Root Magic, by Eden Royce (Walden Pond, January 2021), is a must-read middle grade fantasy book of 2021! It's a gripping mix of historical fiction (1963 South Carolina), magic that's a part of the author's culture, and family joy (mixed with sorrow and worry). But what it is most of all is the story of a girl growing up, realizing her power and recognizing where where it comes from and the responsibilities it brings.
Jez and her twin brother, Jay, have had a mostly happy childhood, playing in the marshes and fields around their home in the Carolina low country. But just before they turn 11, their beloved grandmother dies. She was a cornerstone of the Gullah Geechee community, a practitioner of Root Magic that had been passed down from ancestors captured in Africa. The kids' uncle, Doc, is also a practitioner, and begins to teach Jez and Jay.
Rootwork has protected Jez's community for generations, and she's excited to be part of it. They need protection as much as they ever have--the Sheriff's deputy is a nasty piece of work, terrorizing her family. Jez has a great gift for Root, but will it be enough to keep her family safe?
Throw in some ghosts, a witch, some red wolves (in true fairytale fashion, Jez saves a trapped wolf, who later helps her when she needs it most), and then add more ordinary school troubles (Jez is the target of mean girls, and this is the first year she's every made a good school friend, a friendship that brings its own complications), and some sibling tension (Jay is not as skilled at Root or at school as Jez, and worries he's being left behind, while Jez in turn feels he's turning away from family in favor of friends) and you have a great book!
Jez is a great character, sad and anxious at times, but full of joy at others. Though there is trauma and tension, her family is warm and loving, and those who are tired of dead or absent mothers will love Jez's mother! Her father is missing, and the kids don't know what became of him, and this small piece of the plot comes in at the end, part of the closure after the nasty Deputy comes to terrorize the family one last time.
The idea of a kid learning her family's magic is a solid middle grade fantasy plotline, but this is not ordinary fantasy. Eden Royce drew on her family's tradition of Rootwork, and their experiences in the 1960s, in writing the story, and though some things read as fantastical fantasy (like the witch), mostly this reads as real world magic, and her writing makes it all come to vivid life.
A lovely book! (for what it is worth, Kirkus agrees with me...which isn't always the case....)
Rootwork has protected Jez's community for generations, and she's excited to be part of it. They need protection as much as they ever have--the Sheriff's deputy is a nasty piece of work, terrorizing her family. Jez has a great gift for Root, but will it be enough to keep her family safe?
Throw in some ghosts, a witch, some red wolves (in true fairytale fashion, Jez saves a trapped wolf, who later helps her when she needs it most), and then add more ordinary school troubles (Jez is the target of mean girls, and this is the first year she's every made a good school friend, a friendship that brings its own complications), and some sibling tension (Jay is not as skilled at Root or at school as Jez, and worries he's being left behind, while Jez in turn feels he's turning away from family in favor of friends) and you have a great book!
Jez is a great character, sad and anxious at times, but full of joy at others. Though there is trauma and tension, her family is warm and loving, and those who are tired of dead or absent mothers will love Jez's mother! Her father is missing, and the kids don't know what became of him, and this small piece of the plot comes in at the end, part of the closure after the nasty Deputy comes to terrorize the family one last time.
The idea of a kid learning her family's magic is a solid middle grade fantasy plotline, but this is not ordinary fantasy. Eden Royce drew on her family's tradition of Rootwork, and their experiences in the 1960s, in writing the story, and though some things read as fantastical fantasy (like the witch), mostly this reads as real world magic, and her writing makes it all come to vivid life.
A lovely book! (for what it is worth, Kirkus agrees with me...which isn't always the case....)
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