Voodoo Child is Mid Grade published by Tell-Tale Publishing
Voodoo Child blurb
Left alone and homeless after the Haitian earthquake, Jean Benoit lives with foster parents in New Orleans. Oscar is an overweight underachiever whose mother abandoned him in Wal-Mart. He lives in the store hoping she will come back for him. Bella lives with her adoptive parents. Her parents are dead but they left her an ability she has yet to discover. Bella is a shapeshifter. Explore the mysteries of the French Quarter through the eyes of three seventh graders as they search to reconnect with their parents and avoid a nasty set of bad guys.
A voodoo witch named Odette, her brother Bocor and Odette’s son, Natas, are searching for a magic amulet sent to Jean by his mother. He has no idea how to use it. He has to learn on the fly. The bad guys are after him and he needs to find his mother.
Received three five-star reviews from readers favorites
Reviewed By Jack Magnus for Readers’ Favorite
Voodoo Child is an urban fantasy novel for young adults written by Janet Post and Gabe Thompson. Jean Benoit’s foster parents seemed to think of him as their personal manservant -- and little more. He lived in their basement with a furnace that pumped out smoke and fumes, and spent his afternoons down there doing the family’s laundry. Sad thing was, Jean didn’t mind being in the basement so much as it meant spending less time with people who didn’t seem to care about him at all. His best friends, Oscar Delgado and Bella Morgan, also had issues with their family situations. Oscar’s mom had left him in Walmart some months ago, and he was living in the store while waiting for her to come back for him. She had done this before, so Oscar was determined to stay where she could find him. Bella seemed to have it best of the three friends -- her fosters were well-to-do and gave her everything she could possibly want, except their company. They were just too busy to notice or even care about her.
Jean couldn’t believe that the Paynes had actually thrown away a package addressed to him. He had noticed it that morning as he took the trash out. Getting mail would have been such a big thing for him, as it had never happened. His dad had disappeared some years ago, and he had been living with his mother’s friends when the earthquake wrecked and destabilized Haiti, where they all lived. Jean had ended up in an orphanage until the Paynes fostered him. He wondered what had happened to his parents, and how they would ever find him again. So this package represented a tie to his past that was irresistible indeed. He didn’t have time to open it on the school bus, so he put it in his backpack for safekeeping until he had some time to himself. But when bullies started to give the three friends a hard time outside the school, Jean noticed that his backpack seemed warmer than it should be. He looked inside and saw a light coming from the package. Jean’s life, and that of his friends, was about to change. There would be danger from terrifying sources and even a way to interact with his dad, but his surviving the near future was anything but guaranteed.
Voodoo Child is an engrossing and beautifully written story about three kids whose bonds are tighter than those they have with the adults in their lives. I loved seeing the support system Jean, Bella and Oscar have built together, and had a grand time experiencing New Orleans through their eyes. The characters have zing and appeal, and the reader quickly begins to feel as though they are friends; and the plot is filled with action, adventure, terrifying beings and magic. Voodoo Child is hard to put down, and finishing it was both satisfying and sad. I’d love to see a sequel as these characters have too much going for them to be limited to one book. Voodoo Child is most highly recommended.
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Wow!
