Twelve-year-old Evangeline and her grandmother are haunt huntresses, healers and charmers who pursue and vanquish monsters, ghouls, banshees and other haunting creatures in the bayous of Louisiana where they live. Well, Evangeline is almost a full-fledged haunt huntress. As soon as she gets her animal familiar and proves to the council that she has heart, Evangeline will be following in the footsteps of her illustrious haunt huntress ancestors.

But when Evangeline and Gran are called to New Orleans to take on a special and dangerous case, Evangeline begins to see that there is more to being a true haunt huntress than just a few charms and spells. Maybe she didn’t inherit her dead mother’s haunt huntress skills and powers after all. Maybe she’s just a middling, with no powers, no inheritance, and no identity.

This story definitely has a Disney-esque moral. Gran says to Evangeline: “Power comes from belief. If you don’t believe you have it, then you don’t. But if you believe in yourself, amazing things will happen.” Evangeline and her Gran have a sort of pseudo-religious heritage. They burn candles and sprinkle holy water to get rid of some haunts. And Evangeline actually prays–for help, for her Gran’s health. But it all feels very superstitious and well, power-less. And the very powerful rougarou that Evangeline finally defeats in the story is semi-vanquished by the power of love and self-assurance, not by the power of God.

There are several bright spots in the book. The Louisiana setting is well-drawn. Evangeline and her frenemy Julian are both vivid and sometimes humorous characters. The monsters and magical haunting creatures are plentiful and plenty scary, without being too horrible for a children’s book. Gran also tells Evangeline: “When you see others in need, you help them, even if it means a risk to yourself.” That’s a moral I can stand behind. And it is Love that wins the day. I wouldn’t give this one to my library patrons (Christian homeschool private library), but you may have different ideas about superstition and about the efficacy of fighting evil with belief in one’s self.

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This book may be nominated for a Cybils Award, but the views expressed here are strictly my own and do not reflect or determine the judging panel’s opinions.