Margaret Mahy

[auscatherine]

Anyone else here a fan of the New Zealand children's writer, Margaret Mahy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Mahy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I only really discovered her as an adult as, for some reason, there is not a lot of literary cross-pollenation between Australia and New Zealand (ie, any NZ books released in Australia are usually ones that have been picked up by UK publishers and even then a lot don't make it here). She writes for a range of ages and covers similar themes to Enid Blyton in some cases. her short story collections for children around 5-8yo are really good. My favourite though is her young adult novel The Changeover about a teenage girl who becomes a witch to save her younger brother. She won a Carnegie Medal for this novel and another for The Haunting which is also a YA novel.

[Aurélien]

Anyone else here a fan of the New Zealand children's writer, Margaret Mahy?

I haven't read even half of Ms Mahy's zany works, but have enjoyed many of them. Of course they are readily available on this side of the Tasman.

Can still remember her [in her irridescent green wig] reading aloud to children in a library.

‘Aurélien Arkadiusz’

[auscatherine]

Can still remember her [in her irridescent green wig] reading aloud to children in a library.

What a great memory, Aurelien! Actually my copy of The Changeover comes from a bookshop in New Zealand. I asked my brother to pick it up for me while on a business trip to Auckland. He said the Kiwi sales assistant had never heard of Margaret Mahy!

[Aurélien]

Actually my copy of The Changeover comes from a bookshop in New Zealand. I asked my brother to pick it up for me while on a business trip to Auckland. He said the Kiwi sales assistant had never heard of Margaret Mahy!

All too common these days, Catherine. I mean, probably there are still a few booklovers working in bookshops, but.......

Aurélien sighs, remembering less blatantly 'generic commercial' bookshops of former years.

[mish]

I can still remember her visiting my school - and doing a book reading. Great story teller!

A huge range of types of stories also. I have just got "The Other Side Of Silence" out of the library to read again. I loved it the first time around when I read it as a child (about a young girl with selective mutism).

[auscatherine]

I haven't read that one, Mish. I will have to look out for it.

[Wolfgang]

I also read some of Mahy's books though I can't say I liked everyone. My personal favourite is "Töchter des Mondes" = "The Changeover", but I'd like to get a copy in English to see how much was changed in the German edition. Well, maybe next time in England...

[auscatherine]

Have you not yet discovered Bookdepository.co.uk, Wolfgang? Free postage from the UK to Germany. The prices are really good too.

[Wolfgang]

Have you not yet discovered Bookdepository.co.uk, Wolfgang? Free postage from the UK to Germany. The prices are really good too.

No, I hadn't. And I'm the type of person who prefer cash instead of credit card, even though the Finance Minister and Security Minister of Germany are probably shocked by this attitude - it's much harder to trace down the cash flow this way <sigh> But I suppose I'll have a look at paypal in the near future even though its reputation is not the best...

[auscatherine]

Yes, I think you do need a credit card for bookdepository. Your no credit card policy sounds very wise in general though, Wolfgang.