Kids Book Club – July 2012

0-4 years

The Yoga Ogre

Peter Bently / Simon Rickerty

9781847389039

£5.99

The Yoga OgreSometimes picture-books can risk being formulaic: the same old parade of ingredients shuffled into a different order. But surely it's safe to say that no-one's ever written one about an ogre on a health kick before. His name's Ogden and he's a friendly sort, despite the lime-green complexion and massive bulk. In fact, it's the bulk that's the problem. One day, fed up with his rotund physique, Ogden embarks on a quest for the perfect activity to get him trim. He causes chaos around town trying out basketball, football, golf and hockey, thundering about town and accidentally destroying everything in sight. No prizes for guessing what he tries next. But there's nothing earnest or instructive here: it's a riot of bold, colourful illustrations allied to genuinely rib-tickling rhymes, and it's just tremendous fun.

4-6 years

Jack and the Baked Beanstalk

Colin Stimpson

9781848772151

£12.99

Jack And The Baked BeanstalkThe clue's in the title here: this is a fresh, irreverent modern take on the classic fairy tale. These days Jack and his mother run a ramshackle burger van, the fortunes of which take a severe knock when a new flyover is opened. Then Jack goes and blows their last remaining pennies on a can of beans. Unimpressed, his mum lobs it from the window, but from that can grows... well, you know the rest. There's enormous appeal here in playing fast and loose with the original source, peppering it with contemporary references. (The giant's fate – to become an out-sized celebrity chef – is something you might not see coming.) And most strikingly of all, the illustrations are a real knock-out: lavish, highly stylized yet almost photo-realistic, with a pleasingly retro 1930s feel. It's altogether gorgeous, and a very promising first book by Stimpson, formerly an art director for several major animation studios.

6-8 years

The Goblin and the Girl

Neil Irani / Park Yum

9781848860780

£6.99

The Goblin And The GirlSomething a little unusual, this. Although it's in picture-book format, it's most suitable for slightly older readers. The girl and the goblin are in fact one and the same. The poor (unnamed) girl lacks confidence and hates her own appearance. When she looks in the mirror, she sees only a hideous goblin. She hides herself away under a hat, but one windy day, the hat's whisked off, and she takes refuge in the forest. It takes her befriending a boy to see herself as others do – and to  feel happy about it. Obviously this is an especially  visual tale, and the super-stylish, muted, expressive illustrations work perfectly alongside the pared-down, lyrical text. The central message about self-esteem might be weighty, but the telling certainly isn't. It's clear, simply, tender and quietly rather magical.

9-12 years

Pop!

Catherine Bruton

£6.99

9781405261333

Pop!Bruton's debut novel We Can Be Heroes, about the long shadow cast by 9/11, won a whole host of awards last year. Now she's turned her attention to the world of the modern TV talent show, but from the switching perspectives of three cash-strapped teenagers. The ringleader is Elfie Baguley, whose mum has done a flit and whose dad is embroiled in an lengthy industrial strike. In league with her best friends, resourceful Elfie concocts a plan: to coach her gifted mate Agnes through winning reality TV contest Pop to the Top. Having seen enough of those shows herself, Elfie reckons she's worked out a dead-cert winning formula. What follows is the eventful tale of three young friends in extraordinary circumstances. Bruton's proving to be a writer who can take sometimes thorny contemporary issues and present them for young adult readers within an engrossing tale. It's fired by fine, rounded characters and moments of cracking high comedy as well as drama. At nearly 500 pages, it's a hefty book, but you're guaranteed a rollicking, satisfying read.