‘Hello, this is the office of Mr Penguin, Adventurer and Penguin. Mr Penguin speaking.’ These words launch our seabird hero into the very first case of his adventuring career. The fabulously named Boudicca Bones is calling. The owner of a dilapidated local museum, Miss Bones believes that there is treasure hidden somewhere among the exhibits. If Mr Penguin finds it, she can restore her beloved museum and reward him handsomely. Mr Penguin gleefully accepts, and so begins Mr Penguin and the Lost Treasure by Alex T. Smith, a thrilling, flipper-quivering escapade, involving secret tunnels, sinister characters, and a clutch of disgruntled alligators.

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In the best tradition of scary stories, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman begins with murder on a moonlit night. Three family members slain, while the fourth, a boy toddler, evades Jack the murderer’s blade and seeks refuge with the supernatural inhabitants of a nearby graveyard. Partly inspired by The Jungle Book, but with ghosts rather than animals bringing up the plucky orphan, Gaiman’s modern classic remains the only book to have won both the Carnegie and Newbery prize. This Halloween coincides with its 10th anniversary, prompting a suitably macabre review.

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If it’s true that science is magic that works, then this marvellous book is brimful of the stuff, a terrifying majestic force that looks like sorcery but proves to be mind-bending physics. The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day tells the tale of a young girl who wakes one day to an empty house, her family vanished and a terrifying, enveloping blackness outside the front door, that appears to stretch into infinity.

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The Little Rebels Book Prize was set up to reward kids fiction that challenges stereotypes and promotes equality, while still giving readers a cracking good story. Behold the 2018 winner, The Muslims. It’s the story of Omar, a 9-year-old Muslim Londoner, and his first encounter with bullying, prejudice, and the shock of feeling an outsider in his own country.

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With a nod to the V & A’s enthralling summer exhibition of Frida Kahlo’s personal artefacts, I’ve chosen to highlight Frida Kahlo by Isabel Sánchez Vegara, one of the most iconic artists in history. My hunch is that of all the artists that kids may engage with, this colourful Mexican, with her flamboyance and drama, is a surefire winner. Aimed at our youngest readers, this charming book works as an accompaniment to an exhibition or a stand-alone introduction to an inspirational character.

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