Children’s books: 7-12 years

It’s a meet-cute en route to Mars, as within pages of the opening of Red Star Rebels by Amie Kaufman (Hot Key Books), Chloe, a cynical stowaway, and Hunter, scion of a space-colonising dynasty, become the only two travellers stranded on a hijacked planetary base. Both teens have secrets, and with the time to destruction counting down chapter by chapter, will Chloe and Hunter stay true to each other and escape, or form new alliances and turn traitor? Twisty and tense. Age 11 up.

Postman Planet (Gallery Kids, Simon & Schuster) is zanier than Postman Pat, more inter-galactic – and younger. For Ben Davis’s superhero, who delivers post across the universe, is only nine. Yet he and his sidekick Stamp, a part-robot dog, must evade Space Vikings and transport helium to the Planet of Fluffy Unicorns, who spread not stardust but stinks. Davis is an energetic presence in the book, addressing the reader directly and making Postman Planet’s adventures a shared experience. Perfect for Captain Underpants fans, age seven to 11.

Another precocious hero (a ten-year-old medic) sniffs out evil in Adam Kay’s Dexter Procter and the Case of the Disappearing Doctor (Puffin). When sinister politician Barbara Burnhall (aka Bumhole) arrives with her tyrannical sister, Allana Rhubarb, the future’s grim for Lilydale Hospital, especially its inspirational art club (Plasticine pancreas, anybody?) and radio station Sick FM (top hits include The First Cut is the Deepest). It’s looking bad for Dexter’s granny too – her op’s been postponed until 3025. Alongside the exciting (and bodily fluid-spattered) exploits of Dexter, we learn a multitude of medical and other facts from witty “annotations” to the text. Age eight to 12.

When a book begins with an ice-cream ambush, you know it’s got to be good. Clem Fatale has Been Upstaged by Eve Wersocki-Morris is a theatrical adventure starring gumshoe Clem and best friend Gilbert, a pupil at St Loquacious Institute for Little Lords, who has “fewer gangster instincts than a hothouse plant”. Entertainer Betty Wade is missing, along with a haul of jewellery. Glorious pastiche of a gangster classic for ages nine to 12, with chases and shocks galore, but only the mildest of peril.