New Zealand author Margaret Mahy has made a career of tickling funny bones, teasing the imagination, and sending shivers up spines of young readers. She is, according to Betty Gilderdale, writing in St. James Guide to Children's Writers, "one of the most...

Two girls scrambled to the door when they spotted reporters lingering in the hallway. One shrieked, "So they can just stand here and listen to everything?" The department intern, guarding the entrance with her trusty V.I.P. student list, shooed reporters away from the door. Word...