Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Root Magic

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

karcitis's review

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

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bookishcori's review

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adventurous dark informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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linesiunderline's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is a book that left me immediately wanting to talk about it with others! Good thing I was reading it for a Middle Grade bookclub.

It was my first time reading Royce’s work and I am now very motivated to seek out more.

The author achieved so much in this spooky story:
- a sensitive, complex sibling relationship
- rich introduction to Gullah Geechee culture, and the history and practice of root magic
- downright creepy (venturing into scary) stuff, very vividly written
- strong sense of place: the marsh comes all the way to life due to the sensory style of the writing, you can see it, hear it, smell it
- a memorable, loving family at the centre of it all

Howevers:
- really the only aspect of this that didn’t work for me was the slow start, for the first quarter I felt like there wasn’t enough tension
- while I actually ended up finding the VERY scary climactic moment to be memorable and so well done, it was graphic and some kids might be quite frightened (nightmare territory for some I’ll bet)

I will definitely keep reading more Middle Grade titles by Royce. This was rich and layered and finely imagined.

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adoras's review

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Wow. I am so impressed with this novel. It has such a beautiful sense of time and place, set in South Carolina in 1963, and has so many little details that really put me in the characters' shoes, particularly talk about language and a lot of descriptions of food. The world building is fantastic, especially in the natural way we learn about magic (root work) as Jezebel and Jay learn about it. Also, for a middle grade novel, it's genuinely creepy and upsetting and scary at points. There were parts where I really felt chilled or worried for the characters' safety. I'm bumping this up to 4.5 stars because of how well it stuck the landing. While I find that many fantasy and/or middle grade books have a great set-up, this had a solid set up and then kept ramping up, really delivering in the third act.

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simonereadsbooks's review

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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allison_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Ugh this is such a sweet book. I know it's marketed towards children but, it didn't feel like a children's book at all! It's whimsical and fantastical while touching on very real issues that African-American's faced during the Civil Rights Movement in the US. I would recommend anyway read this novel!

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ceallaighsbooks's review

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challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

“All of that is what makes us Gullah Geechee people who we are. If no one tells the stories anymore, if no one learns the magic anymore, our ways will disappear from the world. Then all we’ll have is what the people think of us.” He bent his head to look both me and Jay in the eyes. “And how important is what other people think of us?”

I don’t read a lot of Middle Grade novels but I couldn’t resist reading this one for its Gullah Geechee rep and exploration of the root magic tradition.

This was such a precious, warm story full of a nuanced exploration of the difficulties of childhood, especially in regards to the effects of systemic racism and a lack of appreciation for the “old ways”. The values expressed through this book were those of community, family, loyalty, and a pride in ones self and ones traditions in the face of outside pressure to forget such things or dismiss them as unmodern and therefore unimportant or even ignorant.

The themes of bullying, police brutality, and racism were treated with great intention and yet also with such subtlety that I think Royce really captured the way children experience such issues and why approaching these conversations openly and honestly with children at a young age will help them build the tools and strength needed to be able to thrive in spite of these outside forces throughout their lives.

“History, Thomas, is the story of who we are. And sometimes, Negro history is told by people who don’t think we’re important. People who don’t think we make a difference in the world.” She gazed around the class then, like she was making a point to look at each one of us. “But we do matter. What we think matters. Our voices matter. And our stories matter too much to let someone else tell them. People need to know that.”

The character development was also very strong and I thought the adult characters in particular were a lot more complex and felt a lot more like real people than I usually find them to be represented in MG books.

There were some pretty scary parts, one of a supernatural nature, another of a police brutality nature, and the bullying episodes were pretty intense, but they were all perfectly handled and important to the story overall.

The philosophy of this book was also incredibly excellent. The profound respect and appreciation that Gullah Geechee traditions have for the natural world was very apparent in this book but I also loved how both Doc and Jezebel had their own views and values and were able to interpret and change their sacred practices according to their own personal codes. (Jezebel’s point blank refusal to harm any animals gor any reason in her magic was 😚👌🏻. And I loved that she even considered that “but we eat animals” and she acknowledges that that’s ok but for her and her magic, she wants to find another way. 🥰❤️🥰❤️🥰

I was also particularly in love with the choices made surrounding the character of Susie—I can’t say more about it without giving some major spoilers—but her involvement with Jez’s life was my favorite part of the story.

And the foodddd. All I wanted to eat for a week after finishing this book was different rice dishes. 😋😋 Might need to track down a Gullah Geechee cookbook soon… 🥰

“I walked up to the marsh, a place that had held such fascination and fun and fear for me, and placed my feet at the edge of the water. Here was where I had almost lost everything, even my life, but it was also the place where I found that I was connected to the people who loved me. And it didn’t matter that some of them might be gone for now. I was here, and I would remember them, always.”

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