My Sister Jodie by Jacqueline Wilson
BBC, 4 CDs, £15.99 Buy the book here

What Katy Did by Laurel Lefkow
Naxos, 2 CDs, £10.99 Buy the book here

Hurricane Gold by Charlie Higson
Penguin, 3 CDs, £12.99 Buy the book here

Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman
Random House, 2 CDs, £12.99 Buy the book here

Some audiobooks suit girls, some suit boys - and some appeal equally to both. Jacqueline Wilson's My Sister Jodie is undeniably girlie, although Jodie herself is squarely in the tradition of such classic tomboy heroines as Jo March and Katy Carr.

Indeed, Wilson deftly weaves in references to Little Women and What Katy Did, as well as The Secret Garden in a book that echoes themes raised in all three: disability, sibling rivalry, acute shyness and sudden death. It works both a gripping story in itself and a pointer to such classics, and it is a real bonus to have Jacqueline Wilson herself reading it with determined panache.

Those who enjoy Jodie will turn with interest to Laurel Lefkow's spirited reading of Susan Coolidge's What Katy Did, not only because of the heroines' similarities, but because it opens such a vivid window into a domestic world that we have lost: full of aunts and cousins, innumerable siblings and clearly drawn moralities. Abridgement has meant a loss of detail, but has made the book work better for a modern audience.

Boys will lap up Hurricane Gold, the latest adventure of the young James Bond, especially since it is also extremely well read by its author, Charlie Higson. This time James is a long way from Eton and the Danger Society: convalescing in the Caribbean after the injuries sustained in his last adventure. Before long he is caught up with murderous burglars, a hurricane and a Mayan labyrinth of death. Girls will also enjoy his burgeoning romance with Precious, a spoilt brat who develops into a daredevil well suited to the embryonic 007.

The unabridged dramatisation of Philip Pullman's Once Upon a Time in the North is for everyone, old and young. Since it is an early adventure of the intrepid aeronaut Lee Scoresby, it has been produced in the same way as the Dark Materials trilogy was: with Pullman himself as narrator, and a star-studded cast handling the dialogue. Pullman has a remarkably compelling voice, and I half wish he had read the whole thing: the jumps from actor to actor take a little getting used to. But as the story gets into its stride, you begin to visualise it, and the varied voices work very well.

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