What do you think are the best recently released kids books

Ingo series by Helen Dunmore (four books) Dd is reading it and thoroughly enjoying it.

Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines series is brilliant

He's now writing a prequel series which is just as good

It's a fantastically well-realised world which is beautifully written - the kind of book which can be enjoyed by adults as well as older children/teens

If your dd is on the mature side then another good trilogy is Uglies/Pretties/Specials trio by scott westerfield.

The basic story is of a dystopian future society where at the age of 16 everybody gets "prettified", turning them
Into a plastic surgeried party obsessive (and thus stopping them from harbouring desires to actually run stuff/revolt). There's no sex in it, though a few kisses in the my-first-boyfriend vein. The protagonist starts off "ugly" and runs away from the operation... Sort of...

Well worth a look if you think they can cope with the subject matter.

I second (or third) the Skullduggery Pleasant stories. Yes they have Vampires and Zombies but not in an angsty an intense way. They also have amazing, strong, kick ass female characters.

DS loved the Wimpy Kid books.

Also Jiggy McCue. Really funny, down to earth stuff.

"Frozen in Time" by Ali Sparkes is very good.
The "Tom Trueheart" books by Ian Beck are great for the younger end of the age range.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is good. I think there are about 15 of them, my dd1 really enjoyed them

My sisters a vampire is a favourite of my 11 yr old girl but it is funny not depressing and there are several in the series to follow. My girls also loved Mallory Towers - not very PC but hey ho. Also, Mallory Blackman noughts and crosses trilogy. They also have enjoyed classics which are worth re-visiting like Golden Compass and walkabout.

all three of the books by david walliams
Mr Stink
Billionaire boy
boy in a red dress

they are good for boys or girls this age

Might be too young for 9 - 12s but the Mr Gum books are hilariously funny (for little boys anyway)

Guantanamo Boy was good, but it did feel like I was being taught iyswim. That said, I learnt a lot from reading it!

And another shout for Jaclyn Moriarty- refreshing, funny, bit teenagery for 9 year olds, but still suitable.

• irresistible

Starseeker- Tim Bowler

The Molly Moon books seem good.
There's always Judy Blume and the irrestistible Fudge :o

The Thief Lord- Cornelia Funke
The Alice books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Janni Howker
Valley of Secrets (quite long but fantastic- lots of descriptions but it's not boring) by Charmiane Hussey

Personally I think the treasures are the older books- Noel Streatfield, Enid Blyton, Louisa May Alcott, Beverly Cleary, Anne Fine etc...

For older children, I'm currently reading The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. It's a 4 parter with a prequel (The Infernal Devices 1) and it's rather sparkly! I'm also a huge fan of Cornelia Funke and Neil Gaiman. My main problem is that my dd (10) doesn't share my views. She's just finished Mallory Towers, doesn't like St Claires so much, so is just reading whatever she can lay her hands on right now.

I read the Higson books and concur. They are great, gruesome, but great...but definietly not for the fainthearted and certainly not great for parents to read. You constantly have to think, this could never happen, or you'd be paralysed by fear.

DD is 10 yo and has recently loved :

Skellig - David Almond
The Alchemeisters Apprentice - can't recall author
Unhooking the Moon - loved this to death!!!

Another vote for Twighlight Robbery - it's a great romp (or if she fancies a modern-set story instead, there's a book called Verdegris Deep also by Frances Hardinge which might be worth starting with).

Skullduggery pleaseant is fun but does have vampires (!) and Mages and stuff, so if she's not into vamp/werewolf/zombie stuff it might not be for her.

Ds (8) has loved the How to Train your Dragon series

I would second the vote for the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness, I just finished these and my Mum is now devouring them (we are both big fans of "children's" books) - these might suit slightly older age than 12 but utterly brilliant, gripping and full of real ethical dilemmas and moral choices in difficult situations - the kind of thing that makes you think about what you would do and how people behave - excellent stuff.

Another vote for the Windsinger trilogy too, and also another trilogy by William Nicholson, the Noble Warriors trilogy.

Another fantastic series of books is the Tales of the Otori series by Lian Hearn, set in a world similar to ancient Japan - brilliant, first one is called Across a Nightingale Floor. Love, sneaky political moves, full on semi-supernatural Ninja skills - I loved these.

I also liked all the Michelle Paver series, Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, and Garth Nix Sabriel/Liriel/Abhorsen are fantastic - there is a lot of great stuff about :-)

I'll investigate her other stuff for now. Thanks for the recommendation.

Inside is probably her grittiest book. Unfortunately the issues it deals with are close to reality for the kids I teach - we use it in English and PSHE. Her other books are a lot tamer, especially the Time Travelling Cat series, and get great reviews on Amazon.

That looks terrifying! Not sure my boys would enjoy that at all.

The boys I teach, reluctant readers in their early teens, were all gripped by 'Inside' by Julia Jarman ( www.amazon.co.uk/Inside-Julia-Jarman/dp/1842709771/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306604700&sr=1-6 ) , set in a young offenders unit. They also enjoyed 'Hangman' and 'Ghost Writer' by the same author. Her Time Travelling Cat series is also worth a look.