Five picture books
1. Clown, by Quentin Blake (Red Fox, £4.99 UK): a wordless story to which we add own texts to complement those in Blake's poignantly inventive pictures.
2. Row to Live Forever, by Colin Thompson (Red Fox, £4.99 in UK): a visually stunning journey of exploration by Peter and his cat Brian into the world of reading, books and libraries.
3. Monkey Do! by Allan Ahlberg and Andre Amstutz (Walker, £10.99 in UK): lively rhyming tale of monkey frolics, jumping with fun and mischief and with matching boisterous illustrations.
4. The Long March, by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick (Wolfhound, £9.99): exquisitely detailed black and white drawings accompany poignant story of Famine times, including act of generosity from a surprising source.
5. The Midnight Man, by Berlie Doherty and Ian Andrew (Walker, £10.99 in UK): beautifully atmospheric story, with dreamy landscapes, of Harry, Mister Dog and "the midnight man" who rides by nightly. Five for ages 5-9
1. All the Way from China, by Pat Boran (Poolbeg, £3.99): touching story of how Shelley Watters, recently arrived in Dublin from Kerry, finds herself a real first friend in her new surroundings.
2. Bert's Wonderful News, by Sam McBratney (Walker, £7.99 in UK): seven short stories featuring the everyday escapades of Bert, his Dad, his Dad's friend Liz - and less-than-likeable Geraldine, his next-door neighbour.
3. Granny's Teeth, by Brianog Brady Dawson (O'Brien, £3.99): a very child-centred and humorous story of Danny, Granny and the comings and goings of the old lady's extremely mobile teeth.
4. Puppy and the Sausage, by Gabriel Fitzmaurice (Poolbeg, £3.99): silly poems and serious poems, nice poems and naughty poems, with numerous echoes of the real world of home, school, children and parents.
5. The Lion and the Unicorn, by Shirley Hughes (Bodley Head, £12.99 in UK): second World War story of young Lenny's loneliness as an evacuee and his discovery of a magically consoling secret garden, complete with unicorn.
Five for ages 10-13
1. A Girl Named Disaster, by Nancy Farmer (Dolphin, £4.50 in UK): story of 11-year-old Nhamo and her progress to adulthood, via a dangerously exciting journey from Mozambique to Zimbabwe.
2. A Secret Place, by Joan Lingard (Hodder, £10.99 in UK): emotional and absorbing account of a father's kidnapping of his two children and their subsequent travels to Spain.
3. Benny and Omar, by Eoin Colfer (O'Brien, £4.99): inter-cultural hi-jinks when Wexford comes to Tunisia and two irrepressible lads vie with one another in the mischief stakes.
4. Forever X, by Geraldine McCaughrean (OUP, £5.99 in UK): best - and wisest - of the modern Christmas stories, full of in- sights into contemporary seasonal behaviour.
5. Squids Will Be Squids, by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (Viking, £12.99 in UK): hilariously subversive send-up of the Aesop kind of animal story, with appropriately cheeky illustrations and design.
Five for teenagers
1. Fire, Bed and Bone, by Henrietta Branford (Walker, £8.99 in UK): the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 as perceived through canine eyes, resulting in an original and engaging view of medieval communities and civil strife.
2. The Voices of Danger, by Alick Rowe (Mammoth, £4.99 in UK): The horrors of World War I angrily evoked in a story where working class and aristocratic passions meet and collide.
3. Maphead 2, by Lesley Howarth (Walker, £3.99 in UK) travels between "the obvious world of people" and "the Subtle world", raising fascinating questions about childhood (and adult) loneliness and loss.
4. Skellig, by David Almond (Hodder, £4.99 in UK): compulsively readable story of how Michael, helped by his friend Mina and the eerie "skellig" lurking in the garage, comes to deal with his baby sister's illness.
5. Two Barks, by Julie O'Callaghan (Bloodaxe, £6.95 in UK): excellent collection of poems which wittily and illuminatingly encapsulate many of the archetypal moments of adolescence.
Five all-time classics
1. Favourite Irish Fairy Tales, by Soinbhe Lally (Poolbeg, £9.99): seven stories from our native myths and legends, simply but powerfully re-told, with vivid full-colour illustrations by Finbarr O'Connor.
2. Read Me a Story, Please, by Wendy Cooling (Orion, £20 in UK): attractively presented collection, juxtaposing such classic authors as Wilde and Andersen with contemporary writers such as Fine and Rosen, all with an estimated "reading time".
3. The Christmas Miracle, of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski (Poolbeg, £5.99): genuinely heart-tugging story of the transforming power of love, unforgettably given life in P.J. Lynch's remarkable paintings.
4. The Complete Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis (Collins, £29.99 in UK): over five hundred pages of travels beyond the wardrobe and encounters with all sorts of beings, human and otherwise, with newly coloured illustrations by Pauline Baynes.
5. The Snowman, by Raymond Briggs (Hamish Hamilton, £9.99 in UK): a 20th anniversary 'special" edition of the modern classic of the Christmas season (various cheaper editions also available).