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The Bodach
After receiving the gift of Second Sight from his old friend ,the Bodach, ten-year-old Donald becomes responsible for safeguarding the ancient power of the walking stones before their glen is flooded by a hydroelectric company.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
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125 people want to read
About the author
Mollie Hunter
42 books51 followersMaureen Mollie Hunter McIlwraith was a Scottish author. She wrote under the name Mollie Hunter. Mollie Hunter is one of the most popular and influential twentieth-century Scottish writers of fiction for children and young adults. Her work, which includes fantasy, historical fiction, and realism, has been widely praised and has won many awards and honors, such as the Carnegie Medal, the Phoenix Award, a Boston Globe - Horn Book Honor Award, and the Scottish Arts Council Award.
There has also been great interest in Hunter's views about writing fiction, and she has published two collections of essays and speeches on the subject. Hunter's portrait hangs in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and her papers and manuscripts are preserved in the Scottish National Library.
Her books have been as popular in the United States as in the United Kingdom, and most are still in print. Critic Peter Hollindale has gone so far as to assert that Hunter "is by general consent Scotland's most distinguished modern children's writer."
There has also been great interest in Hunter's views about writing fiction, and she has published two collections of essays and speeches on the subject. Hunter's portrait hangs in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and her papers and manuscripts are preserved in the Scottish National Library.
Her books have been as popular in the United States as in the United Kingdom, and most are still in print. Critic Peter Hollindale has gone so far as to assert that Hunter "is by general consent Scotland's most distinguished modern children's writer."
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 28, 2015
I am totally hooked on Mollie Hunter and the way she takes the folklore of Scotland and brings those Otherworld folks into our world today. I am excited to make my way through all of her work. I loved The Walking Stones and her treatment of the stone circles found scattered throughout the UK. There are many things with which I could identify in this short novel!
A few pretty phrases:
"There was something about the atmosphere of a mountaintop that had always had a powerful attraction for him. He liked the silence that was there, and the stillness that mountain air has when the weather is fine, for it was not a dead stillness. There was something living at the heart of it - something he sensed in the same way a dog can sense a sound that is too far way and too high pitched for human ears to hear - and this something gave him the strangest feeling that the mountain itself must be alive."
"And such learning is not to be had in the schools, for it seems to me, Donald, that the Bodach's wisdom is not entirely of this world. There is something in it of the Otherworld he talks of in his stories, and I have the feeling that he is at much at home there as he is in this ordinary world of ours."
"Well you are not the first child to be able to do this, and you will not be the last, for the power to create a Co-Walker (what many adults call imaginary playmates) exists in the minds of many children. But this power fades, of course, as they grow older, and it is only a man of the Second Sight who can keep it for the whole of his life."
"There is magic in it somewhere, of course, but who knows where magic comes from? Magic is just something that happens when everything is right for it to happen."
"We are two of a kind, you and I, Donald; for, like me, you can feel the presence of the Otherworld that lies always in and around and beyond this ordinary world. Like me, you were born to listen for the sound beyond silence and the vision beyond sight which belong to that Otherworld. And so, like me, you will always be searching for these things, and your true happiness will lie in the search and the wisdom to pursue it."
Also…this is not a quote exactly, but the author used the term "spit and image" rather than "spitting image" and I found this interesting explanation.
"Spitting image is the usual modern form of the idiom meaning exact likeness, duplicate, or counterpart. The original phrase was spit and image, inspired by the Biblical God‘s use of spit and mud to create Adam in his image. But spitting image has been far more common than spit and image for over a century.
A few writers still use spit and image, but trying to keep the original idiom alive is probably a lost cause. Though it is older and makes more logical sense, it can also be distracting to readers who have been hearing spitting image their whole lives. Of course, spitting image can be just as distracting to some careful readers."
A few pretty phrases:
"There was something about the atmosphere of a mountaintop that had always had a powerful attraction for him. He liked the silence that was there, and the stillness that mountain air has when the weather is fine, for it was not a dead stillness. There was something living at the heart of it - something he sensed in the same way a dog can sense a sound that is too far way and too high pitched for human ears to hear - and this something gave him the strangest feeling that the mountain itself must be alive."
"And such learning is not to be had in the schools, for it seems to me, Donald, that the Bodach's wisdom is not entirely of this world. There is something in it of the Otherworld he talks of in his stories, and I have the feeling that he is at much at home there as he is in this ordinary world of ours."
"Well you are not the first child to be able to do this, and you will not be the last, for the power to create a Co-Walker (what many adults call imaginary playmates) exists in the minds of many children. But this power fades, of course, as they grow older, and it is only a man of the Second Sight who can keep it for the whole of his life."
"There is magic in it somewhere, of course, but who knows where magic comes from? Magic is just something that happens when everything is right for it to happen."
"We are two of a kind, you and I, Donald; for, like me, you can feel the presence of the Otherworld that lies always in and around and beyond this ordinary world. Like me, you were born to listen for the sound beyond silence and the vision beyond sight which belong to that Otherworld. And so, like me, you will always be searching for these things, and your true happiness will lie in the search and the wisdom to pursue it."
Also…this is not a quote exactly, but the author used the term "spit and image" rather than "spitting image" and I found this interesting explanation.
"Spitting image is the usual modern form of the idiom meaning exact likeness, duplicate, or counterpart. The original phrase was spit and image, inspired by the Biblical God‘s use of spit and mud to create Adam in his image. But spitting image has been far more common than spit and image for over a century.
A few writers still use spit and image, but trying to keep the original idiom alive is probably a lost cause. Though it is older and makes more logical sense, it can also be distracting to readers who have been hearing spitting image their whole lives. Of course, spitting image can be just as distracting to some careful readers."
February 26, 2023
This is my seventh book for the MG August Reading Challenge 2022, so I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised that as an adult I found it highly accessible, a bit simplistic, somewhat predictable, and the characters were pretty flat. Protagonist Donald Campbell is ten years old when the book opens and is 12 by its end, 122 pages later. It is definitely written for this very age group.
There are several other helpful reviews already, so I'll just add the things that I didn't see mentioned:
- there's a ! Creeped me right out - the illustration (line drawing) seems to have closed eyes - or are they just blank and staring?! Good grief, I was startled by this. And I enjoyed reading up all about on Wikipedia afterwards.
- centered upon May Day (1st of May), which is/was Beltane in the Pagan calendar
- the story was very thin in many parts, perhaps, as another reviewer suggesed, to keep it short. I wanted so much more detail. Susan Cooper tends to dive deeper and draw out the details of Celtic mythology (I just read Seaward, but I would recommend very strongly The Dark Is Rising and the rest of that sequence!).
This was my first Mollie Hunter book. I am a little underawed, but it might just be due to the brevity and simplicity of this one. The content was good, setting a little weak (again, tough to set a scene and have all this plot in 122 pages), characters very flat. I'd like to read another before I make up my mind about her. :)
EDIT (26/02/23): This can be read for FREE on OpenLibrary. It is also called "The Bodach". ;)
There are several other helpful reviews already, so I'll just add the things that I didn't see mentioned:
- there's a ! Creeped me right out - the illustration (line drawing) seems to have closed eyes - or are they just blank and staring?! Good grief, I was startled by this. And I enjoyed reading up all about on Wikipedia afterwards.
- centered upon May Day (1st of May), which is/was Beltane in the Pagan calendar
- the story was very thin in many parts, perhaps, as another reviewer suggesed, to keep it short. I wanted so much more detail. Susan Cooper tends to dive deeper and draw out the details of Celtic mythology (I just read Seaward, but I would recommend very strongly The Dark Is Rising and the rest of that sequence!).
This was my first Mollie Hunter book. I am a little underawed, but it might just be due to the brevity and simplicity of this one. The content was good, setting a little weak (again, tough to set a scene and have all this plot in 122 pages), characters very flat. I'd like to read another before I make up my mind about her. :)
EDIT (26/02/23): This can be read for FREE on OpenLibrary. It is also called "The Bodach". ;)
July 30, 2022
I think if this had been written a decade or two later the environmental message would have been stronger. As it is, everyone is apparently 100% behind the scheme to flood the valley for a hydro-electric power scheme, thereby destroying an ancient stone circle and all the wildlife of the valley, and planting masses of conifers. "Well it's progress", as they used to say in the Sixties. Even the Bodach only holds up the scheme to enable certain magical events to take place. The story is told with power and charm nonetheless, especially the relationship between the boy and the old man.
I was reminded too of another valley-flooding story, Berlie Doherty's "Deep Secret", set in Derbyshire however.
July 28, 2011
It seems that the bulk of the young adult fantasy I've read has either taken place in one of three places: the British Isles, New York state, or a fantasy land reachable via magic (usually with the starting point being somewhere on the British Isles). There is one notable exception which is L. Frank Baum who had Oz accessible from Kansas and California.
The Walking Stones falls into the British Isles category with veiled references to an Otherworld, though this other dimension or whatnot is not traveled to, just viewed briefly from afar. It apparently draws on Celtic lore (as many British fantasy books do) but I'm not familiar enough with to say how well the story does. Anyway, it's a classic tale of the passage of knowledge and tradition from one generation to the next. Here the knowledge includes Second Site along with some other magical traditions.
I enjoyed the story for what it was but the characters seemed too one dimensional and their motivations weren't always clear. In real life people tend to react like the Bodach did when their homes are taken via Imminent Domain. I was surprised at how quickly Donald and his parents warmed to the idea of being forced to move out of the glen and into the city to make room for a dam. I suppose their quick submission was in order to keep the story short.
The Walking Stones is about the balancing act between tradition and progress. Here the tradition is in the form of the stories and magic of the glen and the progress is the brining of electricity to the city at the expense of the glen. Can the old ways of the glen be passed onto the next generation before the glen is flooded?
The Walking Stones falls into the British Isles category with veiled references to an Otherworld, though this other dimension or whatnot is not traveled to, just viewed briefly from afar. It apparently draws on Celtic lore (as many British fantasy books do) but I'm not familiar enough with to say how well the story does. Anyway, it's a classic tale of the passage of knowledge and tradition from one generation to the next. Here the knowledge includes Second Site along with some other magical traditions.
I enjoyed the story for what it was but the characters seemed too one dimensional and their motivations weren't always clear. In real life people tend to react like the Bodach did when their homes are taken via Imminent Domain. I was surprised at how quickly Donald and his parents warmed to the idea of being forced to move out of the glen and into the city to make room for a dam. I suppose their quick submission was in order to keep the story short.
The Walking Stones is about the balancing act between tradition and progress. Here the tradition is in the form of the stories and magic of the glen and the progress is the brining of electricity to the city at the expense of the glen. Can the old ways of the glen be passed onto the next generation before the glen is flooded?
September 13, 2015
Scottish shepherd's son Donald Campbell has grown up knowing the Bodach, an elderly storyteller who's the only other occupant of their remote glen. He always carries a black staff, and has the second sight. One night he predicts the coming of three men, one of whom brings death. It turns out he's right, for the government has decided to turn the glen into a reservoir and drown both the Campbell's and the Bodach's houses, as well as an ancient stone circle nearby. While Donald and his parents move to the village beyond the dam site, the Bodach refuses, and says he can prevent the flooding for as long as he likes. Can he? What is his reason? What does it have to do with the standing stones?
I really enjoyed this, though I think it will have a limited audience of people like me who love Scotland and mystical earth connections and standing stones. It's short and beautifully written, and the drowning of the valley is all too believable, except that today I doubt they'd drown a valley containing a perfect ring of standing stones; there'd be too much protest and the stones would bring in tourists. This would be a good one for thoughtful Scotland-lovers.
I really enjoyed this, though I think it will have a limited audience of people like me who love Scotland and mystical earth connections and standing stones. It's short and beautifully written, and the drowning of the valley is all too believable, except that today I doubt they'd drown a valley containing a perfect ring of standing stones; there'd be too much protest and the stones would bring in tourists. This would be a good one for thoughtful Scotland-lovers.
November 4, 2023
I bought this book in a little bookshop in Avondale, Harare, having just spent three nights on Lake Kariba. It was perhaps this fact that made me assume the setting of this book was Zimbabwe. I was very wrong. A good yarn nonetheless.
July 19, 2022
I read this because of the Scottish setting. It was okay. Perhaps it would have made a bigger impact on me if I had read it as a child.
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August 17, 20231976
July 2, 2020
A tale of the 1950s in Scotland and the changing ways between old and new ways. Magic meets reality in this childhood introduction to old Scottish tales. This was one of my favourite books from childhood.
May 2, 2017
This is my second favorite of all her books.
April 14, 2012
Aka The Walking Stones
May 9, 2012
Not Her Best, But I'll read it again.
January 3, 2009
Required reading for trip to Scotland. Very good.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews