The Boggart and the Monster

by Susan Cooper

Overview

The mischievous Boggart is trying to help his friend The Loch Ness Monster in this “imaginative and compelling tale” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) from Newbery winner Susan Cooper.

It’s been two years since Emily and Jess Volnik visited ancient Castle Keep in Scotland and made the acquaintance of the Boggart, a mischievous shape-shifting spirit who has lived in the castle for centuries. Now they’ve returned for another Scottish adventure, joining their old friend Tommy and Mr. Maconochie, the new owner of Castle keep, on a trip to Loch Ness, where a new expedition is determined to find the fabled monster.

Of course, the fun-loving Boggart comes along for the ride, and wherever the Bogart goes, things are bound to get lively. But this time the Boggart has a serious mission. His cousin Nessie is trapped in the monster shape he assumed long ago, and it’s up to the Boggart to keep Nessie from being discovered by the expedition’s high-tech equipment. Is modern science any match for the Boggart’s ancient magic?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534420120
Publisher:	Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication date:	02/27/2018
Series:	Boggart Series
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.20(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Susan Cooper is one of our foremost fantasy authors; her classic five-book fantasy sequence The Dark Is Rising has sold millions of copies worldwide. Her books’ accolades include the Newbery Medal, a Newbery Honor, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and five shortlists for the Carnegie Medal. She combines fantasy with history in Victory (a Washington Post Top Ten Books for Children pick), King of Shadows, Ghost Hawk, and her magical The Boggart and the Monster, second in a trilogy, which won the Scottish Arts Council’s Children’s Book Award. Susan Cooper lives on a saltmarsh island in Massachusetts, and you can visit her online at TheLostLand.com.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

New York Times Book Review Swiftly plotted and densely populated, zipping along with the speed of a video game.

Publishers Weekly, starred review Cooper adroitly incorporates ancient lore into a contemporary setting while producing an imaginative and compelling tale.

Reading Group Guide

1. Early on in The Boggart, the creature is described as "one of the Old Things of the world, he was not made for human warmth...A boggart, by his nature, feels warmth for no one." Yet this boggart also seems very human, even childlike, at times. What are some of the emotions he experiences? How do his emotional attachments and needs guide his behavior?

2. Why are most of the adults depicted in these novels reluctant to believe that the boggart exists? Would you also be skeptical? Why or why not?

3. The boggart is stung when Emily asks him to avoid getting her and her brother into trouble in The Boggart. "Didn't the girl know that boggarts live for mischief, not for harm?" What is the difference between mischief and harm? Does the boggart always understand the difference? Do you or your friends?

4. How could the boggart and the MacDevon clan, which includes modern day members Emily and Jessup Voinick, be related to each other? What is the old legend that links them?

5. Boggarts never die. What are the advantages of immortality? What are the disadvantages?

6. Even though he is an ancient creature, the boggart has a special affinity for computers. Jessup speculates that is because both the computer and the boggart are primarily made up of electrical impulses. What do you think? Could there be other reasons for the boggart's attraction to computers?

7. In his second adventure, the boggart seems more willing to communicate with humans. How does he do it? Why does he do it? Does he trust humans more? Does he need them more?

8. In The Boggart, the modern world is described as "a world which had driven out the Old Things and buried the Wild Magic deepunder layers of reason and time." Do you believe this is an accurate depiction of modern life? Do you think "Wild Magic" has been buried? Do you think it ever existed?

Editorial Reviews

Plenty of sparkling complications… The clever premise and great characters will leave kids clamoring for more."

Booklist

Susan Cooper's inventive writing, infused with both scientific and magical elements, will captivate even the most disbelieving of young adults.

Amazon.com

"A climactic tour de force…this entertaining romp can be appreciated as a gratifying fantasy and a thought-provoking story on the nature of freedom and the transforming power of love.

School Library Journal

*"Cooper adroitly incorporates ancient lore into a contemporary setting while producing an imaginative and compelling tale."

starred review Publishers Weekly

Ms. Cooper sets up a provocative elision of technological, natural, emotional and spiritual forces. Not that children will necessarily notice. The story is swiftly plotted and densely populated, zipping along with the speed of a video game…[It demonstrates] Ms. Cooper's masterly weaving of disparate realms.

The New York Times Book Review

Plenty of sparkling complications… The clever premise and great characters will leave kids clamoring for more."

Booklist

*"Cooper adroitly incorporates ancient lore into a contemporary setting while producing an imaginative and compelling tale."

"Swiftly plotted and densely populated, zipping along with the speed of a video game."

From the Publisher