Four Kids, Two Cats, Two Cows and One Witch (Maybe) by Siobhan Parkinson – review

jessikahh: 'I loved reading this book! It made me laugh a lot. The characters are interesting and the plot is easy to understand yet very imaginative'

I Was Jane Austen’s Best Friend by Cora Harrison – review

PetrovaFossil: 'I cannot find a single fault. Once I opened this book, nothing could distract or bother me anymore'

Oksa Pollock: The Forest of Lost Souls by Anne Plichota and Cendrine Wolf – review

SophieDophie: 'If you haven't heard of Oksa Pollock, now is the time to find out about her because "The Forest of Lost Souls" is the second book of her amazing adventures'

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald – review

Scoutingforbooks: 'The Great Gatsby is an amazing book that highlights class issues exceptionally well, showing the strange way they evolve and lag, and the way opinions are formed of the rich and poor'

How to Train Your Dragon: How to Speak Dragonese by Cressida Cowell – review

Rider: 'Don't watch the film before reading the books. They are immensely better'

Of Lions and Unicorns by Michael Morpurgo – review

Lottie Longshanks: 'What I have always loved about Michael Morpurgo is that I can hear his voice when I read his stories and this is especially true of these old tales. Read them for yourself and I am sure that you will see what I mean'

How to Train Your Dragon: How to Betray a Dragon’s Hero by Cressida Cowell – review

Mimi123: 'The way the author describes what's happening all the way through the book is amazing!'

Wanted: picture books about the weather

Stories about the weather feature in many wonderful picture books, from the classic fables of Aesop to contemporary favourites, such as Elmer the Elephant and Percy the Park Keeper

Rover Saves Christmas by Roddy Doyle – review

Lottie Longshanks: 'This is the sort of book that I am sure lots of children would love'

Divergent by Veronica Roth – review

ABitCrazy: 'I would really suggest reading this because it's a great book and I will definitely be reading the rest of the trilogy!'

Virginia Andrews’s shocking success

Alison Flood: It's alarming being reminded that as a teenager I enjoyed the Flowers in the Attic author's horrific family sagas – and that I'm far from alone

Doc Mortis (Invisible Fiends) by Barry Hutchison – review

Pheebz: Although the Crowmaster and Mr Mumbles are quite scary characters, the story didn't really frighten me'

Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake – review

ellathebookworm: 'I absolutely loved Anna Dressed In Blood, although I did have to have another book to read in the evenings, because - trust me - you do not want to read this book at night!'

Teen fiction’s ordinary romantic heroes

Jane Bradley: It's been claimed that seductive male beauties in YA fiction set unattainable standards for adolescent boys. But plenty of them are reassuringly unspectacular

Wolf and Dog by Sylvia Vanden Heede – review

Velociraptor: 'The stories weren't really funny, but interesting about the differences between these two creatures and the way that they behave'