Eddie de Menthe doesn’t look innocent. He looks “as wrong as caramel popcorn”. Candy, by Lavie Tidhar (Scholastic, £6.99) is set in a city where sweet things are illegal but three kids are running bootleg confectionery rackets. Nelle Faulkner is a private eye on the case of a missing teddy bear, who has “been through the washing-machine of life”. Nothing in this town has been quite right since the chocolate factory closed and its aroma disappeared like a departing soul. Gumshoe comedy for ages nine to 12.
Biblical time-travelling is the mission of Scarlett and Sam, in Search for the Shamir by Eric A. Kimmel (Kar-Ben, £5.50). They journey to the time of Solomon and witness his wisdom — although they are bemused at his fancy-dress appearance. Solomon needs to build a Temple but may not use war-like metal tools to cut the stone. The answer is a shamir, a creature that cuts stone by gaze alone. Can the twins find one? Age six to nine.
Horrible Histories meets Hitchhiker’s Guide, with a touch of Finnegan’s Wake, in Natboff! by Andy Stanton (Egmont, £6.99), the story of mankind from “cavman” days in “Lamonic Bibber” to the distant future, ruled by fruit scientists, talking grapes and crows. On one level, it’s the same crazy, shaggy-dog universe of the Mr Gum books, energetically illustrated by David Tazzyman and guaranteed giggle-inducing for age seven plus; on another it’s a daring literary pastiche of which the full joy will be apparent only to adults or well-read teens.
A Country to Call Home, edited by Lucy Popescu (Unbound, £9.99, illustrations by Chris Riddell) is an anthology of experiences of young refugees and asylum-seekers. The variety of styles and perspectives ranges from Fiona Dunbar’s empathic tale of a teenager in a camp to Simon Armitage’s translation of Virgil’s verses describing souls waiting to be “trafficked” across the Styx. Judith Kerr recalls learning new languages as a refugee from Hitler, delighting in the brevity of French compared to German, while Miriam Halahmy’s outstandingly moving story, Memory Box, focuses on unaccompanied minors in care, for whom the gift of a copy of the Koran is transformative. Age 12 up.
