Margaret Mahy

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  • Bibliography:
    89 Books
  • First Book:
    November 1969
  • Latest Book:
    September 2021
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Book List in Order: 89 titles

  • Mrs. Discombobulous

  • The Changeover

    The change was for life. Laura had noticed the looks Sorenson Carlisle gave her at school. They were looks that meant more than just friends. And even though he hardly spoke to her, she knew there was something very special about him. She knew he ...

  • The Pirate Uncle

  • The Witch in the Cherry Tree

    The lovely smell of baking cakes being made by David and his mother, lures a witch to their garden. David takes pity on her and gives her his cakes which are exactly the way she likes them - burnt! And there is a recipe on the last page too....

  • The Great Millionaire Kidnap

  • The Haunting

    Nobody knew. Or did they? Barney's family seems ordinary enough...until Great Uncle Barnaby dies. Suddenly, an eerie, weird voice starts taunting poor Barney unmercifully. It won't leave him alone. Only his sister Tabitha, the aspiring novelist, s...

  • Jam

    While Mrs. Castle works as an atomic scientist, Mr. Castle takes care of the house and children so efficiently that he soon finds himself with nothing to do until the backyard plum tree gives him an idea....

  • Aliens in the Family

  • The Tricksters

    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 ev...



  • Muppy's Ball

  • The New House Villain

  • The Terrible Topsy-Turvy, Tissy-Tossy Tangle

  • 17 Kings and 42 Elephants

  • Leaf Magic and Five More Stories

  • Memory

    On the fifth anniversary of his older sister's death, nineteen-year-old Jonny Dart, troubled by feelings of guilt and an imperfect memory of the event, goes in search of the only other witness to the fatal accident and, through a chance meeting with ...

  • The Boy with Two Shadows

  • The Blood-and-Thunder Adventure on Hurricane Peak

  • Making Friends

    With the help of their canine companions, Mrs. de Vere, a small woman with a huge, hairy dog named Titania, and Mr. Derry, a large man with a tiny dog named Oberon, overcome their differences to become friends...

  • The Great White Man-Eating Shark

    Greedy to have the cove where he swims all to himself, Norvin, who looks a bit like a shark, pretends to be one, scaring off the other swimmers and leaving him in happy aquatic solitude--until he is discovered by an amorous female shark....



  • The Door in the Air and Other Stories

  • Keeping House

  • Dangerous Spaces

  • Pumpkin Man and the Crafty Creeper

  • The Queen's Goat

  • Bubble Trouble

    Little Mabel blew a bubble and it caused a lot of trouble... Such a lot of bubble trouble in a bibble-bobble way. For it broke away from Mabel as it bobbed across the table, Where it bobbled over Baby, and it wafted him away. Follow the hilarious eff...

  • The Dragon of an Ordinary Family

  • The Girl with the Green Ear

  • Underrunners

    Tris and Winola try to forget their crumbling family lives by secretly navigating the underrunners, a vast network of tunnels beneath the land, until a mysterious observer tries to save them from the impending danger of their subterranean refuge....

  • The Horrendous Hullabaloo

    Tired of parrot-sitting while her nephew, Peregrine the pirate, is off carousing, Peregrine's aunt decides to throw her own party, a horrendous hullabaloo that culminates on Peregrine's pirate ship--with Peregrine left behind on shore....



  • A Tall Story and Other Tales

  • Seven Chinese Brothers

  • The Pirates' Mixed-Up Voyage

    Captain Lionel Wafer and his fellow-pirates - Toad, Brace-and-Bit and Winkle, are no ordinary ruffians. Clinging to the belief that life should be simple, free and unplanned they set off in a converted teashop of a ship, renamed The Sinful Sausage, t...

  • The Three-Legged Cat

  • The Birthday Burglar and a Very Wicked Headmistress

  • A Busy Day for a Good Grandmother

  • A Fortunate Name

  • A Fortune Branches Out

    With help from her cousins, Tessa Fortune is certain her white-elephant sale will raise one hundred dollars for the National Telethon's senior citizen benefit, but obnoxious Grant Chilling's antics force her into another plan--a tree-athon....

  • Tick Tock Tales

    Lively full-color illustrations complement an anthology of twelve read-aloud tales, which includes the story of a mouse that does his best to convince a cat that he is a dog and an account of a hilarious shopping expedition....

  • The Greatest Show off Earth



  • Don't Read This!

    Stories by eleven popular international writers include such tales as "Ghost Story" by Susan Cooper, "The Mirror" by Eiko Kadono, "The Eyes" by Kit Pearson, "Don't Read This!" by Robert Piumini, and "Grandfather's Clock" by Bjarne Reuter....

  • Tangled Fortunes

    Siblings Tracey and her younger brother Jackson discover that growing up, changing, and discovering their own interests does not mean that they cannot remain friends. By the author of The Good Fortunes Gang. ...

  • Clancy's Cabin

    While mom and dad attend to newborn twins, the three older Harrington children go on a camping trip to a farm cabin where Skip, the eldest, discovers a treasure map in a rusty can hidden up in the eaves....

  • When the King Rides By

  • The Other Side of Silence

    Hero, a girl who does not speak, begins to do odd-jobs for her enigmatic neighbor, Miss Credence, whose house holds a shocking secret, at the same time that Hero's sister returns home with an abandoned boy and another secret....

  • Tingleberries, Tuckertubs and Telephones

    A madcap adventure story portrays a terribly shy orphan who is given a chance to transform himself, fall in love, and defeat a gang of ruffian pirates with the help of tingleberry ice cream and other unusual objects....

  • The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate

    Early Readers are stepping stones from picture books to reading books. A blue Early Reader is perfect for sharing and reading together. A red Early Reader is the next step on your reading journey.Sam has an ordinary life - but his mother used to be a...

  • Boom, Baby, Boom, Boom!

  • The Five Sisters

  • Beaten by a Balloon

    Receiving a sunflower and a balloon instead of the exciting, weapon-like toys he has requested, Sam Appleby learns his uninteresting gifts have more bang than he expected when the dread robber Buckbounder comes to visit....



  • A Villain's Night Out

  • Simply Delicious!

    As Mr. Minky bikes along a lumpy, bumpy track to deliver a treat to his little boy, a series of animals and insects try to eat the treat, and Mr. Minky must outwit the wily predators and get home before it melts. Jr Lit Guild....

  • The Rattlebang Picnic

    Granny McTavish's pizzas and pies were as tough as old boots, but that didn't stop the McTavishes from going on picnics. On a picnic near the hot springs on Mount Fogg, the volcano suddenly starts to erupt. The old rattlebang, their faithful car, has...

  • Down the Dragon's Tongue

  • 24 Hours

    Having lived a privileged and rather sheltered life, Ellis seeks adventures before going off to college and so takes a trip with a former classmate who introduces him to a world he never knew existed....

  • The Great Piratical Rumbustification and the Librarian and the Robbers

    Wild and wonderful, these stories will appeal to all readers of fine children's literature, and Blake's illustrations, full of spirit and exuberance, are the perfect accompaniment of Mahy's vigorous tales.

    The Great Piratical Rumbustification ...

  • A Summery Saturday Morning

    Things don't go quite as planned when the family dogs come along for a trip to the beach.... In this lively read-aloud romp, Mahy takes the rhythm from "This is the way we wash our clothes" and transforms it into a rollicking walking tune for a summe...

  • Wonderful Me!

  • Alchemy

    Roland, determined to unlock the mystery surrounding Jess Ferret, an enigmatic young woman with a penchant for alchemy, finds his investigation thwarted by the arrival of an evil magician from his past, who plunges him into a dark and deadly labryint...

  • Wait for Me!

  • Down the Back of the Chair

    When Dad loses his car keys, little Mary suggests they might be down the back of the chair. Join in the fun as Dad begins the search, finding everything from a hairy string to a diamond ringand much, much more! Could the solution to all the family’...

  • The Gargling Gorilla

  • Maddigan's Fantasia

    When twelve-year-old Garland Maddigan asks Timon and Eden where they have come from, she is overwhelmed by their answer: the future. In a post-apocalyptic time, Garland's family's traveling circus troop, Maddigan's Fantasia, leaves the city of Sol...

  • The Word Witch

  • The Magician of Hoad

    Heriot Tarbas was born with a gift. Visions wake him in the middle of the night, and others' thoughts invade his head. Heriot's mind already feels torn apart when the King of Hoad decides to tear him away from his family. Heriot quickly discovers ...

  • Stop That Stew!

    Mr. Winkle makes himself a delicious stew one day in his big, brown pot. Not one to keep a good thing to himself, he’s desperate to share his stew, so he takes it, pot and all, on the road. He gets a little more than he bargained for when the delec...

  • The Christmas Tree Tangle

    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 an...

  • The Great Piratical Rumbustification

    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...

  • The Man from the Land of Fandango

    “The man from the land of Fandango / Is given to dancing and dreams, / He comes in at the door like a somersault star / And he juggles with junkets and jam in a jar / And custards and caramel creams.” Two children paint Mr. Fandango to life, ...

  • Mister Whistler

    A hilarious, lively picture book. Mister Whistler always has a song in his head and a dance in his legs. But when he has to catch the train, he is so distracted he loses his ticket―and has to dance his way out of his clothes to find it. The auth...

  • A Lion In The Meadow

    Early Readers are stepping stones from picture books to reading books. A blue Early Reader is perfect for sharing and reading together. A red Early Reader is the next step on your reading journey.When the little boy tells his mother he has seen a big...

  • Twenty-Four Hours

  • The Green Bath

    Bath-time turns into a fantastical adventure in the hands of two of children's literature's best. Margaret Mahy and Steven Kellog, two the world's most beloved picture book creators, are reunited for this galloping, free-spirited romp. It begins w...

  • Footsteps Through the Fog

    Unlike her brothers and sisters, Anthea cannot see, so when they all go to the beach one day, their mother tells them to take care of her. While they are all playing on the sand, a thick fog rolls in from the ocean. Suddenly it's up to Anthea to get ...

  • Tale of a Tail

    Strange and exciting things are in store when Tom and his mum move to Prodigy Street one ordinary Thursday. There's a man with a magical name, a friendly dog with a powerful, waggy tail, and some remarkable surprises when anyone makes a wish. Include...

  • There's a King in the Cupboard

    Early Readers are stepping stones from picture books to reading books. A blue Early Reader is perfect for sharing and reading together. A red Early Reader is the next step on your reading journey.

    A family move into a new house. They are jus...

  • Nonstop Nonsense

    A joyful jumble of poems, songs and stories.A full colour paperback edition of this wonderfully witty and delightfully silly collection of stories and rhyming nonsense from all-star author and artist team, Margaret Mahy and Quentin Blake.Poems, prose...

  • The Horribly Haunted School

    Monty is allergic to ghosts. If there's an invisible ghost around, he sneezes. As soon as Monty sets foot in the Brinsley Codd School for Sensible Thought, he knows it's haunted. Why else would he sneeze like a hurricane? Mysterious forces are clearl...

  • Heriot

  • Kaitangata Twitch

  • The Riddle of the Frozen Phantom

  • The Birthday Burglar

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

  • The Boy Who Was Followed Home

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

  • The Catalogue of the Universe

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    Determined to satisfy her curiosity about her unknown father, eighteen-year-old Angela May embarks on an emotional journey that shapes and forever alters the way she looks at herself, her unconventional mother, and her devoted friend Tycho....

  • Chewing-Gum Rescue and Other Stories

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

  • Chocolate Porridge

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    Early Readers are stepping stones from picture books to reading books. A blue Early Reader is perfect for sharing and reading together. A red Early Reader is the next step on your reading journey.

    Timothy's sisters think that boys are all ru...

  • The Good Fortunes Gang

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

  • The Horrible Story and Others

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    Twenty-one marvellously inventive stories by Carnegie Medal-winning author Margaret Mahy, starting with 'The Horrible Story', about a boy whose chilling tales terrify two older boys. The other stories in this collection include 'The Curiosity Conc...

  • Raging Robots & Unruly Uncles

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

  • A Very Wicked Head Mistress

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

Award-Winning Books by Margaret Mahy

Bubble Trouble
2009 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award -- Picture Book
The Changeover
1984 Carnegie Medal -- Children's
The Great White Man-Eating Shark
1993 Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award -- Picture Book
The Haunting
1982 Carnegie Medal -- Children's
The Rattlebang Picnic
1996 Keystone to Reading Book Award -- Children's
Seven Chinese Brothers
1993 North Carolina Children's Book Award -- Picture Book


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Margaret Mahy has published 89 books.

Margaret Mahy does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, The Riddle of the Frozen Phantom, was published in September 2021.

The first book by Margaret Mahy, Mrs. Discombobulous, was published in November 1969.

No. Margaret Mahy does not write books in series.
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