Tall tales and short stories for all ages
The best children's summer holiday reading from our children's editor Georgia Coleridge
PICTURE BOOKS
Technically, the most astonishing book for children is Gallop by Rufus Butler Seder (Workman, £9.99). A new technique called Scanimation (so clever that it is being patented) gives the illusion of movement, so as you open the pages horses seem to gallop and a monkey swings from vine to vine.
There is a thrillingly large and scary bite-mark in the cover of The Shark In The Dark by Peter Bently and Ben Cort (Macmillan, £10.99). 'His teeth are like knives and his eyes small and beady, he's big and he's mean and he's terribly greedy.' But, cleverly, the smaller fish outwit this villain.
Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems (Walker, £6.99) is an import from New York, a funky collage of black and white photographs and humorous illustrations, featuring the determined Trixie, her cuddly toy bunny and a massive tantrum.
I also loved the originality of Here Comes Frankie by Tim Hopgood (Macmillan, £10.99). At first, the sounds from Frankie's trumpet look like dirty dishwater and smell like pickled onions, but the more he plays, the more gloriously uplifting clouds of colour and pattern fill his house.
Martha In The Middle by Jan Fearnley (Walker, £10.99) is a reassuring take on sibling rivalry. Squashed between a sensible older sister and 'cutesy-wootsey' baby brother, Martha mouse feels invisible until she finds out how important being in the middle can be.
Books that make noises can be exasperating (over the years we've had telephones, fire engines and, most annoying of all, yapping dalmations), but Sounds Of The Wild Ocean by Maurice Pledger (Templar, £12.99) is a classy, ecological, pop-up with singing whales and peaceful, bubbling water.
EARLY READERS
Fans of Judy Moody will love Clementine by Sara Pennypacker (Hodder, £6.99), with its endearing heroine, bursting with spectacular ideas. Even when she cuts off her friend Margaret's hair and turns her own green, everything somehow turns out all right.
Polly Price's sparkly silver scrapbook My Totally Secret Diary On Stage In America by Dee Shulman (Doubleday, £5.99) is full of funny observations about adult foibles, as Polly accompanies her dippy actress mother on tour. Cressida Cowell's hilarious Viking sagas 'when men were men and women were sort of men and even some little babies had chest hair' are narrated by the puniest Viking of them all, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. A Hero's Guide To Deadly Dragons by Cressida Cowell (Hodder, £5.99) is a rollicking adventure of dragons, marauding tribesmen and a Hairy-Scary librarian.
There are more big beasts in Dino Egg by Charlie James (Bloomsbury, £5.99). When Bill Finn's breakfast egg changes colour, starts to shake and then hatches into a dinosaur, it is quite an adventure to keep his new toothy pet secret.
For reluctant readers, try pulling out a good old classic like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming (Puffin, £14.99), with illustrations by John Burningham. Fleming's style is instantly appealing (he was, of course, the creator of James Bond), proof once again that a really brilliant writer works for any age group.
If there were more inspiring books like Physics: Why Matter Matters by Simon Basher and Dan Green (Kingfisher, £6.99), there wouldn't be a national shortage of science teachers. Here, atomic particles like Quarks, Protons and Neutrinos are presented as superheroes — or supervillains (Alpha particles are big ugly bruisers apparently). I thought I couldn't be less interested in physics, but I loved this entertaining, quirky book..
I'm not interested in cars either, but Car Science by Richard Hammond (Dorling Kindersley, £14.99) is jam-packed with so many sensational pictures and gripping facts (courtesy of the co-presenter of Top Gear) about racing cars, record-breakers and even collapsible cars for small parking spaces that I couldn't have enjoyed it more.
OLDER READERS
There are some excellent fullthrottle adventures this summer. Percy Jackson's life is endlessly complicated because he is halfhuman, half-Greek god. In Battle Of The Labyrinth by Rick Riordan (Puffin, £9.99), ordinary cheerleaders called Kelli and Tammi turn out to be fanged Furies, and an old enemy is lurking deep under his summer camp.
I loved the brilliantly chilling premise of The Declaration by Gemma Malley (Bloomsbury, £6.99). Medicine has become so successful that no one ever gets old or dies any more, so there's a creepy, worldwide ban on children — and the heroine Anna is locked away.
Deeper by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams (Chicken House, £6.99) is the follow-up to Tunnels, last year's surprise hit, set in a dark and dangerous world miles underground. Still on the run, our heroes Will, Cas and Chester are hurtling towards the wild and lawless Deep Lands.
Vortex by Chris Ryan (Doubleday, £10.99) is a taut thriller with an edge of authenticity, having been written by an ex-SAS man.
When Ben and Annie go birdwatching near a military base, they uncover a shocking secret that has already destroyed minds and could destroy the world.
OFFBEAT BOOKS
Frank Cottrell Boyce is warm, funny and totally original, and Cosmic (Macmillan, £9.99) is his best book yet. Liam is a tall schoolboy, often mistaken for an adult, and by some mix-up he finds himself on a space trip. This is not a sci-fi adventure; rather, heartfelt musings about Liam's school and family.
With Tony Alone by Timothee de Fombelle (Walker, £9.99), imagine an even tinier version of The Borrowers, a race of people barely a millimetre high who live in the thrillingly large cracks and craters of a tree. This charming, imaginative book is printed entirely with green ink, and the cover folds out into a giant map of their world.
It's almost impossible to believe that Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery is 100 this year. The carrot-haired orphan is as fresh and impetuous as ever, and there is also a centenary prequel available, Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson (Puffin, £9.99).
Author of the recent film Stardust, Neil Gaiman's short stories in M Is For Magic (Bloomsbury, £6.99) are as clever, gothic and imaginative as you would expect, including a hard-boiled Raymond Chandler-style investigation of nursery crimes that made me laugh out loud.
