Children's Books: From hundreds of children's books he has seen this year, here are Robert Dunbar's stars, in alphabetical order.
A Gathering Light By Jennifer Donnelly (Bloomsbury, £12.99)
Which road to take? To independence and self-fulfilment or to domestic responsibilities? This is the choice confronting teenager Mattie Gokey, growing up in the rural America of the early 20th century, in a novel which sympathetically depicts her attempts to reconcile her sense of duty with her personal ambitions. Period and place are convincingly re-created in this stunning début novel. (Age group: 14)
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code By Eoin Colfer (Puffin, £12.99)
Fans of Holly, Mulch, Foaly and of the criminal mastermind himself will respond enthusiastically to the Colfer trademark assortment of high technology and fairy lore: and it all starts with a cube! (10)
August '44 By Carlo Gébler (Egmont, £5.99)
Events in 16th-century Prague are vividly brought back to life within the framework of a second World War story portraying a Jewish family hiding from the Nazis. "Story" is the key word in a novel which inventively links persecution across the ages and, in the process, salutes the art of story itself. (12)
Ella's Big Chance: A Fairy Tale Retold By Shirley Hughes (Bodley Head, £10.99)
The glitzy 1920s serve as background for Hughes's retelling of the Cinderella story: there are some glamorously stylish frocks and an ending not quite what we might be expecting. (6)
Gentle Giant By Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman (Collins, £9.99)
"They called him the Beastman of Ballyloch." But, rejected and feared as he is initially, this same Beastman wins new friends when he saves a young girl from drowning. Best described as an ecological fairy tale, Morpurgo's story and Foreman's illustrations are a tender exploration of the healing powers of nature and love. (8)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix By J.K.Rowling (Bloomsbury, £16.99)
Amid the usual rich diversity of Rowling's creations, human and otherwise, Harry (now 15) has developed some of the more stereotypical manners and mannerisms of conventional teenage angst. Watch out for his conversation towards the end with Nearly Headless Nick: is this the key to future volumes? (10)
Have You Seen Elvis? By Andrew Murray and Nicola Slater (Macmillan, £9.99)
Elvis the cat and Buddy the dog fight like - well - feline and canine: but when Elvis runs away Buddy must follow, even into darkest night. Full of humour and with Slater's dramatic pictures, this is for the stockings of all warring siblings. (6)
I Am Too Small to Go to School By Lauren Child (Orchard, £10.99)
And too absolutely right for pre-schoolers is Child's engaging story of Lola's reluctance to go to school and how it is overcome by resourceful brother Charlie. The artwork and layout are as inventive as the text. (4)
Inkheart By Cornelia Funke (The Chicken House, £12.99)
"Writing stories," says Funke's closing sentence, "is a kind of magic." And magical this one certainly is in its spellbinding romp through metafictional worlds. Mo the bookbinder, endowed with the ability to make a book's characters come - literally - alive, engages us in a complex, rambling tale of life and literature, creating almost 600 pages of endless delight. (12)
Inventing Elliot By Graham Gardner (Orion, £7.99)
Elliot, by moving schools, hopes to escape bullying. He is, however, soon sucked into the corruption and malevolence of his new surroundings, in a novel of contemporary (British) school life which is full of echoes of Orwell's 1984. This is a chilling, powerfully written and occasionally disturbing story. (14)
Jabberwocky By Lewis Carroll and Joel Stewart (Walker, £9.99)
Slithy toves, borogoves and all the other zany Carroll inventions are given appropriately playful interpretation in Stewart's witty pictures. (8)
Keeper By Mal Peet (Walker, £4.99)
Young footballers - and non-footballers alike - will revel in this inspiring and superbly written story of El Gato, the world's greatest goalkeeper. As footballing stories go, this one, it must be said, is top of the league. (12)
Lucas: A Story of Love and Hate By Kevin Brooks (The Chicken House, £12.99)
The mysterious Lucas arrives on Caitlin's island and a love story begins - passionate, violent and set against a background of insular bigotry and menace. Story, characterisation and impressive handling of pace create an absorbing narrative. (14)
Lyra's Oxford By Philip Pullman and John Lawrence (David Fickling, £9.99)
Destined to be a collector's item, this attractive little volume (some 50 pages) is both a perfect coda to the His Dark Materials trilogy and an enticing harbinger of the forthcoming The Book of Dust. Lawrence's woodblock illustrations are a bonus. (12)
Milkweed By Jerry Spinelli (Orchard, £10.99)
Warsaw, 1939, under Nazi occupation, is the setting for what must be the most poignant story of all children's Holocaust fiction. An adult survivor recalls the degradation and humiliation of his persecuted childhood, his search for an identity and the remarkable characters (benevolent and otherwise) among whom he lived. This is the year's finest children's novel. (10)
Pinocchio By Carlo Collodi and Sara Fanelli (Walker, £14.99)
Complete with elegant slip-case, this is the year's most striking gift book: Fanelli's dazzling display of illustrative technique brings eye-catching illumination to Emma Rose's new translation of an established favourite.
Private Peaceful By Michael Morpurgo (Collins, £10.99)
Redolent of the imagery of Owen and Sassoon, this is the story of two teenage brothers, of how they came to enlist in the first World War and of how one of them recalls in diary form the final hours of the other's life. Memories of their childhoods contrast tellingly with the horrors of their "foreign field" surroundings. (12)
Ryland's Footsteps By Sally Prue (Oxford, £6.99)
Essentially a fable full of high adventure, this novel offers sharp insights into the conflicts (and possible resolutions) of father-and-son relationships. The mix of natural and human life on its island setting is effectively portrayed. (12)
Stratford Boys By Jan Mark (Hodder, £12.99)
This earthy, exuberant and witty novel introduces us to a 16-year-old William and his early work as playwright. There is some delightful Shakespearean pastiche and, more seriously, some reflection on creativity and its origins. (12)
The Bee-Man of Orn By Frank R. Stockton and P.J. Lynch (Walker, £12.99)
Stockton's story, over a century old, is a tale of transformation, a quest for origins and destinations. Lynch's dramatic landscapes, his gallery of expressive faces and his scary dragon's cave make it buzz with life and vigour. (8)
The Book of Dead Days By Marcus Sedgwick (Orion, £8.99)
Ideal for reading in what Sedgwick calls "that strange, quiet time between Christmas and New Year", this is a moodily atmospheric novel of magicians, apprentices and demons. There are strong echoes of the Faust legend and some deliciously gothic interludes. (12)
The Braves By David Klass (Puffin, £5.99)
The arrival of new soccer star Antonio threatens Joe's captaincy of the Lawndale High team: his contribution to the school's and the neighbourhood's underbelly of violence is such that Joe's whole world (and especially his relationship with his father) is badly shaken. Very American - and very powerful. (14)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time By Mark Haddon (David Fickling, £10.99)
Fifteen-year-old Christopher, who suffers from Asperger's syndrome, embarks on a mission to find the killer of a neighbour's dog. In this truly outstanding and moving novel, Haddon traces the teenager's search and, on the way, his evolving relationships with his family. (12)
The Fire-Eaters By David Almond (Hodder, £10.99)
It is 1962 and while the Cuban missile crisis dominates the outside world of this superb novel, the inner world is that of Northumberland and the Burns family, where 11-year-old Bobby has to contend with his own educational, familial and community complexities. Almond's portrayal of time, place and characters, not least of the fire-eater McNulty, is unforgettable. (12)
The Good Child's Guide to Rock 'n' Roll By Carol Ann Duffy (Faber, £12.99)
Friends, teachers, grandmothers and the Loch Ness Monster's husband - not to mention a roll call of 1950s rock legends - figure in these clever, sprightly poems. (10)
The Magic Bed By John Burningham (Cape, £10.99)
This is the story of Georgie and his magical travelling bed, presented, verbally and visually, with minimum fuss and detail but maximum emotion and young child appeal. (4)
The Shape Game By Anthony Browne (Doubleday, £10.99)
A family visit to an art gallery turns out to be a life-changing day as Browne plays an endless round of games with famous paintings and involves us in their pictorial details. (All ages)
The Tale of Tales By Tony Mitton and Peter Bailey (David Fickling, £12.99)
Poetry and prose combine in this clever sequence of stories told by animals en route to Volcano Valley to hear "the tale of tales". Great fun, great variety, great endorsement of storytelling and great silhouette drawings. (8)
The Wolves in the Walls By Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean (Bloomsbury, £12.99)
It's what happens when the wolves come out of the walls that matters! They scare Lucy's parents into taking refuge in the garden until she herself can directly confront the animals. Text and pictures match, in suitably nightmarish manner, to create a story with some genuinely frightening moments. (8)
Wings Over Delft By Aubrey Flegg (O'Brien, €9.95)
Set mainly in the Dutch art world of the late 17th century, this colourful story treats of the wider European cultural and intellectual life of the time and, within it, of the story of 16-year-old Louise and the two young men whose destinies are linked with hers. This is an engrossing novel, in which loyalties and betrayals are pitted against one another with dramatic consequences. (12)
Robert Dunbar is head of English at the Church of Ireland College of Education, Rathmines, Dublin