Cattywampus

by Ash Van Otterloo

Overview

The magical story of a hex that goes haywire, and the power of friendship to set things right!

In the town of Howler's Hollow, conjuring magic is strictly off-limits. Only nothing makes Delpha McGill's skin crawl more than rules. So when she finds her family's secret book of hexes, she's itching to use it to banish her mama's money troubles. She just has to keep it quieter than a church mouse — not exactly Delpha's specialty.

Trouble is, Katybird Hearn is hankering to get her hands on the spell book, too. The daughter of a rival witching family, Katy has reasons of her own for wanting to learn forbidden magic, and she's not going to let an age-old feud or Delpha's contrary ways stop her. But their quarrel accidentally unleashes a hex so heinous it resurrects a graveyard full of angry Hearn and McGill ancestors bent on total destruction. If Delpha and Katy want to reverse the spell in time to save everyone in the Hollow from rampaging zombies, they'll need to mend fences and work together.

Fans of A Snicker of Magic and The Witch Boy will love this funny, folksy, fresh debut from Ash Van Otterloo that proves sometimes it takes two witches to make the strongest magic happen.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338561609
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	02/01/2022
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	1,086,896
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Ash Van Otterloo is the author of Cattywampus. When they're not writing and freelance editing, they love gardening, hiking, exchanging playful banter, and collecting folklore stories. A longtime resident of the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, they now live in Washington with their family and an enormous collection of plants.

Editorial Reviews

An Indies Next pick

An Indies Introduce pick

"Deftly weaving elements of magic and nature with a story of adolescent change, debut author Van Otterloo conjures a timeless contemporary fantasy." — Publishers Weekly

"A spirited debut." — Kirkus Reviews

"Lively and entertaining! Ash Van Otterloo delivers spooky fun and an essential new kid-lit character in this spirited debut." — Ingrid Law, Newbery Honor-winning author of Savvy

"Cattywampus is a Southern yarn in all the best ways — it's warm and welcoming and promises you a wild ride. You'll want to settle into this story and stay awhile." — Erica Waters, author of Ghost Wood Song

"It is southern, witchy, magical fun about friends and family and the histories that connect us and haunt us. The dialogue is fireworks... The subtle creepiness won't scare you (too bad), but the vibrant, beating heart of this story will haunt you for a good long time." — Natalie Lloyd, New York Times bestselling author of A Snicker of Magic

From the Publisher

06/29/2020

Deftly weaving elements of magic and nature with a story of adolescent change, debut author Van Otterloo conjures a timeless contemporary fantasy. Mortal enemies thanks to a multigenerational family feud, Delpha McGill and Katybird Hearn, both 12, reside in Howler’s Hollow, a small Appalachian town. Loner Delpha, whose family is drowning in bills, is forbidden to use magic after a spell killed family members, but she’s desperate to make life easier for her and her mother. Popular Katybird, who was born with XY chromosomes and “hadn’t had much use for hormones like testosterone,” wonders whether being intersex will interfere with developing her witch family’s matrilineal gift. The two girls, one seeking to learn magic and one seeking to find it, soon find themselves immersed in their small town’s politics as they race to undo a spell gone awry—their inadvertent awakening of a graveyard filled with generations of warring witches from both of their clans. They must race against time to return the zombies to their final rest before the zombies’ efforts to destroy each other result in a destroyed town. With an organic-feeling plot and emotionally resonant characters steeped in Appalachian heritage and “dusty family lore,” Van Otterloo creates a friendly, magical tale. Ages 8–12. Agent: Lauren Spieller, Triada US Literary. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

2020-05-17
Two preadolescent witches from rival magical families work together to reverse a hex gone haywire.

Magic is not to be performed in the McGill household, but when Delpha McGill finds the family spellbook hidden in a closet, she sets out to learn magic to pull herself and Mama out of poverty. Conversely, Katybird Hearn’s family secretly practices magic, but Katy’s own “conjure gift”—passed from mother to daughter—seems stuck. Born with XY chromosomes and androgen insensitivity, Katy is intersex; Katy knows she’s a daughter but worries that her ability might not fully develop. The feud between the two families—the cause of which no one remembers—ended years ago, but the families, and the girls, maintain a polite distance. Everything goes cattywampus when an argument over a runaway outhouse(?!) leads to the resurrection of angry McGill and Hearn ancestors—warring as though they never stopped. The girls have to put aside their differences to make things right, or it will be the end of both families forever. The even, third-person narration switches between impulsive Delpha and levelheaded Katy, giving voice to each girl’s insecurities and triumphs as she tries to quell her doubts about her place in her family, and in magic. Colloquialisms and vernacular bring the Appalachian North Carolina setting to life. Assume whiteness for most characters; classmate Tyler (who has a magical ability of his own) has two mothers, one of whom wears box braids. Katy’s 6-year-old brother is deaf, and the family uses ASL.

A spirited debut. (Fantasy. 8-13)

Kirkus Reviews