All dedicated bookworms are familiar with the Victorian orphanage, looming large in children’s literature as a place of gruel and gruesomeness. Here we have something much much worse, the Home for Unfortunate Girls, an institution that houses girls with disabilities ‘that make it improper for them to be part of polite society.’ For 12-year-old Cosima and her officially ‘defective’ friends, years go by in ceaseless monotony. Until one fateful week in 1899, when they’re called upon to simultaneously foil a villain, stage a heist, and reveal family secrets, in the inspiring Cosima Unfortunate Steals A Star by Laura Noakes.

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Vivaldi by Helge Torvund is the perfect book for back-to-schoolers with ‘dread in their little knees’. It tells the story of Tyra, a little girl whose classroom experience has left her sad and silent. Her interior life is gloriously vivid, but at school she feels unseen. She’s in need of a friend, and as all true cat lovers know, friendship often arrives in feline form, in this case with the bluest eyes Tyra has ever seen. With her new pet, supportive family, and the inspiring music of Vivaldi, maybe life can be different. If only it were that simple.

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One snowy night, a little girl named Otilla runs away from home, into the deep dark woods. She runs all through the night, escaping we know not what, but in the best tradition of spooky tales, she comes upon an old and neglected house. Here lives a lonely skull, separated from his body and in need of a friend. We join this odd couple in The Skull by Jon Klassen. Adapted from an obscure Tyrolean folktale, it’s a strange and charming story of facing fear and finding friendship in unlikely places.

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Kids Fight Extinction by Martin Dorey is the third instalment in his excellent #2minutesuperhero eco-series for primary school children. Aimed at empowering  young readers in the current environmental crisis, Dorey is here to tell us that we don’t need a caped crusader in a Batmobile to save the world. Everyday people making changes can be the heroes of this story. Jam-packed with cheerful illustrations and information, the book sets us an array of points-earning missions. Tot points up at the end and achieve Everyday Superhero stardom.

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A young girl stands alone in a vast, dusty red landscape. No sound apart from her quiet breath, no people, no roads, just emptiness beneath an azure sky. She is wearing only one shoe, and carrying a locked metallic box that she cannot open. Three questions nag at her exhausted brain, ‘Where am I? What am I doing here?,’ and most worryingly, ‘Who am I?’. We find out in The Song Walker by Zillah Bethell, a twisty and evocative tale of song, sisterhood and spirituality set in the Australian outback.

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