Literary Review Children's Christmas Round Up

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the December / January super-soaraway-bumper edition of Literary Review is out NOW, and in its already brimming pages you'll find my round up of children's books for Christmas, featuring:

The Hanged Man Rises by Sarah Naughton,
Lockwood and Co by Jonathan Stroud,
Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse by Chris Riddell,
The Dead Men Stood Together by Chris Priestley,
Close Your Pretty Eyes by Sally Nicholls,
Hello Darkness by Anthony McGowan,
How to Be Invisible by Tim Lott,
Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein,
The Company of Ghosts by Berlie Doherty,
Hold Your Breath by Caroline Green,
Oliver and the Seawigs by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre,
and Runners  by Ann Kelley.

Telegraph Christmas Books Round Up

Sally Gardner: Hot stuff

Hello all: December creeps towards us, and what better time than to think about what books to get for any children of your acquaintance. Here's my round up of the best of this year, done for The Telegraph. It features a host of novels, from Sally Gardner, Emma Carroll, Katherine Rundell, Marcus & Julian Sedgwick, F E Higgins, Philippa Gregory, Anthony McGowan; my review of Patrick Ness' More Than This was cut, so I've pasted it here below:

 Patrick Ness’ More Than This (Walker Books, £10.99, 477pp), is a book which descends from our anxieties about our universe, as seen in films such as The Matrix. What is this strange world on which we live, and what if it was all a simulacrum? Ness’ treatment of his troubled gay hero is thoughtful and brave – which more than makes up for the slightly creaky premise.