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Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9780152163594
ISBN number: 015216359X
Label: Magic Carpet Books
Manufacturer: Magic Carpet Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 156
Printing Date: April 01, 2002
Publishing house: Magic Carpet Books
Age index: Ages 9-12
Sale Popularity Level: 824722
Studio: Magic Carpet Books
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Product Description:
Welcome to Scotland, where magic runs through the land like the stripes in the colorful Scottish tartans. Everyone and everything here, it seems, has some wizardry--old folks at rest homes, dusty old card games, even cowardly dogs. The only ones without magic are American twins Jennifer and Peter, and they're the ones who need it most.
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Rated by buyers 
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Here we are at the second of three books in the Tartan Magic Series and we rejoin Peter, Jennifer and Molly still on vacation in Scotland with parents (visiting their grandparents). With just Gran and the kids home for the day...and what with it being a typically rainy Scottish weather, Gran and the kids set off to visit some of her friends at the Eventide Home for the Elderly. Returning in this volume is the dog and horse from the very first book, both serve largely to provide humour in the story line and I've come to love that cranky, sarcastic old mutt!
While the group is visiting Gran's coven, Molly (the youngest) is given a talisman which sets them off on yet another magical adventure to save the world from a power hungry villain! The group joins up with Ninia a Pictish girl from the ancient past who is being chased by an ominous dark mist and it's up to the kids and their Gran to solve the mystery, get the girl back to her time and foil the villain!
This is a wonderful little story for young readers (I'd say 8-14 is the ideal range here), while there's not much to the character development, it's got great pace and a fair amount of suspense and with the proper attention, readers can figure out "who done it" just before it's revealed. I'm a bit disappointed to see that Peter is still portrayed as a brooding, moody and somewhat prone to temper tantrums (he stalks off from the home) and the focus of this story, as in the first, is on Molly and her emerging magical skills. Since they are twins, it would be nice to see a more even development of the characters. Overall, I give it a B, it's fast paced, suspenseful, magical, and just plain fun!
Rated by buyers 
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(...)
I think the theme of the Pictish Child is magic. Like people disappearing, Dog and Nina are magical creatures. Dog is a dog and Nina is the Pictish Child. Any cold metal or iron will burn them. Jennifer and Peter, the twins, and their little sister Molly are three Americans in Scotland for the summer to visit their grandma and grandpa.
Their challenge was trying to keep the sinister fog out of the house by putting pots and tools around the house. Peter was tricked into opening the door, thinking it was their mom, dad and grandpa. Read the book to find out who was really at the door!
I did not think that the Pictish Child was the best book I have ever read. I think that it was confusing because people are disappearing and the book does not tell where they go. Also the Scottish dialect was confusing too.
I would recommend this book to kids 10-15 but if you are someone who is eight like me and can understand magic unlike me then you could read it.
There are no illustrations but I can say they would be helpful.
It is the second book in the series and you can read it in any order.
Rated by buyers 
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This is the second book in Jane Yolen's Tartan Magic trilogy, and picks up soon after the events in The Wizard's Map. In this book, Jennifer, Peter and Molly, three American children on vacation in Scotland are taken by their Scottish grandmother to visit three sisters living in a home for the elderly. But, there's strange magic at work here, and when an ancient amulet brings to life a Pictish child that died some 1000 years ago, the children are in for the ride of their lives. An ancient wrong needs to be set right, and a modern wrong needs to be averted.
My thirteen-year-old daughter very 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!
Rated by buyers -
The Pictish Child
By Jane Yolen
Book reviewer: Hilde
The Pictish Child is a very good book. It takes place in Scotland, and according to Gran "There's electric-and there's power. Americas got the electricity and Scotland has the power."
Sixteen-year-old Jennifer, sixteen-year-old Peter and four-year-old Molly came from America to visit their Grandmother (who they call Gran) in Scotland. Where rain that in America would have canceled Baseball games, was (for Scotland) nothing more than a slight drizzle.
While Da (Their Grandfather) is at work, Gran decides to visit Eventide Home and her friends there. "A young woman in a plaid skirt, white blouse, and blue cardigan sweater greeted them at the door. She had a foxlike face, long and sly looking. A metallic name badge identified her as Fiona, and she wore a pair of tiny silver scissors around her neck on a ribbon."
Jennifer, Molly and Peter discover the past when a giant, gray mist comes to swallow up all of the past that had escaped when a mean sorcerer came through a small rip that he had created in time. They also found out how delicate the balance between good magic and evil magic is in this thrilling and scary-at-times book.
I was really quite glad that there were no pictures in this book. For I think that pictures would have absolutely ruined it for me. Because I loved imagining what was happening and what the characters and things looked like.
I think that the way Jane Yolen used words was really quite descriptive and powerful. Like she wielded a sword made of words with discipline and imagination that is a treasure in any book.
I think that this book is an appropriate read-aloud book for children from five to seven. But to fully understand it I think that you have to be eight or over.
Rated by buyers -
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, there are others working magic in Scotland, and the children soon find themselves caught up in a magics both new and old!
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. This is a great book that I recommend to everyone with children, especially girls.
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