0-5 years
The King of Space
Jonny Duddle
9781848772267
£12.99
Duddle's already found a place in our hearts with his marvellous picture books The Pirate Cruncher and The Pirates Next Door. Evidently a man who knows exactly what his young readers want, this time he's blasting off into a far-flung corner of the cosmos.
There we find young Max, who lives on a moog farm with his parents and attends Mini Galactic Citizen school. But Max isn't content with his lot, and hatches a plan to conquer the whole space with the assistance of some dung-spurting giant robots. Wherever you go, it seems, little boys always want the same things. But thankfully there are those that will stand in the way of Rex's schemes: not least Princess Kooki, and his Mum.
This is enormous fun, and what really marks it out as special is Duddle's painted artwork. It's gorgeous, bursting at the seams with character, detail and hidden jokes. It conjures an entire world of robots, aliens and spaceships in which to get lost – and which self-respecting pre-schooler would want anythng else?
5-9 years
Arthur & the Earthworms
Johanne Mercier
9781907912177
￡4.99
Arthur is bright, inquisitive and seven. He likes nothing more than visiting his beloved grandparents out in the country, where adventures usually ensue. This time out, when feeding his pet duck, Arthur is inspired to become a worm salesman. Like you do. One order for 450 earthworms later, and with his grandparents pitching in, Arthur's business idea seems to have acquired momentum. As you'd expected, though, it's not quite that straightforward.
Author Johanne Mercier lives in Quebec, and her Arthur tales, of which this is the second, are translated from the original French. Complete with zippy illustrations and plenty of them, the text's broken up into easily-digestible chapters, with a brief page count that won't tax early readers. The characters are certainly quirky, but never tiresomely wacky: the humour, of which there is plenty, is nice and dry. It's very much gentle, unfanciful stuff, with the emphasis on fun and family. And ducks, obviously.
9-12 years
After Tomorrow
Gillian Cross
9780192756268
￡6.99
You can't move for dystopian novels for young adults at the minute – a dystopian prospect in itself, really – but this is a cut above. It takes a simple, thought-provoking premise and brings it to uncomfortably vivid life. It all hinges on 'Armageddon Monday': not a nuclear attack, but rather the day when all Britain's major banks collapse. Suddenly the pound is worthless, and chaos descends. Like the rest of the population, our hero Matt and his family are left fighting for survival, and struggling to eat. Their one hope is too flee the country through the Channel Tunnel, but it's a hazardous undertaking. Even then they discover that life in a French refugee camp is no easier.
This is another fine entry in the bibliography of long-established children's author Gillian Cross - who readers of a certain vintage may remember for The Demon Headmaster. Given its nature, this could so easily tip over into being worthy and over-complex. Instead it's used as the basis for an gripping adventure story. And a worryingly plausible one at that – which makes it all the more effective. But in the tradition of great children's novels set in World War II, for example – The Silver Sword, The Machine-Gunners - this is principally a story about likeable characters in peril, with its rather more grown-up aspects acting as a dramatic, quietly instructive backdrop. It's taut, thrilling stuff, rather than downright nasty. The scope of Cross' imagination will have readers rooting for Matt and his family.
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