Tartan Magic: The Bagpiper’s Ghost
THE BAGPIPER’S GHOST
Tartan Magic Book 3
Harcourt Brace 2002
ISBN# 0-15-202310-0 Harcourt hardcover
ISBN# 0-15-204913-4 Magic Carpet paperback
The Tartan Magic series:
The third book in the Tartan Magic series. An American family comes to Scotland for the summer and immediately falls into magic. The setting is in Fairburn, a made-up city that feels a lot like St. Andrews where my husband and I spend our summers. (But don’t tell anyone.) There’s a pair of twins, a dour talking dog who speaks in Scottish dialect, a feisty grandmother, a ghostly woman in white and her ghostly and ghastly brother. and I’ve appended a helpful glossary of Scottish words in the back of the book. This follows THE WIZARD’S MAP and THE PICTISH CHILD but can be read on its own.
I used bits of the story of the Lady in White, a ghost of St Andrews Cathedral, and bits of the story of the ghostly bagpiper from The Scores–another street in St Andrews–as a basis for this book. Here I am sitting in the very graveyard that the St Andrews ghost is said to haunt. Of course it is daylight, so no ghosts.What reviewers have said:
- “The story stands alone and is rich enough in ghosts and magic to please readers of Susan Cooper’s Boggart tales or younger Berry Ren Wright fans.” — Kirkus
- “Passages of this book beg to be read aloud with the appropriate accent; there’s a useful glossary but no pronunciation guides. Suggest books in the series to children deterred by the length of Harry Potter’s adventures.” — Booklist
- “Yolen has once again given us a fine new series of fantasy stories. Set in Scotland and populated by American children and Scottish family members, the story includes an old wizard and a member of the oldest race in Scotland. . . . a quick and enjoyable read.” -Kliatt
- “Delightful”–SF Chronicle