I wonder If children still get that salmon leap of the heart that my generation got when books tumbled out of the Christmas stocking? Or have Boyzone and Spice Gins CDs usurped the quiet delight of reading, a tranquil demeanour masking Inner excitement as the mind soars? Those who still pursue the wonders of the written page could find no better guide than Gordon Snell, an author who appears to understand the teenage mind better than most. In The Case of the Mystery Graves (Poolbeg, £3.99) he provides another episode in the eventful lives of the Ballygandon Gang: Brendan, his cousin Molly, and the would-be stand-up comedian, Dessy.
In this adventure they are trying to find the money for a trip to Hollywood to visit their friend, child star Billy Bantam, while at the same time keeping watch in the local graveyard to discover who or what is changing the names on the tombstones. As usual, the tone is light and humorous, the dialogue meticulous and the plotting full of surprises. As Dessy might say, Nice one, Gordo!
Gordon Snell uses a touch of the supernatural In resolving his story, but it is magic that Diana Hendry portrays in her Minders (Walker Books, £9.99 in UK). Scully is a wizard-in-waiting, his Test in Dreaming and Changing by the Outlandish Gentry coming up and loads of work still to do. But how can he get his work done when he has to put up with the Minder he has been assigned, the highspirited and excitable Monika? Sounds a bit fey, but Ms Hendry has a keen sense of humour, a lively imagination and a wonderful way with words. One that parents will probably enjoy before passing it on to their offspring.
Two more that deal in the occult: Don't Mess with Angels (Walker Books, £3.99 in UK), by Susan Gates and Oat of the Darkness (Puffin, £4.99 in UK), by Nigel Hinton. In the first, Alice helps her older sister, Sarah, to destroy a monster in Thornley graveyard, while in the second lam finds that his destiny is inextricably linked with that of the mysterious girl, Leila. Both books are well written and convey a nice sense of the shiver-making sensation that comes with reading about things that go bump in the night.
Two by Jane Gardam, both reissues but still magical: in A Few Fair Days (Walker Books, £3.99 in UK), we enter the weird and wonderful world of Lucy's seaside childhood and meet her eccentric aunts, Fanny, Bee and Kitty, her best friend Mary and a host of other delightful and unforgettable characters, while in The Hollow Land (Walker Books, £3.99 in UK), the interlinked stories tell of two families living in the Cumberland fells, one local, the others blow-ins from London. Both of these books are beautifully written and have become minor classics in the their own right.
An anthropomorphic tale next Henrietta Branford: in White Wolf (Walker Books, £9.99 in UK), her first-person narrator is the white wolf of the title, imprisoned in a cage but anxious to regain the wilds of Canada and run with the pack once again. How he manages this and finds true love with the female grey wolf, Not-Much, makes for an exciting story, if you're into that kind of thing. Unfortunately, most animal books leave me cold. Then there Is a trio of historical novels: Anthony Horowitz's The Devil and His Boy (Walker Books, £9.99 in UK), in which young Tom Falconer journeys from a Suffolk village to London in the time of Good Queen Bess in order to thwart the evil plans of a group of colourful rogues; Bill Wall's The Cove of Cork (Mercier Press, £4.99), the third volume in the marvellous seafaring trilogy that follows the career of Donal Long, from Powder Monkey to first mate of an American schooner, and now brought back to his native Cork as a prisoner of war, and Grainne: Sailor Princess of Ireland (Minerva Press, £4.99 UK), by Louise Gherasim, a re-telling of the story of Granuaile, the legendary Mayo warrior woman - are there still some of them about?
A word or two now for Eddie Lenihan's Humorous Irish Tales for Children (Mercier Press, £4.99). These concern Fionn MacCumhail and the Fianna, but instead of tales of adventure and derring-do we are regaled with the efforts of said hero and his bud- dies, Caoilte and Conan, to get new sets of dentures and to win an MI-Ireland spitting contest. Lenihan tells his tales with tongue firmly in cheek, and they are great fun.
Finally, two collections: the first, Bag Pictures (Lets, £4.99) edited by Gerard Whelan, is a fund-raising volume In aid of Lucan Educate Together School, and contains stories and poems by some of Ireland's best-known writers for children, while the second, The Whole I Shebang: McDonald's Young Writers (O'Brien Press, £4.99), Illustrated by Donald Teskey, is the fourth in a series that provides a forum for young people to have their stones and poems published. Both collections are well worth the money, the second especially exhibiting an invigorating freshness of outlook.