes a quest for answers, a confrontation with a monster, and a house that transforms to reveal family secrets after dark." - The Horn Book

"Royce offers up an excellent middle-grade horror story full of eerie atmosphere that nicely folds in the importance of connections to cultural history, meaningful examinations of grief, the literal power of Black hair, and how to find light in darkness." - Booklist

"Royce charms readers with another work of intriguing supernatural fiction laced with historical context. By both offering engaging characters and successfully demystifying hoodoo, this will encourage discussion among kids that may spark a curious exploration into their own culture." - Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books