Bad Mojo

by Eva Blackstone

Bobby Thompson wants to be cursed. And not your everyday, mad-at-your-neighbor jinx, but a big, fat, hairy curse. The kind of curse that will explain away all the bad in his life. When Flyn, his foster home friend, does a tarot card reading, she dubs him hoodoo cursed, and claims the only one capable of breaking it is her voodoo priestess aunt. But her aunt lives in New Orleans, four states away, and Bobby can’t bear to leave his unconscious mom behind.

Unfortunately, Bobby's curse puts everyone around him in jeopardy. Old Mrs. Reed dies when he touches her, the neighborhood bully lands in the ER, his foster mom could lose her license, and that fire he accidentally starts . . . He has no choice. He has to go to New Orleans.

Even with friends, the journey will be tough, especially when the police are looking for them, but Bobby knows a busted curse will mean his mom will wake up from her coma and all the wrong in his life will right itself. The funny thing about curses though, is sometimes they don’t want to be broken, and New Orleans at the end of August 2005 is no place for three kids on the run.

A twelve-year-old boy, convinced he’s cursed, flees his foster home in Illinois to find a voodoo priestess in New Orleans and runs into the arms of Hurricane Katrina instead.

Lexile® measure 620L

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 29, 2015

About the author

Eva Blackstone has always been fascinated by language and storytelling. She was eleven when she won her first poetry contest and has been writing poetry, short stories, and full-length novels ever since. The power of friendship is a common theme in all of her work. She has lived all over the U.S., traveled all over the world, and currently lives near the Great Lakes with her husband, three human children, and two furry children.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great middle grade adventure story for boys and girls. Bobby's life is gritty, and Hurricane Katrina is depicted with real-life seriousness, but the humor and the heart in this story will carry the reader through to a very satisfying conclusion.

[M.A. McRae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bad Mojo might have been written for young readers, but I’ve never let that sort of thing deter me from enjoying a good book. A combination of humour, of tragedy and of growing up. This was an incredible book. I loved it.

[Tianne Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was able to receive this via Giveaways. It is a good story covering the hurricane but in some parts sensitive children might find it too dark. Overall a good story

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Works for Book Riot's Read Harder 2020 task 5 - Read a book about a natural disaster.

Nice upper elementary or middle school look at foster care issues, though perhaps through rose colored glasses. The main characters run away in an attempt to break a "bad mojo" curse, and find themselves in New Orleans just as Hurricane Katrina hits.

[Eva Blackstone]

Hi! Eva Blackstone here. I entered my upper middle grade novel, Bad Mojo, in the 2016 Benjamin Franklin Awards and I'm excited to share with you some of the feedback I received:

"Highly suspenseful with vivid language appropriate for the genre. Brilliant character development." ~2016 Benjamin Franklin Award Judge

"Humor and heart. Humor and tragedy. It's not an easy task to keep them in balance, let alone being able to tell a story that carries well to the end."~ 2016 Benjamin Franklin Award Judge

As an adoptive mom to two of my three children, I drew upon my and some of my friends' experiences with the foster care system in Illinois for this fictional account of three foster children seeking answers and adventure at the end of summer 2005.

Categories: upper middle grade, magical realism, contemporary issues, historical fiction. Topics for discussion: domestic violence, bullying, disabilities, foster care, suicide, runaways, Hurricane Katrina, folk magic, superstition, grief counseling, forgiveness

[Corinne Olivier · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this book as a giveaway. All I can say is I was very glad to come to the end of this book. It took me a really long time to finish because I just didn't enjoy reading it. The main character thinks that he is cursed, but he just came from an unfortunate family situation and has a bad temper.