New Releases by Margaret Mahy

Seventeen-year-old Ellis finds himself in a series of increasingly bizarre situations in the twenty-four hours following a chance meeting with a childhood acqaintance and three mysterious sisters.

Margaret Mahy is known throughout New Zealand as a brilliant and prolific children''s writer. Less widely known but equally remarkable are her commentaries on fiction, writing and the imagination. The sense of delight and careful attention which she brings to the writing of others has germinated many astute and fascinating talks and essays which are collected here for the first time.

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. Through a chance meeting with a senile old woman, he finds a way to free himself of the past.

When Mr. Belsaki chooses a dragon as a pet for his son, what was a very ordinary family begins some extraordinary adventures.

Monty is allergic to ghosts; if there''s one around, he sneezes. When he discovers a ghost named Lulu haunting his home, his mother sends him away to the Brinsley Codd School for Sensible Thought, where she hopes he will learn that there are no such things as spirits. But Monty has only been inside the school a minute when he starts to sneeze. How can Monty stop believing in ghosts when the school itself turns out to be haunted by the ghost of Brinsley Codd?

Formby Mackinaw is asked to write a book for school. He plans to tell how the villainous Squidgy Moot steals a computer game from Professor Mockery. However, the story is invaded by a collection of little sisters and, as his heroes and villains spill into the real world, he is confronted by chaos.

A novel written for young adults by a New Zealander.

Sam Appleby wants a sword, but his parents don''t believe in violent toys. They try to encourage Sam towards kindly, gentle things like balloons and flowers. Meanwhile the school bully, Hacky Mackie, has a whole arsenal or weapons, and he''s planning to use them to catch Buckbounder, the notorious bank robber. But when Sam and Hacky come face-to-face with Buckbounder, Sam finds out there''s a lot more bang in a balloon than he ever could have imagined.

Delphinium spends her tenth birthday aboard a traveling space circus, fighting against the dark forces who are bent on stamping out fun.

The relationship between Tracey Fortune and her brother Jackson is temporarily strained by Tracey''s desire to be a bridesmaid in her cousin''s wedding and by the mysterious messages that Jackson begins to receive.

Tessa Fortune and her cousins want to raise one hundred dollars for the New Zealand National Telethon.

As the only Bancroft in a family of Fortunes, Lolly has always felt left out of her Fortune cousins'' exclusive gang but when her parents separate Lolly discovers a new inner strength and aspects of kinship that go beyond names.

Captain Wafer and the crew of the Sinful Sausage set sail for the Thousand Islands with a plot to kidnap a famous inventor, only to be thwarted by a witch, a firedrake, and the dastardly Dr. Silkweed.

After living like a gypsy in Australia all of his life, Pete tries to adjust to living in a permanent place -- his father''s New Zealand hometown where Pete must pass a test to belong to his cousins'' exclusive gang.

The seven brothers are precursors to the modern comic book super heroes that are so popular. Each has an unusual skill. The first has remarkable hearing. The second can see over vast distances. The third has unusual strength. The fourth has bones of iron. The fifth has legs that can grow as long and thick as tree trunks. The sixth brother can never be too hot. The seventh brother can cry such large tears that they can drown an entire village. Much effort goes into keeping him happy. The key to the story is that they look alike. The Seven Chinese Brothers is for children who are past the time when they are easily frightened because they take everything very literally (because the brothers face death at the hands of the Chinese emperor in this story). Through great imagination in employing their remarkable talents, teamwork, and an indomitable spirit, the brothers survive the wrath of the emperor. This is the hero story of look-alike brothers who each possess a special physical ability. This rendition has a full-bodied elegance. Cada uno de estos siete hermanos tiene una habilidad especial. El primero tiene un excelente oido. El segundo puede ver sin importar la distancia. El tercero posee una fuerza inusual. El cuarto tiene huesos de hierro. El quinto tiene piernas que pueden crecer tan largas y fuertes como el tronco de un arbol. El sexto hermano no es sensible al calor. El septimo hermano puede llorar lagrimas tan grandes que pueden inundar pueblos enteros. Con una gran imaginacion, sus increibles talentos, su fraternalidad y su espiritu indomable, los hermanos tienen que enfrentarse a la colera del emperador.

Tris and Winola find the underrunners, a vast network of tunnels, the ideal place to escape their unhappy lives and act out their fantasies, but the tunnels become a dangerous place when invaded by an unseen stranger.

A collection of short stories by the noted New Zealand author, including "The Giant''s Bath", "The Pumpkins of Witch Ginger", and "The Devil and the Corner Grocer".

Miffed that her pirate nephew never invites her to the parties he attends, an old woman throws a wonderfully horrendous hullabaloo for herself and his parrot.

In the first of these two short stories, Bassington, a rich little boy who has never had a birthday, decides to steal one from Mrs. Herringbone and Joanna Joy. In the second story, headmistress Tatiana Taffeta seeks an affluent farmer''s hand in marriage.

Authentic retelling of the classic Chinese folktale of the seven brothers and their supernatural gifts.

A fiddle provides more effective protection than a gun; a wobbly table gets fixed; a giant''s daughter saves the day when school is flooded; the residents of Number 10 Timber Lane form a band, using kitchen utensils as instruments, as well as two short poems. Suggested level: junior, primary.

CHILDREN''S BOOKS/YOUNG ADULT

The first story concerns and impossibly wealthy small boy who has everything but birthdays. He sets out to steal some, to the wrath of his victims, for each of whom the stolen birthday had special importance. In the second story the headmistress of a select school marries for money with unfortunate results.