Sword and sorcery

Fact as well as fantasy can inspire the 8-12s, says Christina Hardyment. Roman history joins Celtic myth in her choice of fiction and non-fiction titles

Carl Hiaasen is the latest in the lengthening line of fine adult novelists to turn to writing for children. Hoot (Macmillan, £9.99) is sharp, fast-moving writing with an immediacy which children will revel in, and a cover which deserves to win an award for economy and elegance. It's a tale of a boy learning to fight back at bullies thanks to help from Mullet Fingers, an endearing misfit who avoids school altogether, and Beatrice, a formidable older girl. This might make it sound predictable, but it is not. His new friends lead Roy into a fight against more heavyweight bullies: ruthless developers who plan to build a new pancake houses on a site full of rare burrowing owls. Plenty of ups and downs, and a spectacular finale make this new classic of children's literature unputdownable.

Chris Riddell's illustrations are half the charm of the now-famous Edge Chronicles, which he co-authors with Paul Stewart. The latest is Last of the Sky Pirates (Doubleday, £10.99) which introduces a new young hero: Rook Barkwater, a would-be librarian knight! Nothing turns out as you expect, and there is a cliff-hanger on every page.

Fans of the series will also be grabbing a separate Paul Stewart/Chris Riddell title out this month. Muddle Earth (Macmillan, £12.99) owes a good deal to Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, not just in its many "aarrgghh"s, slobbering ogres and wizards in pointy hats, but in the irreverent chuckle-a-minute dialogue.

Addicts of Jenny Nimmo, of whom I'm proud to be numbered, will rush to buy The Time Twister (Egmont, £10.99), sequel to Midnight for Charlie Bone in a series called Children of the Red King. The shadow of Harry Potter hung over the first book, with its mysteriously magical Academy and awesome aunts. But The Time Twister confirms the place of the series in the realms of more ancient Celtic mythology, which are classic Nimmo territory.

Stephen Biesty's awesomely detailed and meticulously researched books of cutaways and cross-sections are now established classics. His latest, Rome (OUP £12.99), takes apart a day in the life of Titus, the son a Roman senator. After an aerial view of the city as it looked in AD128, watered by great aqueducts and the mighty Tiber, we tour not just the most splendid public buildings Europe has ever seen but also Titus's home.

The more you look, the more you find, and astonishing facts fringe the pictures. Skiffs float along underground rivers under the Forum; elephants trumpet in a makeshift jungle in the centre of the Coliseum, from which trapdoors lead down to a warren of prisoners and gladiators. This is history in miniature, fascinating and fun to absorb.

One River, Many Creeks (Macmillan, £9.99) is an attractive and approachable anthology of poems from all around the world, chosen by the Jamaican poet Valerie Bloom. Nothing jumps deeper or more memorably into the mind than a good poem, and these are unusual little windows into other cultures past and present. Rich in humour but not without sadness, full of illuminating observations of animals and plants which touch deliciously delicately on human nature: a silver-bearded Chinese grandfather who "chuckles like a locust tree"; Ashanti, whose "name sounds like water, like waves on the sea"; Amalkanti, who "wanted to be sunlight".

Mary and John Gribbin's Big Numbers: a mind-expanding trip to infinity and back (Wizard Books, £6.99) is a follow-up to their award-winning Time and the Universe. This is an equally lucid explanation, with a fashionable graphic mix of cartoons, charts and diagrams, of measuring everything from your basic "one, two, three, lots" approach to subatomic particles and the age of the Universe. It's full of surprises and staggering facts. I think my favourite is the largest living thing: a 2,500-year old honey fungus which covers 2,200 acres of Oregon, enough to carpet the whole of central London. Never mind children, this is a book from which every arts-educated science heathen could benefit.

Also in graphic form is a lively, new series called Explorers Wanted! (Egmont, £4.99 each). Readers can't but feel personally involved as Simon Chapman lists survival equipment, describes how the jungle is formed, and gives fascinating tips on what food to take and how to catch more, how to deal with dangerous animals (sweat bees, army ants), make rafts and mark trails. There are lively accounts of earlier explorers such as the intrepid "jungle survivor" Isabella Godwin, who set off up the Amazon to find the husband she hadn't seen for 20 years in 1769 – and found him!