Nonstop nonsense

by Margaret Mahy

First edition hardcover with printed boards, no dust jacket, in very good condition. Illustrated by Quentin Blake. Upper board corners and spine head are bumped. Spine is slightly cocked. Boards are clean, binding is sound and pages are clear. LW

Genres: Poetry, Childrens, Fiction

120 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

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.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret...

Reviews

[Elise Stevenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are indeed what the titles say: utter nonsense. It was a bit of fun to listen to, and I can see how children and young learners would love the stories of the Delmonico family. Especially the audiobook with the exaggerated intonations and wacky noises. It's incredibly entertaining to listen to while doing some work. I had no idea what was happening, but the hilarious stories made the work go faster.

[Rebecca I · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what my grandson and I would make of this book, but we found it very funny and entertaining. We are currently reading her book: The Haunting and plan to read more from her. It is wonderful for me to find a new (to me) children's author. The fact that she chose Quentin Blake as illustrator for this one was a plus.

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these stories are a little strange (nonsense), but some are really quite cute and clever. It's just a series of very short stories and poems, so it's a short, easy read and good for a little chuckle.

[Fiona Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a delight to listen to Tony Robinson narrate these little stories and poems by Margaret Mahy. They made me smile. They made me giggle. All while doing very grown up things that are no fun at all.

[William Leight · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories and poems that is more for kids than some of Mahy's other funny works. For adults, it's amusing but slight: for the right 8-year-old (plus or minus a year or two), it's a laugh riot.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all-time favorite books!

[Kylie Abecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite funny and different. Title is very good, as it’s certainly a silly book.

[Adil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to read this book because i really like Margaret Mahy's work and when i saw this book i really liked the illustrations and also it looked lie the book for me.

" A book written by a New Zealander " This category was interesting to read because i found it suprsing that a book like this was written by a New Zealander,(NOT THE FACT THAT I THINK THAT NZ AUTHORS' CAN'T WRITE A BOOK LIKE THIS BUT JUST SAYING THAT THE BOOK WAS WELL PORTRAYED).

"Horrakapotchkin!" cried the cat sadly.This is my favourite quote because i like how the word "Horrakapotchkin" is made up.

In one of the stories there is a cat that catches a mouse and it pleads the cat not to eat it and the mouse improptues a poem for the cat. The cat is not satisfied and eats the mouse any way. Later, whenever the cat tries to speak a poem comes out of it's mouth. The thing i learned from this book is that sometimes you aren't really aware
about your surroundings and when there is a problem that is affecting you in some way sometimes being stubborn and always listening to your own things can lead into bad consequences.

In this book there isn't a particular setting because it's actually made up of alot of different stories and poems which are totaly random but still worth reading.But i liked the cat who played a viscous role in the book and i liked the way Margaret Mahy portrayedd her message across very thoroughly and in an understandable way even if it is by poems, small stories etc.

Review By Adil Imran

[The Twins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crazy poems and stories