Dragons? No thanks: Children pick their favourite reads

Felix Taylor (aged 14) loves horror and thrills, but there's such a thing as a novel that's too fictional

Blood Beast by Darren Shan (Harper Collins £12.99)

This is Darren Shan's fifth book in his series of 10, "The Demonata", and, as always, he's a joy to read. Though not as good as the previous four, this still has plenty of action, once it gets going. Grubbs Grady is settling down to live as a normal teenager, with his uncle Dervish. He gets a girlfriend and makes a new best friend. He goes to parties and lives the normal life of a teenager. This part of the book is pretty boring compared with the rest of the book, so keep reading. It all goes downhill when he starts getting the symptoms of the family curse - turning into a werewolf. He tries to keep this from his friends and his half brother, but it soon gets suspicious. The question is, where are the demons? This isn't as exciting as Shan's other books, but he continues to impress.

Fearless by Tim Lott (Walker £9.99)

Little Fearless used to be a normal girl, until she was taken away from her mother. She now works in what is virtually a prison, although to the outside world it is a school for children with behaviour problems. In this terrible place, they are forced to do the town's laundry and are made to use numbers and nicknames instead of their real names.

Little Fearless tells the other girls stories about how their parents will come and rescue them. This is the only thing that stops them from becoming mindless slaves. The man in charge - the controller - doesn't want anyone to escape, because then the secret would be revealed to the outside world and the populace would tear the walls down.

Little Fearless, the bravest girl in the institute decides to escape. This proves very difficult, but she manages it by hiding in the rubbish bins. On one of her trips out to try and convince people that the children are prisoners, she gets caught. What will happen to her? Will the prison be found out?

The plotline of this novel is quite basic, but nevertheless it's a very good one. It's a thoughtful, descriptive book, concentrating on the girl's emotions, but this is not just a story for girls - it's for all readers in the "young teenage" category.

The Fire Thief Fights Back by Terry Deary (Kingfisher £7.99)

This is the third book in this series of stories about the Greek gods, all based on myths and legends. Hermes is the son of Zeus, and Zeus has been captured by the evil god, Typhon. He has cut off the tendons in Zeus's arms and legs so this prevents him throwing his bolts of lightning or running away. He is kept in a cave and guarded by a huge bronze dragon.

Zeus's wife, Hera, has forced Hermes to rescue his father with the help of a centaur. Meanwhile, Hecatonchires has travelled to the future to escape The Avenger, who is trying to track him down. He befriends a young boy named Sam, who works with his mother in selling a fake magic potion in every town they go to.

I must admit, I am not too keen on Terry Deary's books because I think they are if anything too fictional, with dragons and gods and so on. You may think that I am a hypocrite because I like Darren Shan, but that is different - his book are scarier. But though I don't especially like the plot, it is a good idea to write a book about Greek myths.

Deary is a very funny man and he shows this in his writing, adding in jokes and footnotes at the bottom of the page. You don't need to read the previous books in the series to understand this book.

Poppy Fraser (aged 12) likes her fairy-tales spiced up and unpredictable

Sea Change by Kate Cann (Scholastic £5.99)

Chloe is a quiet sixth-form student; she would much rather read books than chat on her mobile. This all changes when Davinia Morgan-Harwood, a spoilt rich girl, arrives at her school. When summer approaches, Davinia invites Chloe to come with her and her parents to the tropical island of Caminos. There, Davinia finds herself a sleazy boyfriend, Max, and the Morgan-Harwoods ask Chloe to look after her. Davinia wants to play "grown-up" games with Max on the beach so, at a festival, deserts Chloe in the dark town square. Although this book is a bit predictable, I still couldn't wait to turn over the pages - maybe due to the sexual references and swearing that some parents probably wouldn't want their children to read!

An Urgent Message of Wowness by Karen McCombie (Scholastic £7.99)

Like Karen McCombie's other books, this is a mad and funny story full of surprises. Heather is the only one in her family with no "wow-factor". She has an athletic brother, a cute little sister and beyond-perfect parents. But when her dad leaves them, everything goes haywire. Her brother starts a band and his gothic friend moves in; her sister turns into a weirdo and her mum becomes a salsa-dancing hippy. Now Heather's the only normal one left! This book is like a rainbow of humour, craziness and magical endings, but is far from being a fairy tale. It made me laugh out loud. Suitable for most ages.

Hollywood Bliss: My Life So Far by Chloë Rayban (Bloomsbury £5.99)

This is a funny and enjoyable book about a girl named Hollywood Bliss Winterman, Holly for short. The daughter of a famous pop star, Holly hates the rich life. Wherever she goes she has to take a bodyguard and she's always being chased by the paparazzi. Her mum decides to marry Hollywood hunk Oliver Bream, who has an argumentative son called Shug. Holly goes along with the marriage plans, but finds (much to her horror) that she's falling in love with Shug. I found this book funny and original and I would recommend it to anyone.

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd (David Fickling £8.99)

Before Salim and his mum move to New York, the two of them spend a weekend with his cousins, the Sparks, in London. Salim asks to go to the London Eye but when they get there, there is a huge queue. A suspicious man comes up and offers his ticket to Salim. His cousins Ted and Kat watch him go up slowly in the air but, when his pod comes down, Salim has vanished. Ted and Kat then try to track down the man who gave them the ticket. This book is so full of suspense that it keeps you guessing until the last page.

How to be Popular by Meg Cabot (Macmillan £9.99)

Steph finds a book that tells her exactly what to do to be popular. With its help, she gets the attention of her secret crush, Mark. She ignores her old friends to hang out with the cool crowd and even thinks of holding a rave in Grandpa's observatory. Of course, like in all fairy-tale perfect books, she eventually does the right thing - which makes the plot slightly dull and sickly. Things like her making out with her friend Jason on the observatory floor make up for that, though. At these points my boredom stopped. Unchallenging but very readable.

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