I recently continued my Mary Downing Hahn read-a-thon I seem to be participating in and read another recent book of hers, Took.
Summary
The story follows a boy named Daniel and his younger sister Erica as they move from their plushy home of Connecticut to a much poorer town in Maryland where rumor has it is home to a “conjure woman” who goes by “Auntie” and steals a child every 50 years. When Daniel’s sister is her new target, Daniel enlists the help of his neighbors and Auntie’s niece to stop the witch before it is too late.
Likes & Dislikes
While this wasn’t my favorite story of hers, I thought she did an effective job adding voice to the 13-year-old male protagonist (who’s POV we read most of the story in). Like any teenage boy, he uses words like “crap” and “pee” and other lingo that a teen boy would use in daily conversation, but not to too much of an excess. Based off the internal monologues of the main character, the language he uses as well as his thought process were consistent, and I could see how his character developed as he sought to face his fears to save his sister and appease the grief of his family.
A lot of the time, I think boys this age feel they have a responsibility to their family, and I could sense that pressure that Daniel was feeling through his voice in this story. For example, he wanted his whole grief-stricken family back to normal, and he knew that to do so, he must get his sister back, whatever the cost.
Recommendation
Overall, even though this book wasn’t initially my cup-a-tea, I thought this story was well-written by a talented author. I would recommend it to MG readers and older who enjoy thrillers and mysteries.
