10 books to while away the summer

The Book Thief
Markus Zusak

This is one of those rare books – a classic, that's also a page-turner and has sold millions of copies worldwide. Set in Germany during World War II, it's the story of a spirited young girl called Liesel Meminger who 'steals' books from a neighbour's library. She can't read at first, so her foster father reads them out to her. By the end, she's reading out books to the residents of the bomb shelter. A book of hope, and the transformative power of words and the imagination.

Skellig
David Almond

Sixteen-year-old Michael moves into a rundown house and finds a strange creature inside the garage. Emaciated and wizened, he has wing-like protrusions on his shoulder-blades, and eats spiders and flies. Is Skellig a human, a beast, or an angel? Readers aren't told. Even as life around Michael becomes chaotic and traumatic with his new-born sister desperately ill and his parents very worried about her, Michael makes friends with Skellig, as the creature calls himself, smuggling food and medicines down to the garage. Skellig isn't a fantasy novel, but its eerie with supernatural elements.

The Crossover
Kwame Alexander

This is a novel in free verse that foregrounds sports, family values, coming-of-age issues, and race relations in contemporary America. It's about two 13-year-old twin brothers, Josh and JB Bell, who're star basketball players. Together they're hard to beat but then differences crop up – a bust-up on court, a family crisis and a girl. Will they get back together, or not?

The Book of Lost Things
John Connolly

A poignant, disturbing book set during World War II about a boy whose mother is dead and whose father has remarried, and who seeks escape in fantasies about fairy tales – except that they're not the happy, placid ones that we generally find in the tales, but somehow uncanny. There's Snow White, for instance, who's become a glutton and the Seven Dwarfs are attempting to get rid of her; and Little Red Riding Hood, who is a seductive temptress.

The Graveyard Book
Neil Gaiman

Nobody Owens, better known as 'Bod', was a toddler when his entire family was gunned down by 'man Jack'. Spared by chance, Bod crawls to a graveyard, where the ghosts decide to shelter him. Gaiman's book, that won several awards, is about Bod's adventures over the next 14 years, the supernatural qualities he acquires and the ghosts he meets.

The Boy in Striped Pyjamas
John Boyne

Another World War II tale of an unlikely friendship between two nine-year-old boys – one, the son of the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and a Jew interned at the camp along with his family. Despite its grim background, and the tragic ending the book has gained renown as a modern fable about innocence in the midst of horrendous cruelty, selling more than five million copies worldwide.

Trash! On Ragpicker Children and Recycling
Gita Wolf, Anushka Ravishankar, Orijit Sen

This unusual graphic book tells the story of Velu, a small boy who runs away from his village and ends up a rag-picker in Chennai. The story becomes the scaffold for an exposition of the very real problems of rag-picking and child labour, and the issues of waste that our consumerist society gives rise to.

Barefoot Husain
Anjali Raghbeer

The story is a simple one of MF Husain, the famous artist, known for not wearing his shoes. Here, Husain has lost his footwear, and Jai, a young boy, sets out to help him find it. The two embark on an adventure, tramping on horses and other motifs taken from Husain's paintings and incidents from his life.

The Glum Peacock
Tabish Khair

This little-known gem is a contemporary fable for children with lessons on the importance of 'difference' and self-worth. The colourful peacock doesn't like his bright, multi-coloured plumes – he'd rather be white like the swan, or green-hued like the parrot. Giving away his colours, he's left with grey. He's happy for a bit, until his friends start teasing him as dull. So, the glum peacock reaches out to his friend, the snake, to regain his colours.

Our Nana Was a Nutcase
Ranjit Lal

This zany book has overtones of Enid Blyton, but with a serious touch. Four siblings with oddball names – General Gosling (17-year-old Avantika Singh), General Duckling (14-year-old Harshita) and Privates Dingaling and Dumpling (10-year-old twins Niharika and Nihal) – live in a sprawling mansion called Shadow House with their Nana, an ex-army surgeon, his batmen, their wives and an assortment of vintage cars. Nana is an eccentric, but fun – and then he starts to forget things. The kids' parents decide to sell off Shadow House and put Nana in an aged home. The kids then decide to save their home and Nana.