Margaret Mahy's bestselling classic, The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate, is reimagined with delightfully whimsical illustrations from Emma Collicott, the winner of the 2025 Margaret Mahy Illustration Prize.

Sam lives an ordinary life in a big city far away from the ocean with his mum. He wears an ordinary brown suit every day to his ordinary job in an ordinary office. But his mum is not ordinary at all - she is a pirate, and she wants to see the sea again.

Wonderfully fun and beautifully illustrated, this swashbuckling story about finding adventure and following your dreams is a timeless favourite.

Other Margaret Mahy Illustration Prize titles include:

The Boy with Two Shadows with art by Sarah Greig
The Boy Who Made Things Up with art by Lily Emo
There's a King in the Cupboard with art by Minrui Yang
The Witch in the Cherry Tree with art by Jessica Twohill
17 Kings and 42 Elephants with art by Alba Gil Celdrán
The Great White Man-Eating Shark with art by Herb MacDonald.