Tales from Cabin 23: The Boo Hag Flex

By Justina Ireland

Informational Resources:

Author Information:

Justina Ireland’s Website:

https://www.authorjustinaireland.com/

Activities & Resources:

Have students write and record a book talk for Tales From Cabin 23: The Book Hag Flex.
BOOK TALK GUIDELINES

The Very Hungry Maggot: How larva farming can help reduce food waste (5:36)
https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/the-very-hungry-maggot-how-larvae-farming-can-help-reduce-food-waste

Fog:
All About Fog (3:53)
https://www.youtube.com./watch?v=kSlq08dm89I
https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/fog/399459

Stories:
The Boo Hag: A World of Stories (15:35)
https://kera.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ket-storytelling-101/the-boo-hag/

How to write a scary story
https://keepemthinking.com/2020/10/how-to-write-a-scary-story/

Geography:

Savannah
https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Savannah/276916

Georgia

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/geography/states/article/georgia

Mindfulness Activities:

10 Grounding Exercises for Kids to Manage Anxiety and Worries

https://mentalhealthcenterkids.com/blogs/articles/grounding-exercises-for-kids

The 5-4-3-2-1 Method: A Grounding Exercise to Manage Anxiety (4:28)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30VMIEmA114

MakerSpace Activities:

Fog in a Jar (1:10)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOD4CN8o9-Q

3 Ingredient Sugar Cookies (:49)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8oy0pz5YKA

Create Your Own Haint
https://iheartcraftythings.com/paper-bag-monster-puppets.html

Learn How to Stitch like Kim (7:41)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc9dLYra43o

Discussion Questions:

Based on the title and cover of the book, what are some predictions you can make about the story?

Would you go into Cabin 23? Why or why not?

If you had to all the sudden move, what five things would you refuse to part with?

Tasha’s mom says “It’s not the things in the dark that scare us – it’s the darkness itself. We’re most frightened of what we don’t know” (pg.24). What do you think she means? Give an example.

Tasha is having to adjust to a very new life. What are some of the happy parts? What are some of the sad parts?

Have you ever moved to someplace new or started a new school? What was it like?

Have you ever seen a ghost?

When Tasha meets Kim she notices that Kim is the “real kind of nice.” What are examples of real and fake niceness?

Can you think of any local urban legends?

Why would someone want to be immortal?

The girls have figured out that the ghost is really a boo hag. Based on what you’ve read so far, who do you think is the boo hag? Why?

Why do you think a ghost or a monster would choose to haunt a trailer park instead of a mansion?

Food is mentioned a lot in this story. Do you have a favorite comfort food? What meal do you like to eat after a bad day?

Tasha’s dad, John, doesn’t like to listen to other people's thoughts or opinions. Do you know someone like that? How does it make you feel?

What is a weakness of the boo hag? 

What’s the spiciest thing you’ve ever eaten? Do you think it would be spicy enough to use on a boo hag?

Tasha tells Kim she thinks her dad is a deadbeat. Kim thinks he can learn how to be a better father. Do you think people can change?

If you could change one thing in the book what would it be? Why?

How did the story’s ending make you feel?

What was the scariest part of the book to you?

Book Talk Teasers:

Read the reader’s theater for Tales From Cabin 23: The Boo Hag Flex by Justina Ireland.

Watch the book trailer on the Texas Bluebonnet Award website.

Read Alikes: 

Allen, Sarah Elisabeth. The Nightmare House. A middle-grade novel about a girl who sees possessed souls and ventures into a haunted house in the forest on a mission to save them, and defeat her own demons, in the process. (NoveList Plus)

Brown, India Hill. The Forgotten Girl. Sneaking out with her best friend to play in the freshly fallen snow on a cold winter night, Iris discovers an abandoned grave before experiencing vivid nightmares that compel her investigation into the story of a Black cemetery from the segregation era. (NoveList Plus)

Burch, Ciera. Finch House. Warned by her Poppop to stay away from the haunted Victorian-era Finch House, 11-year-old Micah enters and becomes trapped there after her Poppop disappears and must convince the house to release its hold on her and her family. (NoveList Plus)

Stine, R.L.. Welcome to Dead House. When their father inherits an old house in the town of Dark Falls, Amanda and Josh are excited--until they begin to suspect that the house is haunted. (NoveList Plus)

Strong, Karen. The Secret Dead Club. Moving to the family home in Alton, Georgia, Wednesday discovers she’s not the only one who can see ghosts when she meets a group of girls who invite her to join the Dead Club and help them banish evil from their town. (NoveList Plus)

Reviews:

Kirkus Reviews (April 1, 2024)

A grieving girl stumbles upon a frightening creature. When Elaina, who’s spending the summer at Camp Apple Hill, wanders into the mysterious Cabin 23, she finds herself listening to an elderly Black witch spin a terrifying tale about a girl whose life is uprooted when her mother dies of Covid-19. Tasha, 12, who’s spent the last few years in and around Atlanta, moves to the Shady Pines Estate, a trailer park where her grandma lives; the father she’s never known stops by to visit but has little interest in raising her. Tasha soon meets the exuberant Ellie, who tells her that something sinister is killing the old people in the trailer park. Tasha refuses to believe that the monsters she’s read about in her grandma’s guides to Southern mythology are real—until she witnesses the creature for herself. As if that isn’t enough, she learns that her father and his girlfriend, Kim, are getting married—but Kim proves to be the maternal figure Tasha sorely needs. Now, Tasha must save her new community from a threat that could be much closer to home than she expected. Dripping with tension, this is a briskly paced, pulse-pounding tale that’s just as heartfelt as it is exciting, with engaging characters who will keep readers invested in the book’s outcome. Tasha and her family are Black, as is Elaina; Ellie and Kim are white. A hair-raising good time. (Horror. 8-12)