Customer Reviews

The Bagpiper's Ghost: Tartan Magic, Book Three

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
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My daughter loved this book she went through it pretty fast not one day but a couple. Good book though, she enjoyed rereading it. If your kid is into scary books buy this book.

This wonderful story is one of three (so far) chronicling the adventures of three American children on vacation in Scotland, visiting their grandmother. They have come to realize that Scotland is filled with the magic of centuries, and the magic lives in 13-year-old Jennifer. However, when her twin, Peter goes off to look for magic, the twins soon find themselves embroiled in a new adventure! Sometimes malevolence lasts, especially that between a brother and sister.

This is a great story, harkening back so clearly to ancient folk stories. I especially liked the traditional idea of women as possessors of ancient wisdom and power, beyond men and their science, powerful and yet healing in nature. This is a great book that I recommend to everyone with children, especially girls.

This is the third book in Jane Yolen's Tartan Magic trilogy, and picks up soon after the events in The Pictish Child. In this book, Jennifer and Peter, two American children on vacation in Scotland, head off to visit a local graveyard. Peter is rather jealous of Jennifer's newfound magical ability, and wants to find some magic himself. However, when they meet three ghosts, Peter gets more than he bargained for! Now Jennifer is in a race against time to get Peter un-possessed, and put some poor souls to rest.

My thirteen-year-old daughter first introduced me to these books, and I must say that I enjoy them as much as she does. Jane Yolen does an excellent job of bring Scotland to life for the American reader (please remember that there is a Scottish glossary at the back!). In general, the author does not spend too much time on character development (outside of the children and their grandmother, the characters are very two-dimensional), but for many young readers, this will not prove a problem.

So, let me just say that my daughter and I both enjoyed this book, and we highly recommend it to you!

The long-awaited third entry in the charming "Tartan Magic" series does not disappoint, offering new kinds of fantasy stories after using wizards and time-travel. This time, it's ghosts.

American twins Peter and Jennifer have hit a rough spot, and are bickering both with each other and with the talking dog. After the dog piques their interest in the "White Lady" ghost, they come to the graveyard at midnight, and see the White Lady (also known as Mary MacFadden) meet the ghost of a bagpiper, Iain McGregor.

But they aren't the only ghosts -- in a centuries-old confrontation, the spirit of the lady's twin brother, Andrew, appears in Peter's body, having helped separate the ancient lovers due to class and religious differences. And once in Peter's body, he doesn't intend to LEAVE. Jennifer and Gran must find some way of getting rid of Andrew, while reuniting Mary and Iiain...

Yolen retains the same charm and sense of pervasive magic in this third story. Writing is delightful, especially the climax. The descriptions of the possessed Peter/Andrew's behavior is absolutely chilling. The dialogue is thoroughly convincing (yes, even the animals like Thunder and the dog), with the distinct Scottish burrs that add the final note of authenticity. (As with the previous two books, there's a word guide at the end of the book, if you can't understand some term or accented word) There isn't much comedy, but the insult wars between the dog and Peter are hilarious. Don't be worried, kids who dislike romance, there is almost no mushiness in this book.

Gran, a delightful old Scottish white witch, is still a great counterpoint to the inexperienced twins. Molly and the parents aren't very present in this one. Jennifer and Peter show a little more difference with each other, as Jennifer realizes just how much she cares about her brother when she risks losing him. The dog is also a good character, intermittently caring and obnoxious, but always enjoyable to read.

A wonderful third instalment, may Yolen write many, many more.

In The Bagpiper's Ghost, we find ourselves once again with Peter and Jennifer (and their younger sister Molly) still on Vacation, visiting their grandmother in Scotland. This is the third (and final, at present) book in the tartan magic series and the events follow not too long after those of the Pictish Child. After a walk and a visit to a cemetery (during the day) the twins decide to sneak out (with the help of their magical dog) and see if they can see ghosts in the cemetery at night. Naturally, they do...or there wouldn't be a story! As with the other two books in the series, Jennifer shines while Peter gets used horribly and this is something that I don't like about this series. The sibling rivalry and jealousy of Peter toward Jennifer because she has exhibited more magical ability than he is natural and welcome...but the constant build up of her skill and ability at the expense of any for her brother is, well, annoying. After three books, maybe he could have been given a bit more to do than sleep and be possessed by someone intent on being selfish and having their way from beyond the grave. Once again, the grandmother and Jennifer save the day and I'm a bit tired of that setup.

In this particular story, we find Jennifer trying to reconcile the three ghosts...a set of twins, where the brother kept the sister from marrying her true love because of social status issues. She died, apparently of a broken heart and the brother went on hypocritically to marry and have a family and lives a long full life...all the things he denied his sister and selfishly continues to deny her even in the afterlife. The third ghost is the lost love...playing the bagpipes nightly for his lost love, not realizing that he's dead. Not a bad premise for the story. As it happens the twins show up and the selfish brother possesses Peter's body and decides that he can get a life back and still keep his sister under his thumb...what will Jennifer and Gran do?

The entire premise is full of charm and I love the magical aspect of the stories...but the timeline is rushed, the characters out side of the grandmother, the dog and Jennifer is lacking...all the other characters are flat and one dimensional, which probably isn't really a problem for the reader level this book is aimed at, it's annoying to me that the rest of the family never gets fleshed out as well. I'd like to see the entire cast of characters more fleshed out and well developed and I'd like the events to be more spaced out...we're talking about a matter of days or weeks on a vacation and three HUGE magical things have already happened. It's just so rushed. Clearly Yolen has left the door open for more books in this series, the conclusion to this story hardly wrapped up the twins magical development and it felt somewhat unsatisfying in that respect. I hope there will be more and we can see both twins develop. Ok, but not great. I give it a B+

I teach fourth grade. The kids loved this whole series...It teaches about Scottish words as the story develops...its awesome!

Peter and Jennifer, the main characters, are in Scotland for vacation with their family. The Bagpiper's Ghost is about a two twins, Peter and Jennifer, who listen to a dog and go to see a ghost at the cemetery at midnight. When they are at the cemetery the dog runs away and leaves the kids to defend themselves. The dog ran away because a ghost was coming. Jennifer starts to run away with Peter right behind her, but they stop because there is another ghost on the other side of the fence. Jennifer tells Peter to open the gate so they can get out, but Peter isn't Peter any more. He is Mary MacFabben's, the ghost that was behind them, brother. The ghost on the other side of the fence is Mary's boyfriend, Iain McGregor. Mary and her brother, Andrew, are twins, that's why the dog brought them there. If a dog was telling me to go to a cemetery I would be a little creep out.

The thing I wondered about at the beginning of the story was where Peter and Jennifer where at and why Peter was so excited about the sun. "I don't believe it!' Peter cried. His body showed his astonishment even more than his face, for his arms and hands were raised, and his feet did a [rather] noisy jig under the kitchen table. It was the most animated he'd been in days, even though he was clearly putting it on. Spoon half lifted, Jennifer looked up from her porridge and stared at her twin. `You don't believe in what?' Given that they had already had days of magic, it wasn't an idle question. `Sun,' Peter said, pointing out the window" (Yolen 1). If I had a twin that got that excited about something I would go crazy!

I picked this book because I like the style of Jane Yolen's writing. I really like the part in the book where Peter and Jennifer are at the graveyard in the daylight planning for the night ahead. "The dog's toothy grin grew wide. His great pink tongue lolled out of his mouth like a dare. `We could sneak out, I suppose,' Peter said slowly. `Peter!' Jennifer's voice registered shock. It was such an un-Peter thing to suggest. But she'd already thought the same thing. Twins do. `Tonight,' they both breathed together" (Yolen 17). Even though I like to read books about ghosts and other creatures of the night I wouldn't want to really see one! That would just creep me out!

The title of this book means exactly what it says, the Bagpiper's Ghost. The ghost is the long lost love of Mary MacFadden. He went to fight in a war and he died there. Mary's brother was supposed to her a message, but he didn't. "Bonnie Prince Charlie is nae [not an] Italian upstart, brother, but the son o' our king from across the sea. And Iain was a patriot to go to his aid, though it cost him his life at Culloden.' From beyond the gate, the piper's mouth gaped open." (Yolen 50). It goes on to talk about how Mary's brother didn't give her the message and how that was bad. If I had a brother that then I would hate him till the end of the earth.