Thinking Allowed: Ode to Mahy

I like to read. There is no denying it. And I am not ashamed to admit that I read most of my childrens books as well as my own. I often wonder why I am one of the few parents to make statements such as "well that was a poorly written book" to my two year old after reading picture books on the library floor. Sometimes editors standards seem much too low for childrens literature. So it came as a shock when I discovered a new childrens author who has been writing and publishing books since before I was born that I had never heard of. We discovered her writings inadvertently. I checked out a number of books on CD for a drive to Melbourne and her books was one of them. I think Jakob and I enjoyed that book as much if not more than the children. It was adventrous but tasteful and silly and poetic and majestic. It was the sort of book where both Jakob and I would press pause to comment on what a beautiful sentence we heard. Since that time we have been studiously trying to read more of her books but it is trickier than one might think. While she is a national treasure in New Zealand, here across the ditch, there are only a handful of her books in library. Why? Why are our childrens library shelves stuffed full of mass produced books about fairies, shopping and superheroes when there are really excellent childrens writers like Margaret Mahy. I feel so forlorn about the fact that Mahy was not as much a part of my childhood as I would have wished her to be. And it isn't like there is a lack of choice as she has published over 100 picture books, 40 novels, and 20 collections of short stories. Her stories manage to make real life magical and there is something very honest and healthy about that. In an age where stories are produced to appeal to the editor and pocketbook Mahy manages to make riches of ordinary words. In fact, by the time she was discovered by an editor she had been writing stories for her own pleasure and for the pleasure of those around her for years. Mahy is one of the few childrens authors where I have found my myself wishing I too could conjure up words and sentences in the way she does - a mixture of awe and envy. So I bow down to this sorceress of childrens literature and encourage all parents of children to seek out her work or at least encourage their children to seek out the work of authors with a knack, and not just a will, for writing. And then when I was trying to find a line from one of her books I particularly appreciated I found this quote of hers and appreciated her all the more "People can say what they like about the eternal verities, love and truth and so on, but nothing's as eternal as the dishes."

Here are the first two versus of her poem Bubble Trouble to get you started:

Little Mabel blew a bubble and it caused a lot of trouble...
Such a lot of bubble trouble in a bobble-bobble way.
For it broke away fromMabel and it bobbed across the table,
Where it bobbled over Baby, and it wafted him away.

The baby didn't quibble. He began to smile and dribble,
For he liked the wobble-wobble of the bubble in the air.
But Mabel ran for cover as the bubble bobbed above her,
And she shouted for her Mother who was putting up her hair.