A Bad Day For Voodoo is a young adult fiction novel written by Jeff Strand, and published in 2012. It is about a high school sophomore, Tyler Churchill, who gets an undeserved F from his teacher Mr. Click. His crazy best friend, Adam Westell, comes to him with a Voodoo Doll of Mr. Click, and tells him to jab some pins into it in the middle of Mr. Click's class. He declines, but Adam wants him to humor him, so he does. Unfortunately, Mr. Click's leg comes off, and he gets sent to the hospital. Naturally, they both freak out. Along the way, Tyler's girlfriend Kelley comes to mediate conflicts between Tyler and Adam. To make matters worse, Adam has a voodoo doll of Tyler made, and it's in danger of being destroyed by a Rottweiler, a gang of thugs, and a family of cannibals. The main plot is the trio trying to rescue the doll so Tyler doesn't get killed.
A Bad Day For Voodoo contains examples of:
- Anti-Hero: Tyler is the protagonist, and always tries to do the right thing, but states to the reader that he is definitely not a role model.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When Tyler tries to chase after his stolen car which has the voodoo doll of himself in it, he curses: "S-word, f-word, s-word, d-word, s-word times three, f-word, and a z-word that [he] made up on the spot".
- Big "NO!": After Mr. Click's leg comes off, Tyler and Adam go to Tyler's house to watch the news, and the reporter announces that Mr. Click is dead. Adam shouts, "No!".
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: When Tyler is explaining to Kelley how Mr. Click died, she says, "Are you kidding me?", "Are you serious?", and "You can't be serious! Are you kidding me?".
- The Chosen One: Esmeralda, the maker of the voodoo dolls, explains to Tyler and Kelley that Adam is this, and will one day defeat the hobgoblins. When Kelley questions this, she explains that only the chosen one could have made the voodoo dolls so powerful.
- Foreshadowing: After Adam gets a voodoo doll made of Tyler to ensure that he won't tell the cops about the voodoo doll of Adam got made of Mr. Click, Tyler asks him how he paid for another one when they cost 80 dollars, since Adam was out of money. Adam doesn't answer. As it turns out, Esmeralda the doll-maker made the doll for free because Adam is The Chosen One.
- I Banged Your Mom: Implied by the cab driver. When Tyler is in the cab, he tells the cab driver that he needs to borrow his phone to call his mom, and when he hands him the phone, he jokes that she’s probably already in his contacts list.
- Sadist Teacher: Mr. Click. He gives Tyler an undeserved F, and announces to the entire class when a kid gets a bad grade.
- Unreliable Narrator: Defied. Tyler assures the reader that he is telling the complete truth.
- Wham Line: Esmeralda the doll-maker tells Tyler and Kelley, "[Adam] add to power of doll. Make it super-magical. He Chosen One.", revealing that Adam of all people is The Chosen One..
