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Brodie
McHaggis and the Secret of Loch Ness
- reviews
The very title
made me want to read it. After all,
who really knows the secret of Loch
Ness?
The "haggisen"
description in the prologue,
"ginger-red cotton wool balls
running around on three
matchsticks" tickled my fancy
and I can't believe it; this little
haggis has captured my heart and
imagination! Me, who has never
even read the great H.P., and
couldn't get to grips with Lord of
the Rings, falling in love with a
little hairy haggis! Maybe it
is the fact that although he has an
inquiring mind and is so brave, he
also comes across as very
vulnerable.
Helen Campbell's vivid imagination
gives us some wonderful descriptions
of the world of "haggisen".
For instance, in her introduction to
Angus McMail she tells us that
"he knew of no other speed -
stop, or go like the fur on his
bottom was on fire" made me
laugh out loud.
There are
also poignant moments as when Brodie
and his Dad Jock are having a
serious conversation at the lochside
about the existence of people and
kelpies amongst other things and
Jock is trying to blow a yellow
butterfly off the end of his
nose. His round eyes cross as
he watches the butterfly cleaning
the pollen from its feet. The
butterfly seems too content to move
on, so Jock finally brushes it off
his nose with his finger, trying not
to damage its delicate frame. So
sweet!
The meeting between Brodie and Erin
is brilliant; he is so frightened at
first but quickly becomes trusting
of his new found friend when, on
releasing him from the safety of her
fleece he realised "Erin's body
had the warmth of his mother's
embrace and he had felt somewhat at
ease".
Brodie goes
through many adventures with Erin;
he even attends a Burns Supper in
Urquhart Castle! There is
Noremac the white witch; the Ghillie
Dhu; Gertruda McNorris - the witch
whose great grand niece has signed
up to anger-management classes;
there are the Dryads, nymph-like
creatures who ask Brodie to sing for
them, "the most enchanting of
musical sounds, likened to a few
people playing the bagpipes a long
distance away, combined with a choir
of the sweetest angels
singing."
There is so much in this book that
will appeal to "children"
of all ages and I am looking forward
with impatience to the next one.
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