Children’s literature has never been more varied and exciting, writes Ann Sinnott

JK Rowling, Lemony Snicket and Darren Shan are just three authors responsible for a renaissance in the popularity of children’s writing – proving the doom-mongers who said computers would kill off the book trade wrong.
So, opt for the safe choice this year: the gift of a book is not just for Christmas, it’s for life.
The book for little ones this Christmas is undoubtedly The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg (Andersen Press £10.99) A modern classic in the States and now a computer generated film, starring Tom Hanks.
Get in first with the book and your Santa Claus-believing youngsters will delight in a heart-warming tale of a night trip to the North Pole to meet the man himself. The illustrations are extraordinary.
For the dinosaur-besotted (an almost inevitable phase, especially in boys) what could be better than Santasaurus by Niamh Sharkey (Walker Books £10.99)?
Dinotot Milo goes with Santasaurus on a sleigh ride (pulled by dinodeer, of course) delivering presents in Dinosaur Town.
When she still qualified as a little girl, my daughter (now 12 and taller than me) would have loved The Nutcracker Ballet Theatre, Viola Ann Seddon and Jean Mahoney (Walker Books £14.99).
A miniature-theatre-in-a-box, with backdrops, stand-up minor characters and props, and principal characters on sticks (to move and twirl). It’s just gorgeous and comes with a CD of the music and sheet music for The Sugar Plum Fairy on the back cover. The book not only tells the tale and sets each scene but also guides the listener through Tchai-kovsky’s ballet, thus aiding understanding. Tremendous value, on all levels.
The mother and daughter writing team known as Zizou Corder bring us The Chase (£12.99 Puffin) the second volume of the Lionboy Trilogy. Just as engaging as the first book, here we see Charlie Ashanti, a boy who can speak cat, continue his search (accompanied by lion friends) for his kidnapped parents to Italy (great descriptions of Venice) and then on to a moving reunion in north Africa. But the story doesn’t end there…
Two authors have done more in recent years to turn boys into readers: JK Rowling and Darren Shan. While the publication of Harry Potter books are punctuated by HP films, and so get held up, Darren Shan’s saga – which features a half-vampire protagonist bearing his own name – has been published with rapidity. Book 12, Sons of Destiny, The Final Act...(Harper Collins, £4.99), DS assured a Halloween audience (made up of mostly boys, punctuated with non-pink wearing girls), “is definitely the last in the series”.
To groans of disappointment, he quickly added “something else is in the pipeline”. An audible hiss of “yes” broke out and raised fists punched the air.
Heralded as the “most exciting writer” since the foregoing two, and sharing the same literary agent, Paul Bajoria’s debut novel, The Printer’s Devil, (Simon and Schuster, £12.99), is a thrillingly complex tale set in the murk of (historically accurate) Victorian London.
Twelve-year-old Mog Winter stumbles upon a murderous plot, falls foul of criminals and discovers a family secret. “Captivating,” was my daughter’s one-word verdict.
Somewhere in the vicinity of the North Pole, an evil scientist has created both the virus he needs to wipe out the human race and the prototype of the perfect beings designed to replace humankind. Twelve-year olds Ben and Zara travel from their Edinburgh home and, with their new friend Sam, finally manage to thwart him. One word verdict – “Gripping!”
Every school, if not every class, has one: the child who, for whatever reason, is universally loathed and ridiculed. Walking Naked, Alyssa Brugman, (Faber & Faber, £5.99), features Megan the leader of the ‘in-group’ that systematically makes Perdita’s life hell.
Megan learns that there’s a great deal more to their victim, but too late. The outcome in this instance is the worst case scenario with classroom politics, peer pressure and the difficulties of staying true to oneself exposed.
Every teenage girl needs a copy.
True Believer, Virginia Euwer Wolff, (Faber & Faber, £4.99) is a first person account of a year in the life of La Vaughn, aged 15. Set in disadvantaged urban America, it speaks universally to teenagers in similar situations, in any city. With the odds stacked against her, but spurred on and supported by the fierce love of her mother, La Vaughn, while some of her peers succumb to drugs and premature sex, manages to hang on to a sense of direction through a confusing, turbulent year of development.
Finally things begin to make sense and she eventually understands just what her teacher means by: “we will rise to occasion which is life”.