Daniel Hahn picks his books for those aged seven to 12, while our reviewers for adults choose their favourites
Daniel Hahn - The Independent - Sunday 11 December 2011
Magic Beans (David Fickling Books, £9.99) is an anthology of fairy-tales, some more and some less familiar, each one retold by a contemporary writer.
Each is perfect for reading aloud over a few bedtimes, and with wonderfully told stories by brilliant writers including Alan Garner, Linda Newbery, Anne Fine, Gillian Cross, Berlie Doherty and Philip Pullman, parents will love it every bit as much as their kids. Emphatically not for parents is Donut Diaries (Corgi, £5.99). At the risk of perpetuating gender stereotypes, it is for boys; full of jokes about, well, the things boys tell jokes about. It's the journal of Dermot Milligan (with help from Anthony McGowan), chronicling the rigours of being a 12-year-old donut addict in a new school. It is easy and plaintive and very funny, and if you're determined to give the young boy in your life a book in his stocking this year, well this might be one he'd actually thank you for.
While we're on the subject of Christmas stockings and the like, a few engrossing and especially wintry books are next. In Ian Beck's The Haunting of Charity Delafield (Bodley Head, £9.99), we meet a young girl who lives a quiet life, suffering from a mysterious "condition" but afflicted, too, by a strange, strange dream. It's an elegant, atmospheric tale, with frost and mystery and a bit of magic.
Lettie Peppercorn in Sam Gayton's The Snow Merchant (Andersen, £12.99) isn't allowed outdoors either, but everything changes when this odd thing called "snow" appears in her world for the first time, courtesy of a visiting alchemist. But why is this strange man here, and what does he know about Lettie's mother, who vanished 10 years earlier? A tale of self discovery, family and friendship, it's an inventive and accomplished debut.
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