Tick Tock Tales: Stories to Read Around the Clock [Library Binding]

Margaret Mahy (Author), Wendy Smith (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up

These 12 tales have been drawn from some of Margaret Mahy's earlier works and are delightfully varied. Wendy Smith's lively full-color illustrations enhance the humor and imagination--Margaret Mahy's trademark--in these stories.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

These 12 stories are so inventive that the reader can rarely see beyond the next curve. In "Sailor Jack and the Twenty Orphans," for example, the title character takes to piracy so that he can become rich enough to adopt Tom and the other 19 chaps at the orphanage. But the other pirates disdain Jack's fastidious ways and maroon him on an island. One night a cave opens and out pops a woman named Emily wearing pearls and seaweed. The island turns into a boat, and Jack and Emily sail to the orphanage where they marry and, in exchange for her pearls, adopt the 20 boys. Other startling entries feature a boy who bounces like a ball, orphans who are tended by birds, and a mouse who "thinks dog" to defend himself from a cat. The writing crackles with dry wit: "Jack answered quickly and grammatically, 'It is I.' " Smith's blithe but bland vignettes seem an odd mate for such risk-taking storytelling, but Mahy herself provides color enough to compensate. Ages 5-9.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3-The alliterative title gives a clue to what's inside-12 short, short stories-and like a syncopated rhythm, they're slightly off-beat, zany, and also uneven in quality and appeal. However, all are inventive, imaginative, and pure Mahy. The first, "Poodlum Hoodlum," about a boy who eventually acquires the pet of his dreams, may be the best and most entertaining selection. Of the 11 tales that follow, all but one have been previously published, but few are available in the U.S. Although some are 20 years old, each retains the enchantment, magic, and suspension of belief to hook a new generation of listeners. Most children will delight in an island that becomes a boat; royalty who live in a broom closet; and a boy who becomes a bouncy red rubber ball. All of the stories are told in exuberant, descriptive language. Smith's watercolors appear on every page, scattered in different positions within and outside the text, engaging the eye and keeping interest alive. In one story, a nearly grown king whose strict upbringing has forbidden toys summons the royal librarian for advice on the perfect plaything-after all, "Librarians are meant to know everything." The stories are perfect read alouds.
Harriett Fargnoli, Great Neck Library, NY
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Library Binding: 92 pages
• Publisher: Margaret Mcelderry (March 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068950604X
• ISBN-13: 978-0689506048
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,951,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Margaret Mahy lives in New Zealand and is internationally acknowledged as one of the most outstanding children's writers today. She is the author of more than two hundred books for children of all ages, two of which have received England's Carnegie Medal and others of which have garnered numerous citations from the American Library Association. She is also the recipient of An Order of New Zealand, the highest honor a citizen can receive. In 2006 she received the Hans Christian Andersen award for her contributions to international children's literature.