Most Popular Books by Margaret Mahy

Yo ho ho! All across the city, the pirates are getting restless and long for a party. So when a retired pirate comes to babysit for the Terrapin family, they are in for quite a surprise... From the rumbustious author and artist team of Margaret Mahy, winner of the Carnegie medal, and Quentin Blake, the first Children''s Laureate, and best known for his partnership with Roald Dahl, this is a dazzling story which will delight pirate loving boys everywhere.

When the wicked Miss Taffetanotorious cheater and blackmailer, and former trapeze artist and human cannonballopens a selective school for rich young ladies, everything seems perfectly normal. But as strange occurrences at the school begin to make the students suspicious, Headmistress Taffeta''s true identity comes into question.

A guinea pig is in search of his favorite food: grass.

The kitten has climbed the Christmas tree! Climbed so high and climbed so far to cling with her claws to the Christmas star. So begins the magically illustrated story of the - Christmas Tree Tangle - in which the kitten, the cat, the dog, the goat and even the pigs get stuck in the branches of the town Christmas tree. This is a delightful tale to read along with Children at the festive season.

In the first of these two short stories, Bassington, a rich little boy who has never had a birthday, decides to steal one from Mrs. Herringbone and Joanna Joy. In the second story, headmistress Tatiana Taffeta seeks an affluent farmer''s hand in marriage.

Sammy''s mother tells him to forget about adventures and get cleaned up for his grandmother''s visit, but the new bathtub Sammy''s father brought home seems determined to have an adventure of its own.

When a dashing dog gets into messy mischief, his family is exasperated. Then baby Betty falls off the jetty, and it''s up to the brave dashing dog to save the day. Suggested level: junior.

When Saracen Hobday is left alone he falls in love, makes a fortune from a strange new plant, and defeats a gang of ruffian pirates all because of tingleberry ice cream, the tuckertub plant, and a solid gold telephone.

Where will your destiny lead you? For as long as he can remember, Heriot Tarbas has been plagued with fits, headaches, dreams, and nightmares that make him feel as if a part of his very self is being torn away. His visions are only whispered about in his quiet life on the family farm. But when the King of Hoad hears word of his powers and seeks him out to be a member of the royal court, it becomes clear that Heriot has a gift, and a valuable one. While Heriot unwillingly learns to use his mind-reading and other abilities to serve the king as his most trusted advisor, four remarkably different lives—that of a Hero, a Magician, a noble girl, and a Prince—weave their way, for better or for worse, toward his. When their paths finally converge in the midst of political upheaval, hand-to-hand battles, and burgeoning romances, Heriot must decide how he’ll choose to use his magic—and what his destiny will be. With a complex cast of characters set against a majestic land, award-winning author Margaret Mahy weaves her magic in a fantastical tale exploring the meaning of truth, freedom, and loyalty to one’s greater destiny.

Relates the tangled events that lead the students of the Unexpected School on Hurricane Peak to foil the wicked Sir Quincey and his accomplices and to solve several mysteries.

Monty is allergic to ghosts-if there''s one around, he sneezes. That''s how he discovers a ghost-girl called Lulu haunting an old vintage car at the bottom of the garden.

The seven brothers are precursors to the modern comic book super heroes that are so popular. Each has an unusual skill. The first has remarkable hearing. The second can see over vast distances. The third has unusual strength. The fourth has bones of iron. The fifth has legs that can grow as long and thick as tree trunks. The sixth brother can never be too hot. The seventh brother can cry such large tears that they can drown an entire village. Much effort goes into keeping him happy. The key to the story is that they look alike. The Seven Chinese Brothers is for children who are past the time when they are easily frightened because they take everything very literally (because the brothers face death at the hands of the Chinese emperor in this story). Through great imagination in employing their remarkable talents, teamwork, and an indomitable spirit, the brothers survive the wrath of the emperor. This is the hero story of look-alike brothers who each possess a special physical ability. This rendition has a full-bodied elegance. Cada uno de estos siete hermanos tiene una habilidad especial. El primero tiene un excelente oido. El segundo puede ver sin importar la distancia. El tercero posee una fuerza inusual. El cuarto tiene huesos de hierro. El quinto tiene piernas que pueden crecer tan largas y fuertes como el tronco de un arbol. El sexto hermano no es sensible al calor. El septimo hermano puede llorar lagrimas tan grandes que pueden inundar pueblos enteros. Con una gran imaginacion, sus increibles talentos, su fraternalidad y su espiritu indomable, los hermanos tienen que enfrentarse a la colera del emperador.

The goats bleat. The pigs squeal. Join the bun fight going on all over the top of the hill.

The relationship between Tracey Fortune and her brother Jackson is temporarily strained by Tracey''s desire to be a bridesmaid in her cousin''s wedding and by the mysterious messages that Jackson begins to receive.

What happens to a girl who has dangerous dreams? What if the land itself punishes those who would harm it? This is a supernatural eco-thriller for young teenagers, by internationally acclaimed New Zealand author Margaret Mahy, about a girl caught up in a fight over a beautiful wild island, where different values, commercial interests and versions of the past collide.

Seven Chinese brothers elude execution by virtue of their extraordinary individual qualities.

The lives of Jack and Naomi Hamilton, their five children, their guest, and friends are disturbed by the arrival of three mysterious and sinister young men at Carnival''s Hide, the Hamilton''s seaside home in New Zealand, and by bizarre supernatural events.

Tris and Winola find the underrunners, a vast network of tunnels, the ideal place to escape their unhappy lives and act out their fantasies, but the tunnels become a dangerous place when invaded by an unseen stranger.

The first story concerns and impossibly wealthy small boy who has everything but birthdays. He sets out to steal some, to the wrath of his victims, for each of whom the stolen birthday had special importance. In the second story the headmistress of a select school marries for money with unfortunate results.

A high-spirited story about two tyrannical robots who wreak havoc in two very different families.

Carnegie medal-winning supernatural romance from Margaret Mahy.

Summary: At seventeen Angela is obsessed with finding her unknown father and enlists the help of her boyfriend.

A fiddle provides more effective protection than a gun; a wobbly table gets fixed; a giant''s daughter saves the day when school is flooded; the residents of Number 10 Timber Lane form a band, using kitchen utensils as instruments, as well as two short poems. Suggested level: junior, primary.