This is a story about a girl who gets sick and while she is getting better does some drawings. She finds that her pencil is magic. Whatever she draws with the pencil she dreams about that night. This sounds like fun but you have to be careful what you draw! She dreams about a house in a lonely place and there is a boy inside who is also sick. She draws things to cheer him up — a bike, food, games — but she also draws some strange monsters — like big stones with eyes — which are all around the house, watching. These are very scary and they have to escape from the house. The book is quite frightening in places. Benedict Cottrell Boyce

THE PRINCESS BRIDE
By William Goldman
Ballantine, £6.99

Princess Buttercup is the most beautiful girl in the world. She gets kidnapped by some bad men and then rescued by the Dread Pirate Roberts. But he’s not a pirate and the bad men are not all bad. In the introduction to this book the writer says it has “fencing, fighting, torture, poison, true love, hate, revenge, giants . . . snakes, spiders . . . pain, death”. And it has! It has also got fantastic things like the Cliffs of Insanity and Rodents of Unusual Size. There is a great sword fight and brilliant climbing in it. The only bit I didn’t like was the introduction because I wanted to get on with the story. It’s very funny and very exciting. Benedict Cottrell Boyce

ASSASSIN
By Grace Cavendish
Doubleday, £6.99

Lady Grace Cavendish is a maid of honour at the Queen’s court. She enjoys her work and is quite happy. She has finally chosen the man she will marry, but after the celebrations have finished one of her suitors is found dead and her husband is accused. It’s up to Grace to solve the mystery of the murder and save her husband from death. The book truly catches the feel of the royal court and the unpredictable plot leads the reader on many wild goose chases. I recommend it to those who do not like to wait for things to happen. But at points the author (who is really called Patricia Finney) cuts the chase short, which made me feel rushed. Vicky Munro

MIGHTY FIZZ CHILLA
By Philip Ridley
Puffin, £5.99

A shark’s head, a unicorn’s horn, a tiger’s body, two swan’s wings and five octopus tentacles: these are the ingredients you need to make the Mighty Fizz Chilla. Milo Kick is a boy gone bad. But when his mother sends him away to the castle hotel where she grew up, he finds himself hurtling into several different stories which finally all join together to reveal the secret of his past, and fix him once and for all. Philip Ridley catches the reader’s attention with unexpected turns, but the multiple stories can sometimes confuse you. I would recommend this book to anybody who loves fantasy and does not mind the odd bit of romantic kissing. Vicky Munro

THE SODDIT
By A. R. R. R. Roberts
Gollancz, £5.99

The Soddit, Bingo Grabbings, sat contentedly in his hole, looking at his lovely blue door and the lovely blue floor tiles with the lovely cheesy blue mould growing in the rivets . . . Yes, this is a spoof of The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. Gandalf, the ultimate wizard, has become the senile and hard-of-hearing Gandef. And the legendary hairy toes of the Hobbits have become a genetic legacy of inadequate chiropody. You follow the reluctant hero Bingo through his bizarre adventure, culminating in a lethargic battle with a puppy dog dragon. Although this book targets a younger reader the humour is sharp enough to be enjoyed by any age group. Joseph Johnson

MASTER OF MURDER
By Christopher Pike
Hodder, £5.99

Marvin Summers has a dual personality. He is both a normal teenage boy and a multimillionaire author, who writes under the pen name Mack Slate. Marvin has recently rekindled his relationship with the love of his life Shelly Quade. She is depressed at the death of an ex-boyfriend and asks Marvin to investigate. The killer is finally unmasked after a series of fascinating twists and turns during which Marvin uses all his literary experience from his detective stories. This is an enthralling book that once you pick up you can’t put down. I particularly enjoyed the culmination of the hunt for the killer which came as a satisfying surprise. Joseph Johnson

MY COUSIN RACHEL
By Daphne du Maurier
Virago, £6.99

This book is a psychological thriller and romance set in atmospheric and mysterious Cornwall. The narrator is Philip Ashley, who is brought up by his older cousin Ambrose without society or women. Their ordered life is destroyed when Ambrose travels to Italy and marries the beautiful widow Rachel. Soon Ambrose is dead. Rachel arrives in Cornwall and Philip is determined to hate her, suspecting she had a hand in his death. However, he is quickly besotted with her. The question mark that hangs over Rachel is this: is she good, or evil? Is she, in fact, a murderer? This is a sinister and exciting story, which ends with a breathtaking twist. Catherine Tighe

I CAPTURE THE CASTLE
By Dodie Smith
Red Fox, £5.99

Seventeen-year-old Cassandra lives a life of genteel poverty in a derelict castle in 1930s England. Her eccentric family includes her affected sister, her schoolboy brother, and her stepmother Topaz, who enjoys a good naked romp around the grounds. When two American brothers arrive to take possession of nearby Scoatney Hall, a plan is hatched to snare one of them for Rose, in an attempt to improve the family fortunes. The story is told as a journal, and starts with the clever and spirited Cassandra writing it with her feet in the kitchen sink. The book is entertaining, witty and romantic, and the characters stay with you long after the last page. Catherine Tighe

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