the story was ok. I know I was not the target age range for this book and sometimes that's ok but I think younger kids will like this more than I did.

I liked her Dark is Rising series, but I just can't get into this one.I wanted something light to read in between stories of a difficult classic but this just isn't working at the moment. I've been pecking away at it for about a week now and I'm barely to page 30. Normally for a book for this age level, I'd be to page 30 in under half an hour. It's just not holding my attention for more than a page or two at a time.

I am a big Susan Cooper fan, especially of The Dark is Rising series. I read this book because I am interested in boggart lore and there is a fair amount here in this story of a Canadian family who travel to Scotland when the dad inherits a castle there. When they decide to sell the castle and go home to Toronto, they pack up some of the furniture. Inside a desk, the boggart was sleeping. Late 20th century Canada is a big surprise to the Boggart, practical jokester extraordinaire.There is a fair [...]

While finishing out my The Dark Is Rising re-read, I figured I'd pick this one up on the way down. Unfortunately, I didn't really like The Boggart very much. If the whole book had been like the first part in the Scottish village, I would have enjoyed it a lot more.As soon as we left Scotland to go to Canada, though, everything just felt incredibly disjointed. I liked the Boggart, and the humans seemed okay, but I couldn't really muster up any interest for them? Serious things were happening (the [...]

An okay read for a sleepless night. Published in 1993 but it feels late seventies, with the media fascination for poltergeists, ESP, and the "adolescent girl rage causes telekinesis" trope (remember "Carrie"?) However, beyond a mention of the fact that the Boggart is a part of "Wild Magic", Cooper manages to keep it all very light. Nobody's special, nobody's Chosen--it's a comic little story of Canadians dealing with an ancient Scottish spirit they have inherited along with the castle and the fu [...]

The Boggart by Susan Cooper -- When the old MacDevon dies, Castle Keep on a Scottish island is inherited by the Volnick family. They visit their legacy before putting it on the market, and inadvertently ship the castle's mischievous boggart back to Toronto. What will a creature of Old Magic make of modern technology?As you might expect, the computer parts of the story are solidly 1993, and some of the specs mentioned will give savvy modern readers a good laugh. Moving beyond that, it's obvious t [...]

I usually like kid-friendly stories involving computer technology, but, this one did not do much for me; it was just dumb and unexciting. Fans of youth fiction can do much better than this.

I'm not sure how I missed this Susan Cooper book. I'm a big fan of her other works. I found this on Scribd last night and decided to read it.I love authors that can make non-human creatures actually NON-human. The Boggart of the title is a creature of old Wild Magic. He's not motivated by many human things, and doesn't feel most human emotions. He has developed a taste for things like peanut butter and applesauce over the centuries, and once or twice, he's felt grief. In this book, he gets homes [...]

A slightly dated pre-teen book about a trickster spirit from Scotland that ends up shipped to Canada. The kids are the main characters and the adults busy or clueless. I liked the environment and the problem solving our heroes go through, and found the book fun, if short.Nine year old Jessup has more hobbies (hockey and computers) and is better fleshed out than older sister Emily. While in Toronto, there are a few too many instances of the adults not believing the kids, despite the evidence. Oth [...]

This was fabulously written. Susan had me crying along with the boggart in the first chapterat was 13 pages. The visuals she painted of the boggart's memories and emotions were so very strong that my heart was touched immediately. So why did I only give it 4 stars? Sadly, for something that some authors do not anticipatewhat was commonplace in 1993 (or late 1980s since I know it took time to get this story published) is so far out of date now that the target age readers may have no idea what she [...]

My overwhelming impression reading this book was one of pleasant surprise. Though I've always enjoyed Susan Cooper's output in the past, considering how little is spoken about this one, I hadn't been expecting it to be as good as it is. The plot unfolds at a nice pace, and details from the beginning resurface at the end in an agreeably rounded denouement. I've given three stars because I believe I gave four to Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence, and The Boggart doesn't quite achieve their leve [...]

Cooper, Susan. The Boggart, Aladdin Paperbacks, 196 pages. Fictional chapter book, fantasy. Description: A Scottish spirit called the Boggart is unwittingly taken to Canada when a Canadian family inherits his castle. Emily and Jessup, the kids, struggle to communicate with the Boggart and get him to stop playing his disruptive tricks. Review: This book is at its best at the beginning and end of the story, when the Boggart resides on his Scottish Island. The prose is incredibly descriptive during [...]

I read this years ago but honestly I couldn’t remember what I thought of it. It was probably quite similar to my feeling right now. Meh. I don’t dislike it but it falls sort of flat in comparison to The Dark is Rising Sequence. It is heavily dated by the technology used. I mean I read the description of the computer the nerds drool over to my boyfriend and we both laughed out loud. Black and white monitors and floppy disks are something more alien than time travel to today’s kids. A modern [...]

I'm a huge fan of The Dark Is Rising series and no stranger to reading YA novels as an adult. This novel, however, was not the greatest and I wouldn't enthuse about it, reread it, or recommend it to my friends the way I have TDIR over the years. In the opening chapter Cooper shines, her prose sure and amazingly strong (if a little sweeping), but the rest of the story absolutely flounders. Cooper's inexperience with computers is massively distracting and, in the end, creates a huge hole in the pl [...]

When a Canadian family learns they've inherited a keep in Scotland they discover a lot more than they bargained for. Along with crumbling bricks and nice furniture they also get a mischievous boggart. The Boggart is inadvertently transported from Scotland to Canada and all sorts of mayhem ensues.A fun, fast read that is quaintly sweet. This is a good book to share with a kid and there are some fun part that had me laughing. I liked the Boggart's character and the way Cooper portrayed his mischie [...]

I really liked this one - in large part because the Boggart himself is such a charming, entertaining little curmudgeony creature. I liked the beginning, in the castle in Scotland, better, so I really enjoyed the sequel (The Boggart and the Monster), when they head back. A good choice for kids who are too young for Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series, but want a fun fantasy.

Susan Cooper is one of my favorite authors. Her words are so "visual", she paints a picture in your mind as you read. Her narrative is so descriptive you can "hear" the haunting sound of the gulls as they sail above the sea shore. I could actually believe I was driving over the moors of Scotland, visiting a castle for the first time. Her writing is a treat for the senses, to be savored and enjoyed.The story itself is completely delightful, with the Boggart being an exceptional character. I would [...]

I thought this was a really delightful children's book. There were parts that were terribly sad but it only added to the story. A definite great book to read aloud to your kids. The boggart is both equally frustrating and endearing. Just when you think how neat it would be to have one, it does something completely insane that makes you glad you dont.

Fun tale. I think I enjoyed the beginning better when it took place in Scotland on an island in an old dilapidated castle rather than Canada, when the family returns home. The trapping and releasing of the boggart toward the end of the book was a bit of a stretch but then again it is a fantasy children's story. A pleasant read.

Enjoyable upper elementary school-age book about a boggart who gets transported in a desk from his home in Scotland to Toronto and the teen age brother and sister who discover him.

If you are into supernatural, creepy characters, this is a great book to read.

I wish there were boggarts around here, but I haven't found any yet unfortunately. There are mostly just weasels and frogs. Maybe if we still lived in Ireland we could have found one.

Good story, but aimed perhaps a slightly-younger-than young adult audience.

Susan Cooper is a favorite author of mine. I was delighted to read her rich imaginative tale of The Boggart, full of realistic descriptions of Scotland and Castle Keep. Traveling up to the Western Highlands a few years ago myself, the scenery of the misty mountains, lonely fjords, and slightly crumbling castles came to life. The tricky Boggart proves a challenge to siblings Emily and Jessup, who come to Castle Keep in the beginning to visit. This adventurous tale is suspenseful, since the magica [...]

Quick, fun story about a boggart who gets accidentally transported to Canada, and the kids who help him get home. It's not nearly as good as anything from Cooper's The Dark Is Rising sequence - the more atmospheric bits here are confined to the Scottish setting at the beginning and end of the book - but it's still an enjoyable read. I'm not sure that I'm overly thrilled by the intrusion of computers into a fantasy story, but the theatre parts were more to my taste, and I liked the throughline of [...]

I am much too old to read this book. However, I think a third through fifth grader would enjoy it. A Boggart, an Old Magic being living in an old Scottish castle accidentally gets transported to Toronto where it wrecks havoc on a Canadian family. I think a young reader would enjoy it.

I was excited to listen to this book on our road trip this summer, but it wasn’t stupendous. It also wasn’t terrible, but just sort of middling. I loved Susan Cooper when I read her as a child, but I’m not sure I’m as enamored as an adult. So it goes.

I would have loved this mix of realistic fiction and fairy creatures as a kid. And despite its publication date I found it only slightly dated. A subtly sinister look at what happens when a creature from the old country finds itself in the new.The word "bitchy" pops up at the end.

This is a cute elementary/middle grade read. It doesn't have the oomph of her Dark Is Rising books, but it's entertaining and I'd read it again (in fact, this was my second or third time to read it already).

wonderful fun! A story about an antiques dealer who buys an haunted piece of furniture from a Scottish castle. Her children find out how to communicate with it through the computer and find out that it needs to go back home, to Scotland. A fun adventure!