Set in 1927 rural New England, McKenzie’s atmospheric debut contains all the trappings of a good dark-and-stormy-night ghost story. Elijah, nearly 12, never suspects his plain, kindly farm mother is a witch, until two dotty aunts arrive at Dredmoore Hollow out of the blue and spirit him away to their creepy overgrown home at Moaning Marsh. These strangely glamorous ladies are up to something in their Magic Snippers beauty salon, where customers enter at their own risk, while the lugubrious hired hand Mr. Grobbs skulks about with his ever-present hunchback wolf, Jack. The evil aunts, who have been feuding with Elijah’s mother for 15 years, are inordinately interested in Elijah’s chin—namely his first whisker, which they will add to their cauldron potion and thereby rehabilitate the Dredmoore “curse.” Written in the personable, gutsy voice of plainspoken Elijah, McKenzie’s work betrays some influence of the Potter books, as well as a bit of Poe and Irving, but delivers a fresh, spooky shiver. (Fantasy. 10 & up)
