Root Magic (2021)

This middle grade novel by Eden Royce is so lovely. Like Silver Meadows Summer, something about it reminds me of books I loved as a child, especially the works of Ruth White, but it remains a story all its own. I am always about great, complex stories for young people, and Root Magic is a wonderful addition to that canon.

In 1963 South Carolina, 11-year-old Jez Turner is trying to make sense of a world that often defies it. Her grandmother, the family matriarch has just died. A racist deputy keeps coming around the house to harass them. Kids at school are suspicious of Gullah people like Jez’s family, and for the first time, she’s in a different class than her twin brother Jay. Feeling scared and friendless, Jez is thrilled when her uncle decides it’s time to teach her and Jay the family business, learning the folk magic of rootwork. In a tense environment with threats pressing in on all sides, they’re going to need all the protection they can get.

This is a beautiful book. It does a great job combining the supernatural with the real world. In studying rootwork, Jez and her brother learn about concoctions to cure ailments, to bring good fortune, and to offer protection, and the foes they need protecting from are both spiritual and worldly. If certain powders and spells can protect Jez from a boo-hag, could they work the same magic on racist police? Is there rootwork that can help her make a new friend at school? The fantastical elements are woven well into the everyday aspects of Jez’s life, which are at times mundane and at times gravely serious.

The historical pieces of the story are given their full weight while still being written in a way that’s accessible for kids. Jez’s world is one of police violence, harsh battles over integration, and national tumult, and we see it unfold through her eyes. There’s so much she doesn’t understand, and even darker secrets that have been hidden from her, but although it scares and confuses her, it’s still her world and she has to find a way to live in it.

And within the supernatural side of the story, we also find nuance and variation. Sometimes a frightening spirit needs to be warded off at all costs, but sometimes it needs to be listened to. Things aren’t always as they seem, and Jez, who’s been having a hard time in more earthly matters, throws herself wholeheartedly into navigating the world of spirits and magic.

Royce’s prose, written in first-person from Jez’s perspective, provides an excellent window into the story, equal parts poetic and down-to-earth. The scary parts are genuinely creepy, the thoughtful moments are nicely contemplative, and the emotional passages are open and honest. I also like getting the snippets of Gullah vernacular, which help pull the reader into that culture.

Warnings

Violence (including police violence,) scary moments for kids, disturbing images, and strong thematic elements.