AGES 8-12:HERE'S A RUCKSACKFUL of rewarding reading from overseas (and outer space) that will stretch boundaries for young readers, writes Paddy O'Doherty.
Frank Cottrell Boyce's new novel, Cosmic (Macmillan, £9.99), is eagerly awaited by anyone who enjoyed his hilarious debut children's novel, Millions (2004), which won the Carnegie Medal that year and was later made into a movie of the same name.
His second novel, Framed (2005), was shortlisted for both the Whitbread and Carnegie. Cottrell Boyce, whose earlier screenwriting credits include episodes of Coronation Street and Eastenders, gets family life spot-on and the view from the perspective of his young protagonists can be very funny.
Liam Digby is tall. Very tall. And he has managed to give the impression he was more 30-ish than 13-ish and is now on the rocket Infinite Possibility.
He said he was going to the Lakeland Activity Centre with the school, but he's more sort of in space? He knows he's got some explaining to do . . . but meanwhile he's having a gravity-free ball. This is probably the funniest holiday read you'll find all summer.
Michael Morpurgo, Children's Laureate in Britain 2003-5, animal lover and writer of magnificent novels for children (Private Peaceful (2003) and Alone on a Wide, Wide Sea (2006) to name just two) has written a moving story about the life of an incredible dog in his new novel Born to Run (HarperCollins £5.99).
It's an emotional rollercoaster, which starts with young Patrick leaping into the canal on his way to school to rescue a sackful of puppies. This story follows the life of a greyhound through various owners, pet-names and adventures, from being a well-loved pet, to kidnapping and cruelty, to running away and fending for himself on the streets.
Morpurgo's gentle yet powerful writing allows the reader to see and appreciate the life of this beautiful dog (the third fastest animal on earth!).
Born to Run is illustrated every few pages with wonderful action-packed pen and ink drawings by Michael Foreman, which dramatise and break up the text, making this an attractive book for the younger reader. It also features 16 pages of illustrated "extra bits" at the back: info about dogs and animal charities, lists of famous dogs, quizzes, etc.
And there's something for cat lovers too, although for a slightly older age group. Jon Blake's new novel, The Last Free Cat (Hodder, £5.99), is set a couple of generations into the future; a time when cat flu has meant that cat breeding is strictly controlled and cats are only for the rich in their private estates.
When Jade finds a beautiful cat in her garden, she can't resist taking her in. The serious consequences force Jade and her friend Kris to challenge the authorities and take action. This interesting novel about rules, structures, authority, and freedom is an inspiring read that will open young readers' eyes to many aspects of our world that we take for granted.
Blake's descriptions of the cat, Feela, her cat world, and Jade's bond with her, are powerful and affecting. (Adult readers might be reminded of Jennie by Paul Gallico.)
An unlikely friendship between a grieving, angry, nine-year-old boy and an eccentric 13-year-old girl is at the heart of Jerry Spinelli's new novel, Eggs (Orchard Books, £5.99).
David's Mum died in a freak accident the previous spring and he has been sent to live with his Gran while his Dad copes with work hundreds of miles away.
When he meets Primrose, a girl with no Dad and a zany, fortune-telling mother, he finds someone he can talk to and an unusual friendship develops.
This is a sensitive novel about friendship, loss and recovery. Spinelli, a Newbery Medal-winning author for his novel Maniac Magee (1991), writes novels about adolescence that are funny, sad, off-beat and unputdownable. His novel Milkweed (2003), about an orphaned boy living in Poland during the Holocaust, is also highly recommended.
Another American writer, EL Konigsburg, the only author to win a Newbery Medal and honour award in the same year, in 1968, who has written many great novels since, has a welcome new book on the shelves entitled The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World (Walker Books, £5.99).
For mature young readers (challenging vocabulary rather than unsuitable content), this novel is a horizon-expanding look into another culture and into the past. Amedeo Kaplan and his Mom have recently moved from New York to Florida.
He meets William Wilcox in his new school and the two boys find themselves working together after school to help sell the contents of the house of Amedeo's eccentric neighbour.
The elderly Mrs Zender "drove a pink Thunderbird convertible: stick shift, whitewall tires, and a car horn that pealed out the first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony".
Every item in the mansion seems to hold a story and the boys get caught up in one particular story about a picture and a secret dating back to Nazi Germany. This is superb writing and a great story in which the reader finds out some interesting facts about art, American social structures, wealth and about the horrors of the past and how our understanding of past events can illuminate the present.
Paddy O'Doherty is a freelance writer and editor. She is a former editor of Inis, the magazine of Children's Books Ireland and a CBI board member