Children 10-12: Many children's books, such as Nothing Scares Me by Gene Kemp (Faber £5.99), draw a parallel between ability and supernatural power. Kemp endows her heroine, Petra Stevens, with psychic visions and the ability to see into the future - she didn't ask for the gift, but gets on with it as best she can.
As a local schoolgirl disappears, visions of a girl's abduction as well as a motley assortment of apparitions plague her. Although she would prefer to lead a normal, pre-teenage life, she comes unwillingly to accept her mystic powers as they lead her into and again out of danger. Kemp's prose and accurate ear for sarky teen-speak make the narrative particularly hip and attractive.
Connie, in Julia Golding's The Secret of the Sirens (Oxford University Press, £5.99 paperback) also discovers she has extraordinary powers. She finds out that her weird ability to communicate with animals - always the source of unwanted attention and ridicule - marks her out as a Universal Communicator, someone who can speak to and shares elemental energy with all creatures. When she joins her aunt's secret Society for the Protection of Mythical Creatures, she learns about the very grave danger threatening the world and the human race, which only she can prevent.
The book is the first of a quartet of books about Connie and the society, and fans can already log on to a themed website. In this age of hyper-marketing, inspired no doubt by the Harry Potter phenomenon, this no doubt feels more premature than it is. The book can carry it, though, as it combines an exciting read with an important sense of human responsibility for the ecological well-being of the Earth.
At the other end of the spectrum, Rebecca Lisle's The Curse of the Toads (Hachette Children's Books, £5.99) pleads against superstition and its potential disasters. Some time in the past, before the supremacy of empirical science, Reuben's grandmother Sarah is maligned as a witch by a devious neighbour. Once respected for her skills in folk and herbal medicine, she is nevertheless hanged by her community, leaving Reuben at the mercy of the ignorant and evil "Dr" Flyte and his sidekick Baggs. Only his ingenuity - which he discovers is a more formidable tool than any magic spell could be - saves him from misery and death.
Another historical book, The Young Rebels by Morgan Llywelyn (O'Brien Press, £7.98), recounts the preamble and events of the 1916 Rising through the eyes of a young pupil at Padraic Pearse's legendary school for boys. Sent away while his mother is dying, John Joe escapes his abusive father to, as Llywelen describes it, the paradise of St Enda's, where his learning encompasses not only Irish, English and maths but also a stirring sense of pride in and loyalty to the emerging Irish State. Unfortunately, the book, while well researched, sometimes feels like a manual for the indoctrination and induction of young people to extreme causes - find disaffected youth, be kind to them and then galvanise them to an idealistic cause. In 1916, this still may have felt guileless; after the lessons of the 20th century, one must nurture a degree of clinical scepticism. John Joe and his friend Roger's participation in the actual Rising, however, illustrate well the excitement and bravery of those who fought for independence and freedom.
With The Book of Everything (Picador, £7.99), Dutch writer Guus Kuijer took a similar story of a young boy suffering an abusive father, and wove an enchanting tale about creativity and civil courage. Through his vivid imagination, the world appears to eight-year-old Thomas as a vivid, visionary expression of emotional truth, rather than "objective" reality. His rampant creativity helps him make the acquaintance of old Mrs van Amersfoot, whose friendship and support help him cast away fear to speak up for his sense of right and fairness, thereby establishing harmony in his environment. This beautiful book would give anyone inspiration and hope.
The countless books of the inimitable Jacqueline Wilson also illustrate young people who pluck up their courage to make a difference in their worlds. Her particular strength lies in showing how they make the best of difficult situations, as with her latest work, Candyfloss (Doubleday, £12.99). As the name suggests, the action moves in and out of a fair, as Floss declines to move to Australia with her mother and mother's boyfriend, and remains with her scruffy - and unfortunately insolvent - dad. No miracle reunions occur, as life all too frequently doesn't dish these up, but Floss's resilience and love for her dad give them both the courage to find a better life.
Christine Madden is a journalist and critic