Children’s books

FIRST published in 1980, Quentin Blake’s award-winning Mister Magnolia (Red Fox; €7.55) has been republished to entertain another generation.

Told in bouncy rhyme, Mister Magnolia prances and dances his way through a series of laugh-aloud incidents. A delight for any age.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain (Campfire; €8.80), is one of a series of well-known novels adapted to comic-book format. The excellent graphics will help introduce reluctant readers to the classics. Others in the series are A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Kim and The Hound of the Baskervilles. The full list is at www.campfire.co.in

The Cryptid Files: Loch Ness, by Jean Flitcroft (Little Island; npa). The prologue of this book draws the reader into the life of Vanessa Day. Trying to cope with her scientist mother’s death, she resents her father’s friendship with Lee McDonald. Obsessed with her mother’s scientific notes, and stories of the Lough Ness Monster, Vanessa is resentful when she finds that Lee is coming on a family holiday. Staying near the shores of Lough Ness, her dreams blend with reality, culminating in a hauntingly cathartic experience. This is a mystical, coming-of-age story, beautifully written. Age 10-plus.

Drawing With Light, by Julia Green (Bloomsbury; €8.80). Sisters Emily and Kat have grown up without their mother. References to Emily’s photographer mother are discouraged, since she has long been supplanted in her father’s affections by the now-pregnant Cassy. As the family has to temporarily live in a caravan, while awaiting the refurbishment of the father’s dream house, angst-ridden Emily feels trapped. A chance remark about her own photographic skills spurs her on a search for information about her mother, with the support of her adorable boyfriend, Seb. The tension in the novel stems from Emily’s dual quest: the search for her true identity and the complications of forming her first relationship with Seb.