Two of her novels, The Haunting and The Changeover, have won the Carnegie Medal. She has also been awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award.
Works by Margaret Mahy with their own trope pages include:
Other works by Margaret Mahy provide examples of:
- After the End: Maddigan's Fantasia is set some time 'after the Great Chaos changed the shape of the world'. The Chaos itself is never described or hinted at, but the entire series is spent trying to ensure that the existing state of things doesn't get any worse.
- Alien Among Us: Aliens in the Family
- Circus Brat: The protagonist of Maddigan's Fantasia, Garland, is the daughter of the circus' Ringmaster.
- The Constant: In Aliens in the Family, there's an heirloom necklace that shows up in every time period the protagonist visits.
- Crying a River: In The Seven Chinese Brothers, one of the septuplets has the ability to cry an ocean of tears if he gets into despair.
- A Dog Named "Cat": In The Chewing Gum Mystery and Other Stories, one of the other stories involves a bird whose owner's nephew wants to name Fernando Eagle, despite the bird being a made-up species, not an eagle. Eventually, however, this name gets dropped in favour of Norton, since the aunt wanted to honour her dead cousin Norton.
- Double-Meaning Title: The children in Aliens in the Family are learning to get along with a new step-father and step-sister — and also sheltering an actual alien.
- Evil Is Deathly Cold: "The Devil and the Corner Grocer" (in The Chewing-Gum Rescue and Other Stories) has the grocer feel a chill whenever the villain walks into the shop. At the climax, the demon manifests without his disguise, and it's freezing — until the grocer calls on the angel who's also been appearing throughout the story, who turns up with a much more convivial temperature.
- Friendly Pirate: The Great Piratical Rambustification, The Pirates' Mixed-Up Voyage
- Hellish Pupils: The Hot Witch in Alchemy has eyes that initially appear normal, but turn yellow and catlike when examined closely. Somewhat surprisingly, she's a good guy—the antagonist is even creepier.
- Hot Librarian: Played for Laughs with Miss Laburnum from The Librarian and the Robbers.
- I Just Write the Thing: The entire point of "A Villain's Night Out."
- Immune to Fire: In The Seven Chinese Brothers, one of the septuplets is impervious to getting burned by fire (although he feels a little cold from time to time).
- Made of Iron: In The Seven Chinese Brothers, one of the septuplets has bones of iron that won't break, buckle, or bend.
- Meaningful Name: Bond, the protagonist of Aliens in the Family, becomes the catalyst that strengthens the bonds between his new friends. It's also, as one of them remarks (to his bemusement, as he's ignorant of Earth pop culture), an appropriate name for a man who is on a dangerous secret mission.
- Organ Theft: The main villains of Operation Terror take homeless people off the streets and sell their organs to desperate wealthy people. Unfortunately for them, a Vengeful Ghost has a few complaints to file.
- A Pirate 400 Years Too Late: The Pirates' Mixed-Up Voyage
- Rubber Man: In The Seven Chinese Brothers, one of the septuplets has the ability to stretch his body at a tall distance as if it were rubber.
- Stranger in a Strange School: The Blood-and-Thunder Adventure on Hurricane Peak
- Super-Senses: In The Seven Chinese Brothers, one of the septuplets has the ability to see far away, while the other has Super-Hearing from long distance.
- Super-Strength: In The Seven Chinese Brothers, one of the septuplets has the ability to lift up heavy bricks and set them back down without any trouble or exhaustion.
