Seven to Nine Year-olds: Anna Carey recommends books for children who have started to read by themselves
Children who have just started reading by themselves have traditionally been ill served by publishers and authors. Would-be readers in this age group tend to be saddled with an uninspiring bunch of books without the charm of books for the very young or the wit and adventure of books for older children. There are, however, some books aimed at newly independent readers which manage to strike the right balance.
One is Annie Dalton's Lilac Peabody and Bella Bright (Collins, £3.99). The eponymous Lilac is a "fairy godsister", who comes to the rescue of a shy young girl called Bella, whose parents are trapeze artists in a circus.
Bella is scared of heights, and prefers reading to circus tricks, but Lilac's fairy dust allows her to follow her own path. Bella's a likeable and convincing narrator, and Dalton imbues the simple story with just the right amount of sparkling magic.
Equally magical, but a lot more strange, is Susie Day's Whump! (BBC books, £5.99). The book won a BBC talent competition for children's fiction, and it's a wonderfully imaginative début novel. Bill is a rather shy boy with wild hair and an even wilder multi-coloured scarf. When he falls down a manhole, he finds himself trapped in another world, with a bunch of curious creatures.
Although Day has an alarming tendency towards self-conscious "quirkiness", there are times when her dry and witty style is reminiscent of the great Diana Wynne Jones, and the hapless Bill's extraordinary adventures make for an engaging and exciting read.
Fans of Megan McDonald's smart and funny children's books won't be disappointed by the latest title in her popular Judy Moody series. Doctor Judy Moody (Walker £4.99) sees Judy and her classmates embarking on a school project about the human body. Judy responds with typical enthusiasm, and soon she and her classmates are visiting hospitals, brandishing stethoscopes, and even trying (unsuccessfully, alas) to clone guinea pigs. Adventurous, ingenious and inquisitive, Judy is a modern-day Ramona Quimby, and McDonald's lively style, combined with Peter H. Reynold's witty illustrations, ensures that Doctor Judy Moody is great fun.
Less engaging is Tony and Jan Payne's Oh no, Annie! (Dolphin, £4.99). The well-meaning but trouble-prone Annie is clearly intended to be an archetypical children's anti-heroine, but although the premises of these four stories are entertaining - in one story, she buys a series of increasingly odd animals from a local wildlife park - the writing is flat, the jokes unfunny, and the characters never really come to life.
There's family fun of a more appealing kind in Simon Mason's The Quigleys: Not For Sale (David Fickling Books, £10.99). The four Quigleys - Mum, Dad, Lucy and Will - visit a hotel, put on a show, and try to stop their house from being sold. It's all good-humoured fun, although as a family story it's so relentlessly nice that at times I found myself craving the anarchic ruthlessness of Helen Cresswell's magnificent Bagthorpes. The next best thing was Michael Rosen's Burping Bertha (Andersen £3.99), the enjoyably revolting story of a girl who discovers that her burps have the power to knock things over. Tony Ross's hilarious illustrations are the perfect accompaniment to a cautionary tale worthy of Hillaire Belloc.
Animals take centre stage in three new books. William Corlett's Kitty (Corgi, £4.99) is the quietly moving story of a stray puppy who joins up with a fellow dog on a dangerous journey across Spain. It should appeal to young canine-lovers, as should Geraldine McCaughrean's Dog Days (Hodder £4.99). Set in the 18th century, it tells the story of Clay and Hall, two brothers who rescue a delightful dog called Gloria from the icy Thames during a particularly vicious winter. But when a new Dog Tax makes it too expensive to keep their new pet, the boys devise a series of schemes to save Gloria. Dog Days is an excellent introduction to historical novels, with just the right amount of modern fizz. Less entertaining is Tommy Frank O'Connor's Kee kee, Cup and Tok (Wynkin deWorde, n.p.g.), a rather stodgy fable with unappealing illustrations about a little girl and her two bird friends who embark on a mission to save the forest she loves.
And there are more non-humans in Heather Dyer's The Fish in Room 11 (The Chicken House, £8.99). Dyer's first book for young readers has all the ingredients of a classic children's novel: an orphan hero living in a strange but familiar place, who encounters life-changing magic on his doorstep.
Here, the hero is a boy called Toby, who lives a Cinderella-esque existence at the seaside hotel in which he was abandoned as a baby. When he meets a young mermaid called Eliza Flot, he begins an adventure which will lead him all the way back to his mysterious roots. A delicious mixture of E. Nesbit and Jaqueline Wilson, with a touch of Roald Dahl, The Fish in Room 11 refuses to patronise its youthful audience. It has a likeable hero, a convincing magical setting, and, like the best children's books, it should fuel the fantasies of its readers, who are likely to spend this summer looking for mermaids of their own. It is by far the best book of the summer bunch.
Anna Carey is a writer and critic