Margaret's Books
Margaret Mahy has written a great many books for children and young adults. Christchurch City Libraries holds many of her titles. Use the links below to browse her books in our catalogue:
We also have a short story by Margaret on our web site: The Word Eater, and her poem Down the Back of the Chair
Latest books
2006
Family Suprises
Rosie had a problem, a terrible problem for a dragon. Whenever she tried to breathe fire, a fine spray of water filled the air in front of her. On the other side of town, Caxton had a problem too. It's hard for a boy who loves swimming and being active when his whole family is devoted to art. When Caxton and Rosie meet, it isn't long before they discover just how to pool their talents.
Down the Back of the Chair
A poor family is searching down the back of a chair for Dad's lost car keys and, miraculously in the mess of things back there, their financial problems are solved. You can read the poem Down the Back of the Chair on this web site.
Portable
Ghosts
Ditta is a smart, sassy twelve-year old who wants to be a detective - and when she encounters a ghostly boy reading in a mysterious corner of her school library she has her first mystery to solve. But when her best friend Max tells her the bedroom floor in his brand new house is haunted too, the mysteries start coming thick and fast and before she knows it she has a whole handful to solve.
With her nerdy computer geek sister Mirabel, the three friends find that ghosts are much more adaptable than they ever thought possible and Ditta finds not one but two ways of making them portable.
2005
Zerelda's Horses
Zerelda lived in the middle of a great city, partly because her parents worked in the city, driving tourists to markets and museums in a yellow gig pulled by Puzzle - their hard-working horse. Zerelda and Puzzle are close friends, so close that Zerelda could understand horse language. So Puzzle told her many unexpected things about the city, all from a horse's point of view of course.
Stories
in Collections
Hidden Warrior - a story featured in Young Warriors: Stories of strength.
A new story by Margaret Mahy - "The unexpected fairy godmother" - appears in Kids' Night In! 2: a feast of stories.
War: Stories of Conflict, a collection of new stories from acclaimed children's writers including Margaret Mahy.
Thirteen, a collection of short stories about being on the brink of young adulthood, includes a story by Margaret Mahy.
Kaitangata
Twitch
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 about a girl caught up in a fight over a beautiful wild island, where different values, commercial interests and versions of the past collide.
Maddigan's
fantasia
A tie-in book for a 13 part half-hour children's television series, screening in the UK on BBC television, Channel Nine in Australia and TV3 in NZ, in mid to late 2005.
In a time not too far from our own, a colourful and bizarre group of travellers brave a post apocalyptic landscape - the acrobats, clowns, trapeze artists, jugglers and musicians who make up Maddigan's Fantasia.
2004
Shock Forest and Other Stories
A collection of stories
Watch Me!
Poems and stories by Margaret Mahy originally published as The third Margaret Mahy storybook in 1973. This completes the reprint of the three storybooks.
The first and second were reprinted under the titles Wonderful me (2002) and Wait for me (2003).