Leaf Magic

by Margaret Mahy

Michael desperately wants a dog but all he attracts is a big orange leaf that follows him everywhere.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Autumn

32 pages, Paperback

Published May 20, 1976

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

[Capn]

Delightful. "Fish and Chips", the old beach hermit, is my favourite character of the year. :)

Read for *FREE* on OpenLibrary, but will totally buy a copy if one starts following me home on the wind....

[Michael Fitzgerald]

A modern fairy tale. Not much explanation, but good description and mood.

[Kris Dersch]

Whimsical. I don't know quite how to describe this...it's a little creepy, a little magical...it hit me in just the right mood and I really liked it. My kiddo enjoyed it as well.

[Sasha]

I really just am here for the creepy old dude who lives in a seaside shack of bones and netting and goes by the name "Fish and Chips". Wizard or crackhead, he's my fave.

[Sarah]

This book haunted me as a child, and I've never forgotten it. A boy who longs for a dogis followed home by a huge russet fallen leaf that blows along the streets behind him... The story unsettled me a bit - I still prick my ears at the sound of dry autumn leaves scritching across concrete - and it seemed to me at the time to be quite eerie and haunting, yet also joyous. I must have read it when I was 7 or 8, and haven't seen it since. I remember the pictures differently, though. I'm sure in the version I read they were subtle understated watercolours, and it was more naturalistic, or at least, that's how I remember them... maybe I should re-illustrate it! A story about the magic that lies below the surface of things.

[Kerri]

This was my absolute favorite book as a child. I'm not sure whether I like the sea and fishermen so much because of this book, or if I liked the book because of the salty fisherman. Whatever the reason, this is a charming, magical story of nature and wishes, and it has a quirky little seventies twang to it. If you can get your hands on a used copy if this book (it's now out of print), I highly recommend it. It's hard to find kids books these days that are as simple and honest as this.

[Othy]

I read this story as a kid and recently found it in the basement. Maybe this is one of the reasons that I love dogs and nature so much, or, rather, this book is the result of someone who loved dogs and nature.

[Lisa]

I love this story, and I love-love-love that the old man is named "Fish and Chips."

[Kathleen]

Cedar Mills Library