Clara and the Hoodoo Man [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Partridge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1996 | Age Level: 9 and up

Despite her mother's warnings about the hoodoo man, Clara delights in his tales of cures hidden in plants, and when her sister, Bessie, takes sick, Clara braves the perils of the nighttime forest to find the hoodoo man and his secret medicines.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While digging herbs on Red Owl Mountain, Clara Raglan and her little sister Bessie strike up a conversation with Old Sugar, the hoodoo man. Their mother has warned them that Old Sugar puts hexes on people, but the girls timidly respond to the old man's friendship. Then Bessie is struck by mountain fever. Momma blames Clara. "You should never have talked with that two-shadow man," she cries, collapsing into sobs. And Clara, ashamed, has to take a big risk. Should she fear the hex or defy her mother and fetch the hoodoo man to save her sister's life? This exceptional first novel is as clear and sharp as a heady whiff of sage. It features luminescent writing full of sensuous images, heavy with persimmon and willow bark and hollyhocks; readers can hear the chickens scratching and feel the big pots steaming. It is subtle in characterization; Clara is aware of her mother's big and small moods, but from a young girl's perspective. It is also dramatically compelling, climaxing in Clara's fearful ride up the mountain in the pitch black. Partridge, an herbalist and acupuncturist, has based her novel on the story told her by the real-life Clara, an octogenarian African American woman raised in rural Tennessee. One hopes the author has more stories to share. Ages 8-11.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6?Clara, an African American girl, is angry that she is always expected to entertain her younger sister. She wrangles with Bessie until she finds herself caught in a dare that results in one of their mother's crocks (used to store homemade sausages) getting broken. In the Tennessee mountains at the turn of the century, such a loss could threaten the family's very survival. Clara vows to earn the $2.50 to replace the item, but it seems an impossible sum until she finds a large patch of wild ginseng. Anxious to please her mother, who always seems to find fault with her, Clara ignores a coming storm and her sister's safety to dig the valuable "sang." After being soaked and chilled by the storm, Bessie contracts a life-threatening fever, against which even the white doctor seems powerless. Clara thinks the hoodoo man can save the sick child, but her mother has fearfully forbidden her to even speak to him. Superbly schooled in time and place, Partridge introduces readers to the demanding beauty of life as it was lived by people who were handed little, yet survived and gave much. Readers learn the uses of willow bark, the setting habits of a recalcitrant hen, and are given glimpses of the legacy of slavery. Although the plot moves a bit slowly at times, Clara is a beautifully realized character.?Cindy Darling Codell, Clark Middle School, Winchester, KY
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile; 1st edition (July 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525454039
• ISBN-13: 978-0525454038
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,705,481 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars my book review, February 11, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Clara and the Hoodoo Man (Puffin Novel) (Hardcover)

Bessie starts to get sick with a fever and a sore throat

Bessie says she is seeing snakes on the floor and everywhere, the fever has taking her along making her imagine things. She is moaning she is saying things that she thinks she is seeing. Momma tells Clara to grab some spring water, Clara is week and scared. When she came in with the water she wets rags down and covers Bessie with them. Bessie still murmuring things with moans in a whisper. Momma tells Clara that the hoodoo man has done this to Bessie. She says to Clara they should have never talked to the Hoodoo man.

They get the White doctor to come and see Bessie The white Doctor says that Bessie has Mountain Fever.

Clara went to Old Sugar and he told her of a medicine you have to get A pot of warm Hot water and willow twigs boil it and then have Bessie lay in it like a bath it will make her better, Clara went and did this and it made Bessie better.

4.0 out of 5 stars Clara and the Hoodoo Man, October 17, 2000

By 

LaNesha Marbury (Leeds, AL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Clara and the Hoodoo Man (Library Binding)

I read this book while taking a Children's Literature class. The story is great! The author really kept me attention. I was continually wondering if the Hoodoo Man used hoodoo on little Bessie, or if Bessie got sick because of Clara taking her into the mountains. The language Elizabeth Partridge used to describe the state little Bessie was in when she was sick with fever really captivated me. I recommend this book for all children and adults to read.