The Girl with the Green Ear Author:Margaret Mahy These 9 stories were chosen from collections of Mahy's work published over the last 20 years. Ranging in tone from poignant to broadly humorous, they celebrate the "magic'' of nature's power in a mix of realism and fantasy. In "The Trees,'' Elizabeth grieves over the cutting down of her favorite tree; the title ... more »story features a girl who can hear plants talking. Hughes's ink drawings include not only her familiar sturdy, rumpled children, but also a dragon, an enchanted merry-go-round, and a man-eating houseplant. On the minus side, the reading level varies from story to story, and the many adult characters may not be interesting to children. Among the pluses are, of course, Mahy's sure command of language and her fine hand with humor.« less