The Haunting

by Margaret Mahy

Book Overview

Margaret Mahy delivers another Carnegie Medal-winning book with a page-turning and frightening tale of the supernatural. Shy Barney Palmer has made an eerie discovery: in each generation of his family one person is a magician, or psychic. Is he the gifted--or cursed--one this time?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440404088
• ISBN13: 9780440404088
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Yearling Books
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.1" x 7.5"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Words, Detailis, and Families

Mahy's characters so individual that almost every word they say elicits an affectionate smile and a thrill of rightness, a fond certainty that that is *just* what he or she would say even though you could never have produced the sentence yourself. Barny and his family are smart, witty, and generally enjoy bickering with each other in that friendly way happy families have. Mahy's writing is wonderful, her dialogue brilliant, her descriptions evocative and imaginative, the pattern of her syllables satisfying and energetic in the mouth or the ears. This would make a wonderful read-aloud book but I have to put in a few words for the cassette. The cassette is amazing. Many readers stretch their vocal ranges, trying to give each character a distinctive "voice." Often this interferes with the flow of the text, forcing the reader to speak in ways which sound both uncomfortable and unnatural and masking the author's talents in distinguishing her characters through their choices of words and syntax. Others take a steady tone which seems detached from the text. This tape does neither. Richard Michley is a superb reader who responds perfectly to the rhythms of each character's speech without getting in their way showing off his own vocal control. He becomes a perfect medium for the story and its characters. The story itself is fascinating. It's a bit scary in places but never superfluously so and the fears it presents are rooted in and comment on the fear of real children in real families even while the fantasy heightens and brings them out. It is a story about one generation of a family and what it and its members do with the pain and madness left over from a past they weren't part of. It is a story about defining one's self as part of a family even while you learn about yourself as an individual. Barny, our protagonist, finds himself haunted. Ghosts speak to him, visions present themselves on his eye-lids, a different, fierce being looks out of his eyes, endangering the life that "had just settled down to be the sort of life he was enjoying, and did not want to change for anything a ghost could offer him." As the haunting continues, he begins to realize that he is afraid not of his mysterious great uncle Cole, who is organizing the haunting "but of his need and purpose," a need that drives him to extremes to redefine Barny's life in order to explain and validate his own. Afraid of upsetting the balance of his family, Barny does little about it, only telling one of his sisters after extreme provocation and cajoling. It is this sister who sets out to uncover the mystery. This is a fantasy story, a story of magic, but for Tabitha learning the source of her brother's troubles isn't a matter of crystal balls or epic quests but of "ask[ing] questions and find[ing] out things," of worrying over whether or not to break "her double-promise," visiting her relations, and worrying if she'll be able to walk her little brother home from school. And it is these details

Get children this book.

This book is truly terrific. I love most of Margaret Mahy's books dearly, including this one, and this is the only one I've read that is clearly "Children's" and not "YA". Of wonderful magical Children's books such as the Green Knowe series, Grimbold's Other World, E. Nesbit's works, and The Ordinary Princess, this is one of the few set in a fairly recent time and ordinary (seemingly) family. It is not diminished as great kids' fantasy by a setting far less dated and remote than, say, that of the Dark is Rising series, or Alan Garner's books. After reading many of these works and growing up a bit, a young person could go on to read Aliens in the Family, The Changeover, and The Tricksters, these three in my opinion the best of her YA fantasies. Get your favorite youngun started now with this book or read it and get hooked yourself on Margaret Mahy!

Someone Was Coming For Him . . .

"Barnaby is dead! I'm going to be very lonely." When a ghost appears to young Barney and speaks these words he's terrified. Barney's always been a little different, but what can the eerie voice that haunts him want? It's up to Barney and his big sister, Tabitha to find out what's happening. Something, or someone is coming to fetch Barney--and its getting closer each day. Tabitha is about to discover that her ordinary family . . . is not so ordinary after all. Mahy has a way of weaving supernatural elements into the ordinary everyday world and allowing the reader to experience both in a fascinating tapestry. The subtle, but powerful magic that takes over the story. The mysterious past of a long-lost relative become intriguing elements as the plot unwinds. But what gives this book its power is the element of family and the varied and often challenging relationships that exist.Various family members act and interact with each other in different ways, with surprising undercurrents and support structures. It's interesting to see how these peices all fit together--Mahy doesn't present readers with a perfect family, but a family with its ordinary flaws . . . and one very extraordinary, tantalizing secret. This book will probably appeal most to the sensitive reader who enjoys subtlety and emotional development vs. direct action and adventure. Children feeling out of place, whether in their family or in society, may identify strongly with this story and gain an inkling of their own identity. This might be for the child who is looking for something more sophisticated than Harry Potter, yet enjoys the aspect of fantasy and magic in a contemporary setting.This book was my introduction to Margaret Mahy. The author has written a number of books that explore paranormal and supernatural elements. If you enjoy this book, please check out some of her other titles, I don't think you'll be disappointed.^_^ Happy Reading!--shanshad

The Weird and Mysterious Family.

The title of the book is "The Haunting." Margaret Mahy is the author and illistrater of the book. If I had mto give a shot summary of the book, this is what it would be:There is a family named the Palmer family .There is a boy named Barnaby who thinks he is dead because there is a voice or ghost that tells him ,but6 it really is his great great uncle who died and he also has the same name.His family also has many powers. that is why I say they are weird or cool.

My favourite Mahy novel

This book should never be out of print