Age 8-10

The actor Ian Ogilvy’s debut novel shows that he has a knack for writing for children. His story, which has something of Lemony Snicket and Harry Potter about it, involves Measle, an orphan boy in the care of a cruel guardian. This character, a long thin streak of misery constantly overshadowed by his own personal rain-cloud, is obsessed with the detailed train set he has built in his attic. When Measle steps out of line one day, his guardian, who turns out to have some unpleasant magical powers, shrinks him to the size of the figures in the train set. Thus begins an adventure in which Measle finds friends, braves dangers, wreaks vengeance and discovers a happy ending. Ogilvy’s characters are to some extent familiar types — the plucky old lady, the ineffectual aristocrat, and the brave little girl, for instance — but the simplicity of the storytelling is a strength, and the world the book imagines has a satisfying logic of its own. This is the kind of old-fashioned tale in which youngsters triumph by being courageous and clever, most grown-ups are kindly and everything works out well. And there’s always a place in children’s reading for that.

(OUP £8.99)

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