The Boggart - Susan Cooper Book Review

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Review Summaries

"The Volniks are a modern Toronto family: Mother Maggie owns an antique shop, father Robert is artistic director of a playhouse, and the kids are Jessup, 10, and his slightly older sister Emily. The family learns they have inherited a distant relation's castle on an island in a Scottish loch; they go over to visit the place, realize they could never live there, and sell it. But among the few things they bring back to Canada unknowingly is the castle's long-time resident, a boggart -- a mostly invisible spirit that lives to create mischief and trickery. A lot of strange things start to happen to the Volniks, from their home, shop and playhouse to Jessup's school hockey practice, and a nosy psychiatrist and TV news crew start to upset their lives almost as much as their mysterious guest. The author of the Dark Is Rising quartet published this story for older kids in 1993."
David Loftus, Resident Susan Cooper Scholar

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Overall Review

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%

Tone of book - humorous or laughable
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy story on current Earth
Coming of age Yes
Mental/magical powers focus Yes
magical powers: - bad magical powers hunting non/weaker magical(s) (fantasy)
Is this an adult or child's book? - Kid's book (ages 7-14)

Main Character
Identity: - An "It".
Has magical/special powers? Yes
Magical/mental powers of main character: - can change shapes - can fly - Invisibility
Eccentric: Yes - eccentric - wild
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor

Main Adversary
Identity: - society

Setting
Earth setting: - 20th century
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation
How much dialogue? - significantly more descript than dialog

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Johnny and the Bomb by Terry Pratchett
The House with a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs

Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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