The boo hag flex

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)

A grieving girl stumbles upon a frightening creature. When Elaina, who's spending the summer at Camp Apple Hill, wanders into the mysterious Cabin 23, she finds herself listening to an elderly Black witch spin a terrifying tale about a girl whose life is uprooted when her mother dies of Covid-19. Tasha, 12, who's spent the last few years in and around Atlanta, moves to the Shady Pines Estate, a trailer park where her grandma lives; the father she's never known stops by to visit but has little interest in raising her. Tasha soon meets the exuberant Ellie, who tells her that something sinister is killing the old people in the trailer park. Tasha refuses to believe that the monsters she's read about in her grandma's guides to Southern mythology are real--until she witnesses the creature for herself. As if that isn't enough, she learns that her father and his girlfriend, Kim, are getting married--but Kim proves to be the maternal figure Tasha sorely needs. Now, Tasha must save her new community from a threat that could be much closer to home than she expected. Dripping with tension, this is a briskly paced, pulse-pounding tale that's just as heartfelt as it is exciting, with engaging characters who will keep readers invested in the book's outcome. Tasha and her family are Black, as is Elaina; Ellie and Kim are white. A hair-raising good time. (Horror. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.