Wonderful selection of funny and touching stories written by top New Zealand authors, such as Margaret Mahy, Joy Cowley, Kate de Goldi, David Hill and many other stars of children's literature. It's perfect for children from 5 to 105, with its focus on fun, good writing, cheekiness and word play. These fifteen stories will make you laugh, giggle, snigger and snort. it's the ideal collection of children's stories for dipping into, devouring all in one go, or going back to time after time.Other writers included are Fleur Beale, James Norcliffe, Barbara Else, Jack Lasenby, Jane Buxton, Roger Hall, Janice Marriott and Pat Quinn.Previously published in Random House New Zealand's much-loved anthologies edited by Jo Noble and Barbara Else and illustrated by David Elliot and Philip Webb, these stories remind you how good writing for children can be.
Margaret Mahy was a well-known New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. While the plots of many of her books have strong supernatural elements, her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growing up.
Her books The Haunting and The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance both received the Carnegie Medal of the British Library Association. There have 100 children's books, 40 novels, and 20 collections of her stories published. Among her children's books, A Lion in the Meadow and The Seven Chinese Brothers and The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate are considered national classics. Her novels have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Italian, Japanese, Catalan and Afrikaans. In addition, some stories have been translated into Russian, Chinese and Icelandic.
For her contributions to children's literature she was made a member of the Order of New Zealand. The Margaret Mahy Medal Award was established by the New Zealand Children's Book Foundation in 1991 to provide recognition of excellence in children's literature, publishing and literacy in New Zealand. In 2006 she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award (known as the Little Nobel Prize) in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature".
Margaret Mahy died on 23 July 2012.
On 29 April 2013, New Zealand’s top honour for children’s books was renamed the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award.