David Maybury | Blog

The mandatory round-up from last week – and starting at home with some festive lists from some prestigious voices:

Robert Dunbar has his Christmas wishlist in the Irish Times. Celia Keenan has the YA market sewn up with a long list of great books while Sarah Webb hits the headlines elsewhere in the Irish Independent – with books kids will love this Christmas.

Nicholas Tucker in the Independent UK has his own list of Best Books this Christmas. Johnathon Hunt has his YA books of the year on NPR. And Julia Eccleshare has her own list of children’s and illustrated books in the guardian.

Kate Kellaway reviews some of the latest picture book releases – Daddy Lost His Head (Quentin Blake and André Bouchard), Who Wants to Be a Poodle? I Don’t (Lauren Child), Red Ted and the Lost Things (Michael Rosen and Joel Stewart), The Lion, the Unicorn and Me: the Donkey’s Christmas Story (Jeanette Winterson), Jack Frost (Kazuno Kohara) and Fairie-Ality Style: A Sourcebook of Inspirations from Nature (David Ellwand)

This year’s fiction for the 11-18 age group is striking for three things. The first is the degree to which modern stories and contemporary young adult concerns and anxieties are filtered through or reflected in older forms of story-telling such as folk and fairytales, sometimes to terrifying effect.

The second and one to be warmly welcomed is the increasing availability of really good visual material in terms of graphic novels, illustrated books or even picturebooks for this broad age group.

The third, also to be welcomed, is the increasingly frank embodiment of political ideas and concerns in much of this work. It is important that young people be offered something more than the narcissistic concerns with appearance and surface that much of popular culture seems to assume they want. There’s a lot out there besides handsome vampires! – Celia Keenan, Irish Independent.

Geraldine Bedell looks at the latest books lost in the shadow of Meyer – Fallen (Lauren Kate), Hush, Hush (Becca Fitzpatrick), Shiver (Maggie Stiefvater), A Trick of the Dark (BR Collins) and The True Deceiver (Tove Jansson)

Vampires? Werewolves? Pffft! They’re all past it – and far too soppy. Imogen Russell Williams knows that Dragons are where the fun really is.

What was the best theatre of the decade? Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse according to the Times UK. Best films of 2009? Coraline steals the ‘best charmer of the year’.

This adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s children’s book was the theatrical event of the decade, starring a life-size puppet of a horse. The story was sublimely simple: a farm horse, Joey, is drafted to the western front, and Albert, the boy who loved him, goes off to France to rescue him. The effect was beautiful and devastating.

Philip Pullman is going the way of the Beedle Bard – creating a limited edition charity book.

And is Harry Potter competing with the Twilight shirtless bonanza? It seems so – Daniel Radcliffe is taking his shirt off. (/swoon)

Lyn Gardner gives Room on the Broom the thumbs up while Laura Barnett just can’t hate Gossip Girl.

According to Australia’s HeraldSun – and research from Canada -  Thomas the Tank Engine is too conservative and under-representative of women.

Viv Groskop looks for the young readers guide to feminism – as we all know… Girls are boring.

Adidas are tipping their toe in the world of comics… | Popeye and EC Segar get a nod from Google | Pied Piper of Hamelin is getting the Hollywood treatment | A classic comic collection goes under the hammer – and could raise some eyebrows.