Kids have no shame. When a pile of new books is plopped down before them, they - unlike many adults - don't toy with the latest translated-from-the-Ruritanian oeuvre of some obscure literary figure, murmuring "Oh yes, his prose is so richly textured; the last one was marvellous" before later furtively hunting for the well-known, household name. Kids go straight for the enjoyable in their reading.
So with the latest batch aimed at 10 to 12-year-olds, I have to report that Wild Blood by Kate Thompson, (Red Fox, £3.99 in UK) and The Ghost and Bertie Boggin by Martin Waddell, (Walker Books, £7.99 in UK), first published 1980, now in a new hardback edition with illustrations by Tony Ross of the "Earthlets" series fame, were top of the hit parade in this test. Wild Blood, the third in the Switchers series about people who can metamorphose into birds and animals, was especially welcomed by Gemma, 11, who has loved the previous two in this supernatural series. Although not as good as the others, it was still "brilliant".
Peter, who is not quite 10 but a sophisticated reader, decided that the author of Bertie Boggin must have been happy at the time of writing, as the book is "almost completely free of sad thoughts". He also thought that it would be an excellent book for two friends to read together aloud, taking a section each at a time. An idea for the more recalcitrant reader? It's a very jolly book, and although simple enough, and with big enough print for the less well-read 9-10s, its humour would appeal to a wider age range.
Also popular for its humour was Totally Unsuitable for Children by Simon Cheshire (Walker Books, £9.99 in UK). With a title like this a readership is assured. Cheshire notes endearingly on the dust jacket that he realised "my mental age would never exceed 10, and that, in children's books, I had finally found my natural habitat". To think like a child is certainly an advantage. To my aged sensibilities some authors talk down, or oversimplify, or are frightened to go with wit or humour, when in fact children who love books are well able for a little cleverness in the prose.
Not guilty of this is Jonathan Stroud, whose Buried Fire (Red Fox, £3.99 in UK) is a skin-crawling tale of a boy who becomes possessed by a dragon, at the same time as his sister's clergyman boyfriend is making some spooky discoveries about the unholy ground near the village church.
Yeti Boy, by Kara May, (Collins, £9.99 in UK) is another adventure-fantasy about a recently-orphaned boy called Fenn, who, on a trek in the Himalayas with his guardian, is rescued by a Yeti, and befriends a number of these mythical creatures. A good read.
Don Conroy's animal adventures are always charming tales with wonderful titles (remember The Anaconda from Drumcondra?) The latest is Seal of Approval (Poolbeg, £3.99), the tale of a curious seal called Salty. With its large print and cartoonish drawings, this could be aimed at the younger end of this age bracket.
For the older children, a good read is Eithne Loughrey's Annie Moore: The Golden Dollar Girl (Mercier, £4.99), a sequel to First In line for America, which introduced the young Irish emigrant to the US at the end of the 19th century. Loughrey, a former drama teacher and journalist in Dublin, has created a character somewhat in the mould of L.M. Montgomery's Anne, a spirited young woman who has many adventures to interest pre-teen girls.
The Quest of the Ruby Ring by Yvonne MacGrory, (The Children's Press, £3.95) is the third in MacGrory's "Ruby Ring" series which has the reputation of sort of "pouncing on you". I presume this means that you're reading along peacefully - but not particularly enthusiastically - when, suddenly, you realise it's riveting. The protagonist, Emma, is feeling aggrieved that her father cannot collect her from a holiday visit because her new baby step-sister has been admitted to hospital. She wishes for something to happen to her while wearing her cousin's special ruby ring - and bingo, she is back in the poverty-stricken Ireland of the late 18th century, just before the 1798 rebellion.
There seems to be more available for girls than boys, but at least these good titles will save them from the fate of the Sabrina series, or teen boy-crush novels.
Angela Long is an Irish Times journalist