Bad Mojo

A twelve-year-old boy, convinced he's cursed, flees his foster home in Illinois to find a voodoo priestess in New Orleans and runs into the arms of Hurricane Katrina instead.Bobby Thompson wants to be cursed. And not your everyday, mad-at-your-neighbor jinx, but a big, fat, hairy curse. The kind of curse that will explain away all the bad in his life. When Flyn, his foster home friend, does a tarot card reading, she dubs him hoodoo cursed, and claims the only one capable of breaking it is her voodoo priestess aunt. But her aunt lives in New Orleans, four states away, and Bobby can't bear to leave his unconscious mom behind.Unfortunately, Bobbys curse puts everyone around him in jeopardy. Old Mrs. Reed dies when he touches her, the neighborhood bully lands in the ER, his foster mom could lose her license, and that fire he accidentally starts . . . He has no choice. He has to go to New Orleans.Even with friends, the journey will be tough, especially when the police are looking for them, but Bobby knows a busted curse will mean his mom will wake up from her coma and all the wrong in his life will right itself. The funny thing about curses though, is sometimes they don't want to be broken, and New Orleans at the end of August 2005 is no place for three kids on the run.Lexile measure 620L, Grades 5-7