What do you think are the best recently released kids books

Oh and I also LOVED Gaiman's The Graveyard book and Coraline is brilliant too.

I just read the new Charlie Higson books (The Enemy and The Dead, not sure when the third one is out). They are totally brilliant but utterly gruesome, a kind of 28 Days Later for teens. Not for the faint-hearted but, possibly, harder to read as a parent as they're about a post-apocolyptic world where everyone over the age of 14 has died/ turned into zombies so full of lots of truly horrid things that you wouldn't want to happen to your own kids!

I also adore Jaclyn Moriarty's books, they're kind of more intelligent Jaqueline Wilson chicklet-lit. They're not very recent though. And anything by Meg Rossoff.

Georgia Byng's Molly Moody books
Any book by Jane Johnson

DTD1 currently on Rick Riordan
DTD2 gone retro, currently on seventh of the Swallows and Amazons series.
Both recently enjoyed Ali Sparkes, Neil Gaiman and Derek Landy.
Narnia gets returned to regularly, also 101 Dalmations (the proper novel by Dodie Smith, not the awful Disney), and Watership Down have both been read again. They're 12 years old. They both love Cornelia Funke too.

My dgd [a precocious reader]loved Cornelia Funke's Inkheart trilogy
She is currently reading Diana Wynne Jones Chrestomanci books [A Charmed Life is the first]They are far from new but may be undiscovered yet.

IMO I feel that Paul Hoffman is not really suitable for a 9-12/very young teen - good though the books undoubtedly are.

William Nicholson's Windsinger trilogy; Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (and the rest of the series); anything by Tim Bowler - especially Riverboy. None are that new but all brilliant.

Frank Cotrell Boyce Millions and Cosmic.
Hoot by Louis Sachar

Those dreadful Robert Muchmore books - my DS calls these his guilty pleasure.

Marcus Sedgwick My Swordhand is Singing is brilliant but does have a loose vampire theme. My DS doesn't like vampire stories but devoured this one. His other non-vampire books are all good too.

Not new but anything by Geraldine McCaughrean is good.

Everything comes in Trilogies at the moment. Some really successful trilogies targetted at that age group, but perhaps for a more intelligent audience than Twilight (or slightly older);

1. Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking (post-apocolyptic sci-fi about creating a new society): www.amazon.co.uk/Knife-Never-Letting-Walking-ebook/dp/B0047BIUUU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1306526490&sr=8-3

1. The Hunger Games by Suzamme Collins (post-apocalyptic olympics and ending up creating a new society): www.amazon.co.uk/Hunger-Games-Suzanne-Collins/dp/1407109081/ref=sr_1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306526535&sr=1-1-catcorr

1. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (a different world with magic- probably the cleverest and most questioning of the three as focusses on setting up a new society and religion. This would be my recommendation)

1. Paul Hoffman's latest trilogy (only two books are out so far: The Left Hand of God and The Last Four Things): www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_12?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=paul+hoffman&sprefix=paul+hoffman#/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=paul+hoffman&rh=n%3A266239%2Ck%3Apaul+hoffman

I would recommend all of the above for a young teenage audience, or older. They all feature little or no sex (actually, that's only Hunger Games)- far less than Twilight- and I think they're all far cleverer. Sorry about the dark, post-apocolyptic/ religious themes, but that's what has been fashionable in the past couple of years.

My sister lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher (not Pritcher!)

enid blyton is still a favourite

enid blyton is still a favourite

It's a few years old but how about un-lun-dun by China Mieville? www.amazon.co.uk/Lun-Dun-China-Mieville/dp/0330453475

I second Shadow by Michael Morpurgo. But the absolutely best book that I have read this year is "My Sister lives on the Mantelpiece" by Annabel Pritcher. It is a stunning debut novel - funny and incredibly moving. I was very pleased to see it got a very good review in the Guardian last weekend.

My DD is 10 and a big reader - here's what she would add:

The Mysterious Benedict Society-Trenton Lee Stewart
Casson family series-Hilary McKay
Skullduggery Pleasant series-Derek Landy
Inkheart triology-Cornelia Funke
Holes-Louis Sachar

Some of these aren't new, but they're really good.

I was going to say Twilight Robbery :) I think its possibly even better than Fly by Night (I did let dd read it first, honest . . .)

There are two new Rick Riordan series being released alternately - one is Percy Jackson universe and one isn't exactly. Neither are quite as good as the original PJ books but they're OK.

And Frances Hardinge has just released Twilight Robbery, which is a sequel to Fly By Night (and has nothing to do with Twilight, or vampires).

Deeper than Blue, and others by Jill Hucklesby
Artichoke hearts by Sita Brahmachari
The Great Cat Conspiracy - Katie Davies
Crowfield Curse, and Crowfield Demon by Pat Walsh
Higher Institute of Villainous Education - Mark Walden
City of Thieves - Ellen Renner

I've read all of these fairly recently - well worth it!

Michael Morpurgo - Shadow

My DC adored it recently!

Mr Stink.

Sorry, can't remember who it's by.

marking my place to come back and build DS's Amazon wish list up a bit

Making a note of your Pseudonym Bosch book nickel sounds like something else DD might like - thanks

Great idea for a thread BTW :)

ah, yes -t hey've recently been re-released , so we can class those as new!
they're pretty popular.