How do you fancy visiting an island full of monsters? You do? Well, Corydon and the Island of Monsters by Tobias Druitt, is just the book for you then.

This fast paced adventure is all about young Corydon the goat herder who one day, while grazing his goats, comes across a band of pirates.

They kidnap Corydon because he is different from other boys (being born with one leg looking as if it belonged to a goat,) and they think he will make an interesting addition to their travelling freak show. So, he is thrown into a cage and loaded onto a cart with a whole collection of strange, magical creatures.

If you like the sound of it, why not give it a go? Corydon and the Island of Monsters is published by Simon and Schuster at £12.99 and is a great book for the ten years plus age group really exciting stuff.

My next book is also full of mystery and magic; Cloudsailors, by Hugh Montgomery. All alone, the orphan boy Sundeep looks up at the blizzard-torn mountains.

As the ice-needles swirl and snow packs the distant slopes, his thoughts turn to the Mountainfolk of myth and legend. But the old stories harbour a secret: a secret that holds the key to Sundeep's past and to his future. Soon he is faced with a decision. He has one promise to make and one choice whatever he decides, his life will change forever. Hugh Montgomery came up with the idea for Cloudsailors as he struggled to climb Mount Aconcagua in the Argentine Andes.

Humans are not meant for high altitude, as the air is too thin. But what if there was another kind of people who had evolved to live at the greatest heights, who could not descend because the air was too thick?

And if they did exist, how would they travel from mountain to mountain? The only way he decided, would be to sail upon the clouds in coracles of ice. The book also contains hauntingly beautiful illustrations by Liz Pyle which enhance the dreamlike quality of the story. Cloudsailors is published by Walker Books at £7.99 Pure magic. Well that's it for another week, but I'll be making a start on the Christmas books next week Hooray! Have a great week everyone.

Karen Hart