Tansey, a 24-year-old County Wexford farmer's wife who died of the flu in the 1920s, continues to watch over her daughter, Emer, until the latter, now a grandmother in Dublin, faces her own death. Tansey charges Emer's 12-year-old granddaughter, Mary, with making sure Emer gets her last wish of a trip to the family farm; Emer's daughter, Scarlett, drives the frail old woman, the girl and the ghost there and back in a night. Doyle has a sharp ear for language and family dynamics.This deceptively simple story is a finely tuned study of the effects of death and loss on four generations and the way in which the dead keep their place in a family. Geraldine Brennan
Photograph: Scholastic Photograph: Action images
Cold Hands, Warm Heart extends the idea of family ties to cover the complex connection between the family of an organ donor and the organ's recipient, contradicting assumptions and dispelling myths (not all donor recipients are necessarily worthy, and their common predicament is not always enough to make them like one another). When young gymnast Amanda dies, her family shy away from knowledge of those who have benefited from her body parts until Tyler, the brother who battled with Amanda in life, secretly seeks out Dani, the recipient of her heart. Wolfson is a keen observer of institutional rituals and the way in which pressure exerts itself during the agonising wait for a suitable donor. GB
Photograph: Walker Photograph: Action images
The only cure for hissy fits this Christmas is to stomp off to a cosy corner with a copy of Steampunk! – and perhaps suggest that your teenager reads it too. This anthology of "fantastically rich and strange stories", edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J Grant, is firmly in the tradition of Jules Verne and HG Wells, and is packed with grotesque automata, devilish toys and tricksy time machines. Kelly Link's own contribution, "The Summer People", adds fairy folk and US backwoods gothic to the mix in a chilling tale. Slam the door very loudly and make sure you're left alone for the duration. GB
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An unflattering portrait of a serially seducing priest may have pushed David Almond's engrossing and tender dystopian novel The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean into the territory of adult fiction, but many of its concerns are familiar to fans of Almond's writing for children. Its exploration of what makes us human and the way we grow to understand and document the world has echoes of Heaven Eyes, Clay and My Name is Mina. Suicide bombers destroyed Billy's home town in the north-east on the day of his birth and his mother has kept him hidden throughout the war that followed. Those who attempt to heal the traumatised survivors include a fake medium who teaches Billy to read using a Ouija board and Billy's mother, a hairdresser. GB Photograph: Viking
The provocative mystery at the heart of Jenny Downham's novel makes this a particularly sharp-edged love story. For Mikey and Ellie, no decision is going to be an easy one; loyalties may be shattered, and loved ones will undoubtedly get hurt. It's a novel about making the right choices and how difficult they can sometimes be. It's a beautifully balanced novel with the darkness of the central crime never forgotten or over-sweetened by the love story. Keith Gray
Photograph: David Fickling Books Photograph: Action images
Just what sort of God would make a world like this? A world of tsunamis, and tsetse flies; of genocide and really bad hair days; of dolphins and leprosy and strawberry blondes; of chaotic misery, interrupted by occasional flashes of astounding beauty. Meg Rosoff's answer, presented with a beguiling grace as well as a genuinely unnerving strangeness, is that God is a teenage boy called Bob: a feckless, floppy-haired, carelessly good-looking youth, who spends most of the day in bed, reliving past and anticipating future romantic conquests. Anthony McGowan
Photograph: Puffin Photograph: Action images
In the third book in the Enemy series, Dognut, Courtney and their friends set off across London to find Brooke and her crew. But the enemy are growing stronger... In a story full of rivalry between children and adults there are numerous twists and surprises. Maxie and Blue from Waitrose make an appearance too. I found this book an entertaining and thrilling read that you don't want to put down. If you are wondering what the enemy is or you are new to the series, the enemy are adults (every adult) who are infected with a disease that makes you rot and eat children. As the book is unputdownable, it's best to start reading early so you're finished by night. Oh, and one more thing - READ IT!!! It's great! jamjam66 - reader review
Photograph: Puffin Photograph: Action images
Anyone who describes this as an outstanding debut children's novel might just as well exclude the word "debut". It's a wonderful piece of writing. It has a warmth you can bask in; an honesty you can cut with a knife. It's a story told by Jamie – now the age Rosie was when she was killed – who knows he should feel sad about a sister who's little more than the vaguest of memories. There were plenty of tears as I read, and again later when I thought back on it. This is one of those stories which has elements that will stay with me for good. Philip Ardagh
Photograph: Indigo Photograph: Action images
While I was reading Martyn Bedford's first teen novel, Flip, I was in a little bit of a state of shock. Almost the whole way through I thought I knew what was about to happen next, only to be proven totally and completely wrong. I just kept on getting it wrong, which made for a very gripping book I just could not put down – I read it in one sitting! The book has really been thought out in every detail, along with every detail of what Alex would have to deal with being in a body he is not used to, from having to walk someone else's legs down the stairs to how he feels when he finds out what happened to his own body. Rachel, reader review Click here for more reader reviews
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Dante is waiting for his A-level results to arrive in the post, but what he gets instead is an ex-girlfriend on the doorstop with a baby she says is his. One event offers him a future at university; the other, since the mother is about to dump the baby on him, leads to the death of all his dreams. It's an immensely readable book, as you would expect from Malorie Blackman, and the account of how Dante comes to terms with fatherhood and his responsibilities is genuinely moving, while staying on the right side of sentimentality. Mary Hoffman
Photograph: Corgi Childrens Photograph: Action images
A Monster Calls is the story of Conor, who is repeatedly visited by a monster while his mother is dying. The monster is a brilliant creation – part giant, part yew tree, destructive, didactic, elemental. It tells Conor three stories, which work, like New Testament parables, by wrongfooting you. The good guys turn out to be bad and the bad guys good. Elegantly, the same goes for the overarching story, in which the nightmare monster is less frightening than daylight family. Frank Cottrell Boyce
Photograph: Walker Photograph: Action images
