DON'T READ THIS!: And Other Tales of the Unnatural
Margaret Mahy, , illus. by The Tjong Khing. . Front Street, $7.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-1-932425-25-3
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Reviewed on: 12/13/2004
Genre: Children's
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- 24 HOURSMargaret MahyAn aspiring actor, newly graduated from prep school, runs into an old school chum who leads him on a 24-hour escapade into a very different social stratum. "The quick pace and assemblage of Continue reading »
- ALCHEMYMargaret MahyVeteran author Mahy (The Changeover; The Tricksters) again displays her knack for expressing family tensions via supernatural Continue reading »
- ALCHEMYMargaret MahyA teacher discovers that Roland, one of the "top guys" at school, is shoplifting; the man uses the incident to blackmail the teen into cozying up to a loner student, whose interest in Continue reading »
- Down the Back of the ChairMargaret MahyWhen the kids suggest Dad look for his lost car keys in the depths of their wingback chair, the family's fortunes take a dramatic and deliciously silly turn for the better. Mahy's crisp Continue reading »
- Maddigan's FantasiaMargaret MahyMahy (Alchemy ) serves up a post-apocalyptic fantasy, fashioning a world struggling back from near-oblivion. In a land where even the best-marked roads sometimes Continue reading »
- The Magician of HoadMargaret MahyHans Christian Andersen Award–winner Mahy serves up a highly successful fantasy concerning Heriot Tarbas, a young man subject to fits and prophetic dreams, who believed that “something Continue reading »
- 17 Kings and 42 ElephantsMargaret MahyMahy's jocund verse, first published 15 years ago, has been dressed in colorful new clothes. MacCarthy's vivid batik paintings on silk gleam like the eyes of the ""white toothed crocodiles'' or the Continue reading »
- Jam: A True StoryMargaret MahyWhen Mrs. Castle goes to work as an atomic scientist, Mr. Castle assures their children he will care for them and the house. Clarissa, Carlo and even baby Carlo look dubious but their father proves Continue reading »
- The Blood-And-Thunder Adventure on Hurricane PeakMargaret MahyThis marvelously funny novel brings together as zany a collection of characters as one could hope for: Heathcliff Warlock, a most unconventional deputy headmaster; Sir Quincey Judd-Sprockett, a Continue reading »
- The TrickstersMargaret MahyWith the appearance of this haunting, intriguing novel, Mahy (twice a winner of the Carnegie Medal) has written perhaps her best work yet. It begins as a family Christmas story, with Jack and Naomi Continue reading »
- The Catalogue of the UniverseMargaret MahyBeautiful Angela May lives a rather eccentric life with her mother in a small house at the top of Dry Creek Road. All her life she has heard that she was a child of love, but that her father was Continue reading »
- MemoryMargaret MahySometimes Jonny, 19, feels that the memory of his sister Janine's death five years before will always be more real to him than anything in his own life. One night, he sets out on a drunken midnight Continue reading »
- Nonstop NonsenseMargaret MahyThere are well over 100 pages of mischievous, marvelous stories and poems in this collection from Mahy ( The Haunting ; The Tricksters ) and Blake (illustrator of The BFG ). Blake's quirky Continue reading »
- Blood and Thunder Adventure on HurricaneMargaret MahyThis riotous romp concerns Huxley Hammond and his sister, Zaza, who are sent off to the Unexpected School on Hurricane Peak to be disciplined--and the unexpected is exactly what they encounter. Ages Continue reading »
- The Great White Man-Eating SharkMargaret MahyAlthough very different from her acclaimed 17 Kings and 42 Elephants , Mahy's newest book is sure to be a winner. The star is a crafty boy named Norvin, whose acting aspirations are thwarted by the Continue reading »
- The Seven Chinese BrothersMargaret MahyIn colorful language well suited to a story of ingenuity and valor, Mahy presents the Chinese folktale about brothers with amazing powers. Although the broad outline is the same as The Five Chinese Continue reading »
- Making Friends: Margaret Mahy; Illustrated by Wendy SmithMargaret MahyAs rendered in Smith's sparkling watercolors, Mrs. de Vere is a small woman who lives in a large house. Every day she crosses the park to the beach, where she confides to the waves that she wants Continue reading »
- The HauntingMargaret MahyThis frightening, penetrating tale concerns Barney Palmer, who discovers that one person in each generation of his family has had supernatural powers; has he inherited this dreaded curse? Ages 9-12. Continue reading »
- A Busy Day for a Good GrandmotherMargaret MahyMrs. Oberon's son, Scrimshaw, frantic to soothe his teething baby, phones for a slice of his mother's cock-a-hoop honey cake, and Mrs. Oberon rushes off to the rescue on her trail bike. In a Continue reading »
- The Good Fortunes GangMargaret MahyPW found this family story set in New Zealand, first of the Cousins Quartet, ``original and witty.'' Ages 8-11. Continue reading »
- The Catalogue of the UniverseMargaret MahyIn this exuberant, thoughtful story, Angela finds romance in an unexpected place while she searches for her unknown father. Ages 12-up. Continue reading »
- Changeover: A Supernatural RomanceMargaret MahyHaunting, funny and romantic, this Carnegie Medal winner chronicles Laura's efforts to save her brother from a decidedly evil spirit. Ages 12-up. Continue reading »
- The Greatest Show Off EarthMargaret MahyDelphinium is a bored 10-year-old girl on the Space Station Vulnik, where all fun is forbidden lest the residents attract the dreaded Acropola, a group of galaxy-roaming entities that suck up Continue reading »
- The Christmas Tree TangleMargaret MahyA curious kitten gets the ball rolling in this rollicking cumulative tale of unusual efforts made to rescue the tiny feline from the top of the Christmas tree. Well-meaning animals take turns trying Continue reading »
- The Other Side of SilenceMargaret MahyTwelve-year-old Hero has chosen to talk to no one except (on occasion) her older brother, and yet, she notes, ""even in the heart of my silence, I was still a word child."" And, indeed, the Continue reading »
- Clancy's CabinMargaret Mahy, Barbara SteadmanWritten in 1975 and now published for the first time in the U.S., this buoyant caper set in rural New Zealand is simpler and less substantial than Mahy's recent The Other Side of Silence (reviewed Continue reading »
- Tingleberries, Tuckertubs and TelephonesMargaret MahyAs zippy-and often as alliterative-as its title, Mahy's most recent rowdy romp takes place on Breakfast Island, where painfully shy (but, he proves, ultimately brave) Saracen Hobday lives with his Continue reading »
- The Great White Man-Eating Shark: A Cautionary TaleMargaret MahyCapitalizing on his sharkish looks, Norvin frightens away all the other swimmers from Caramel Cove--except for one whose dorsal fin might just be genuine; ""Certain to tickle funnybones,"" said PW. Continue reading »
- The Greatest Show Off EarthMargaret MahyThe adventures of a 10-year-old girl on the Space Station Vulnik involve zipping around the galaxy, reviving a traveling space circus and battling pirates. PW found that ""all the mad rushing about Continue reading »
- The Other Side of SilenceMargaret MahyA girl who doesn't speak uncovers secrets concealed by her older sister and an eccentric neighbor. In a starred review, PW said: ""Mahy's exceptional imagination and storytelling prowess will make it Continue reading »
- A Summery Saturday MorningMargaret Mahy, Selina YoungWith bustling watercolors and catchy cadences borrowed from ""This is the way we wash our clothes,"" New Zealanders Mahy (Boom, Baby, Boom, Boom!) and Young (Adam Pig's Everything Fun Book) offer a Continue reading »
- Twenty-Four HoursMargaret MahyMahy (Memory; The Changeover) once again captures age-old yet contemporary adolescent sensibilities. Ellis, an aspiring actor who has just graduated from prep school, runs into an old public school Continue reading »
- Don't Read This! and Other StoriesMargaret MahyReaders with a taste for the eerie should ignore the advice proffered in this book's title. Most of these 11 entries boast suspenseful, usually unpredictable plots and believable characterizations Continue reading »
- Down the Dragon's TongueMargaret MahyMahy and MacCarthy (previously paired for 17 Kings and 42 Elephants) team up for this story of a buttoned-down businessman who literally kicks off his shoes at his children's urging. Mr. Prospero Continue reading »
- MemoryMargaret MahyIn a novel PW called ""intricately structured"" and ""profoundly satisfying,"" a 19-year-old boy, unable to come to terms with his sister's accidental death five years earlier, finds unexpected Continue reading »
- Aliens in the FamilyMargaret MahyThe award-winning author weaves an intricate story about strangers in a familya boy from another dimension and a girl from another marriage. Ages 8-12. Continue reading »
- The TrickstersMargaret MahyIn one of Mahy's best works, three brothers show up at Harry's house and she doesn't know whether they are aspects of her own imagination, or terrifying supernatural forces. Ages 12-up. Continue reading »
- 17 Kings and 42 ElephantsMargaret MahyPW enjoyed the ``rollicking language'' of Mahy's ``foot-stomping poem,'' in this fanciful jungle journey illustrated with glowing batik art. Ages 4-8. Continue reading »
- Keeping HouseMargaret MahyLizzie Firkin, a songwriter, lives in a decaying old house with her cat and parrot, and spends her nights performing in a nightclub. When the exhausted Lizzie can no longer pick up after herself--and Continue reading »
- Dangerous Spaces: 9Margaret MahySturdy, earth-bound Flora resents her glamorous cousin. Newly orphaned Anthea has come to live with Flora's family in the house that is haunted by the girls' grandfather, Lionel. Unsure of her place Continue reading »
- The Pumpkin Man and the Crafty CreeperMargaret MahyMahy ( The Seven Chinese Brothers ; The Great White Man-Eating Shark ) writes with considerable verve about a most unusual houseguest. A blue-flowered plant begs mild-mannered Mr. Parkin to take her Continue reading »
- The Queen's GoatMargaret MahyAlthough not up to Mahy's usual standards, this story still qualifies as a romp. A young queen wishes for a pet, but is overruled by her housekeeper and the butler: too messy. An invitation to a pet Continue reading »
- Girl with the Green EarMargaret MahyDespite a rather ponderous title, this collection is full of airy, light-hearted mirth. Nine tales, like much of Mahy's previous work, proclaim the eventual triumph of the imagination over greed, Continue reading »
- The Horrendous HullabalooMargaret MahyPW enjoyed both text (``spiced with alliterative amusements'') and art (``brilliantly colored batik paintings [that] celebrate... joyful noise'') in this larky tale of a young pirate, his aunt and Continue reading »
- The Horrendous HullabalooMargaret MahyMahy and MacCarthy ( 17 Kings and 42 Elephants ) are once again delightfully paired in this sprightly feminist tale about a chauvinist pirate and the clever old woman who tends his house, ``keeping Continue reading »
- Pirates' Mixed-Up VoyageMargaret MahySpurred on by their dreams of becoming real live pirates, Lionel Wafer and the rest of the staff of Ye Olde Pyratte Shippe Tea Shoppe weigh anchor for the Thousand Islands in order to kidnap wealthy Continue reading »
- Tick Tock Tales: Stories to Read Around the ClockMargaret MahyThese 12 stories are so inventive that the reader can rarely see beyond the next curve. In ``Sailor Jack and the Twenty Orphans,'' for example, the title character takes to piracy so that he can Continue reading »
- The Three-Legged Cat: 9Margaret MahyThe award-winning author of The Changeover and The Tricksters scores another triumph with this mirthful escapade. As he dozes curled up in his habitual ball, a three-legged cat named Tom dreams of Continue reading »
- The Good Fortunes GangMargaret MahyThe first book in a four-volume series introduces the Fortune family, whose gypsy-like existence takes them from Australia to their father's childhood home in New Zealand. Greeted by throngs of Continue reading »
- The Rattlebang Picnic: 8Margaret MahyThe distinguished duo behind the droll The Boy Who Was Followed Home offer another absurdly amusing but less satisfying tale. The newlywed MacTavishes forgo the purchase of a reliable new car in Continue reading »
- The Pirates' Mixed-Up VoyageMargaret MahyPW applauded this ``combination of goofy, good-natured humor, cartoony characters and a convoluted mystery.'' Ages 10-14. Continue reading »
- The Five SistersMargaret MahyIn another writer's hands, a plot involving talking paper dolls could be disastrous. But Mahy (The Door in the Air; The Greatest Show Off Earth, see p. 69) has a dazzling touch with fantasy, Continue reading »
- Boom Baby Boom BoomMargaret MahyThe idea has enormous promise: a drum-playing Mama (""Beating those drums makes me feel at ease with the world"") remains oblivious while a virtual zoo parades through the house to share lunch with Continue reading »
- Tingleberries, Tuckertubs and TelephonesMargaret MahyA shy boy finds love and ice cream when his spry granny goes off to fight her nemesis, a theatrical pirate out to steal a golden telephone. ""As zippy--and often as alliterative--as its title,"" said Continue reading »
- The Rattlebang PicnicMargaret MahyAn eccentric family with a rattlebang car go picnicking on an active volcano in this tall tale PW called ""absurdly amusing."" Ages 5-7. Continue reading »
- The Horribly Haunted SchoolMargaret MahyMahy (The Greatest Show Off Earth) again whips up a delectable brew of the almost-credible and the outright fantastic, laced with wryly understated dialogue and droll, Monty Python-esque ingredients. Continue reading »
- The Man from the Land of FandangoMargaret MahyThe jolly hero of the title%E2%80%94he's a round-headed, rosy-cheeked man who wears calico trousers and a "hat with a tassel and all"%E2%80%94springs from a painting created by two children and Continue reading »
- Mister WhistlerMargaret MahyThis second posthumously published work by the late Mahy, after The Man from the Land of Fandango, is distinctive and full of sly humor. Mister Whistler loves to dance so much that when his Continue reading »
- The Green BathMargaret MahyThe boys who live next door to Sammy are thrilled when their father finds a racy red speedboat at the flea market. Sammy, however, is puzzled by his own father’s purchase: a clunky, green bathtub. Continue reading »
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