After a Gruffalo or a Tyrannosaurus, what could be more deliciously scary for
3+ than Julia Donaldson’s The Troll (Macmillan, £10.99 Buy
this book)? The stupid baddie from The Three Billy-Goats Gruff keeps
lurking under bridges, outwitted by a spider, a mouse and a rabbit until
colliding with some pirates and their chest of gold. The rhythm, jokes and
David Roberts’s scowling pirate pictures are irresistible.
Carol Ann Duffy has long had a parallel career as the author of unusual
picture-book tales, and The Tear Thief (Barefoot Books, £10.99 Buy
this book) is one of her loveliest. The Tear Thief, “as old as joy and
sorrow” collects children’s tears — whether caused by onions, temper
tantrums, pain or humiliation. A glorious book, with haunting pictures to
match, it’s a jewel in our new Poet Laureate’s crown.
For pure magic try The Storyteller’s Secrets (5+) by Tony Mitton (David
Fickling, £12.99 Buy
this book), with pictures by Peter Bailey. Mitton has a poet’s ear for
vigour and euphony and Bailey has absorbed the best of Edward Ardizzone and
Jan Pienkowski. Old stories about magic woods, poor pedlars, golden treasure
and talking seals are made fresh by dramatic verse and a sense of fun.
Josh Lacey’s new Misfitz Mysteries (Scholastic, £5.99 Buy
this book), which start with The One that Got Away, are for children of
8+ who care passionately about animals. The comedy and tension begin
immediately, with our hero falling asleep while trying to catch an unusual
thief. Ben’s family includes a dizzying number of stepbrothers and sisters,
and their adventures during a summer holiday in the country involve
trespassing on a sinister estate, captive monkeys and all the features that
those who love Enid Blyton will fall on with glee, especially because it’s
much better written.
Animal-lovers of 8+ also have a treat in store in August when the last of
Lauren St John’s series about Martine, the girl who can communicate with
animals, reappears for her final African adventure. The Elephant’s Tale
(Orion, £9.99 Buy
this book) is worth looking out for as part of an atmospheric series of
magical thrillers.
Katherine Langrish’s Troll trilogy was one of the highlights of the recent
past. Dark Angels (HarperCollins, £6.99 Buy
this book) is a stand-alone book for 9+, set in the troubled time of
Richard the Lionheart. Wolf is a novice monk who goes on the run. Lost on
the sinister Devil’s Edge, he is picked up by a grieving knight, Lord Hugo,
who takes him to his haunted castle.
Luckily Wolf has not only his own growing courage to help him but also the
knight’s spiky daughter, Nest — and a helpful house-hob. Langrish is a
first-rate storyteller who deftly weaves into her tales vivid,
well-researched domestic detail, real folklore and emotional intelligence.
An adventure that may appeal to Swallows and Amazons fans as well as
supernaturalists is Chris Speyer’s debut, Devil’s Rock (Bloomsbury, £6.99 Buy
this book). Zaki finds an ancient bracelet and a skeleton in a lonely
cove, and before long the terrors of a new school and the break-up of his
parents’ marriage are dwindling beside those of trapped spirits. This
suspenseful sailing story is for 9+.
Many series reach their last instalment this summer — Caroline Lawrence’s
ever-popular Roman Mysteries makes its final bow with the death of Emperor
Titus in The Man From Pomegranate Street (Orion, £9.99 Buy
this book) and a wedding that will please anyone of 9+.
Fans of Joseph Delaney’s fantastic Wardstone Chronicles will need no urging to
buy the latest instalment. In The Spook’s Sacrifice (The Bodley Head, £9.99 Buy
this book) the action leaves The County, which Tom and his exorcist
master have long protected, for his mother’s native Greece. As we long
suspected, Tom’s Mam is a powerful lamia, and if Tom and Alice are to fight
not only the evil god Ordeen but also the Devil himself they need to ally
themselves with the witch clans. Gripping, moving and terrifying for anyone
of 10+.
Any child over 10 going to France will love the sequel to Sally Gardner’s The
Red Necklace, The Silver Blade (Orion, £9.99 £9.49), which follows the
aristocratic Sidonie, living in exile from the Terror while her Romany lover
Yann helps innocent French people to escape to England with magic, brio and
much daring. It features Yann’s nemesis, who lives in a catacomb of gilded
bones and is aided by a huge black dog with human eyes.
Patrick Ness killed off his hero Todd’s dog in his multi-award-winning debut,
The Knife of Never Letting Go. The frontier planet in which boys and men can
hear each other’s thoughts but not those of the opposite sex is rapidly
becoming a dictatorship, and full-scale war is clearly imminent. What is The
Ask and the Answer (Walker, £12.99 Buy
this book)? Told alternately in Todd’s voice and in that of Viola, the
girl he loves but is separated from by the repulsive Mayor Prentiss, it’s
overlong but original, suspenseful and violent as it describes genocide,
torture and resistance. For 12+.
The Witching Hour by Elizabeth Laird (Macmillan, £12.99 Buy
the book) is about a remote 17th-century Scottish community where Maggie
lives with her dangerously defiant grandmother, a witch, or wise woman. The
latter is doomed, and the two women are condemned to hang. How Maggie is
smuggled out of prison to join her father in his struggle against the King
is a tale told with drama, feeling and maturity. The last in N. M. Browne’s
Warriors trilogy, Warriors of Ethandun (Bloomsbury, £6.99 Buy
thjs book), has finally arrived after a six-year wait. One of the best
magical time-travel adventures yet written, its heroes Dan and Ursula are
implored by the bard Taliesin to return to the era of Alfred the Great
during his critical time marshalling forces against the Danes. Bloody
action, natural magic and blossoming romance between the teenagers make this
a treat for both sexes of 11+.
Those who love stories about real-life war will fall on two reissues with
delight. The first is the sequel to Noel Streatfeild’s Ballet Shoes, Theatre
Shoes (Jane Nissen, £7.99 Buy
this book). Three motherless children are sent to live with their
waspish grandmother and enter a theatrical dynasty and the famous school run
by Madame Fidolia. Just like the famous Fossil sisters they must submit to
learning dance, music and acting in war-torn London. The period details add
realism, comedy and charm, but Streatfeild’s personal knowledge of theatre
and her storytelling genius are made even more enjoyable by the inclusion of
a boy in the story. He, naturally, wants to become a sailor, not a thesp,
and his objections to performing make Theatre Shoes almost as amusing for
boys as for 8+ girls.
Eva Ibbotson’s romantic comedies have been reissued and are perfect for
stressed-out girls of 12+. Magic Flutes (Young Picador, £6.99 Buy
this book) is one of the best and funniest. It features an idealistic
Viennese princess in 1922 who has followed her passion for opera to work
backstage, incognito. Every Austrian aristocrat bankrupted by the Great War
is desperate to sell the family schloss, which is fortunate for the
fabulously rich but low-born English hero seeking to impress his snobbish
fiancée. The book’s eccentric cast of characters, wit and passion for music
make this a romance for teenagers who might want more than the last in
Louise Rennison’s raucously funny Confessions of Georgia Nicholson series,
Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? (HarperCollins, £10.99 Buy
this book).
If all this fiction is too much, Conn and David Iggulden’s thumping,
old-fashioned The Dangerous Book of Heroes (HarperCollins, £20 Buy
this book ) is just the ticket to real-life derring-do. Almost all their
heroes are men, and would be familiar to most Boy Scouts, but this
compendium is told in the direct-yet-detailed style that appeals to boys of
10+. British, Empire and Commonwealth all, our heroes’ actions and decisions
make fascinating reading and the authors pull no punches in describing
torture and obsession. A summer treat that will raise a gasp and a chuckle
long after the last grain of sand has fallen from its pages.
