The Downhill Crocodile Whizz and Other Stories

by Margaret Mahy

Children's Short Stories

Genres: Short Stories, Childrens

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

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

[Derelict Space Sheep · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lead story doesn’t do justice to this collection. Where ‘The Downhill Crocodile Whizz’ is merely frivolous, the nine subsequent tales offer imagination of substance, combining fairy-tale whimsy with offbeat social observations and gently eccentric worldbuilding. Jon Riley’s illustrations egg the pudding.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a delight - whimsical and absurd stories told with humour and expansive language. I think the kids like them too

[Sher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such fun! Wish I had been able to read these as a child, or to my own children. Perhaps future generations of my family will get to enjoy them.

[Janelle]

Dnf. I didn’t like the narrator of the audiobook I was listening to. Too much yelling.

[Hayley Fowler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this book when I was 7 and it became a firm favourite. I still have my original copy 😁