Junior reading by Jessie Neilson

Prodigy Street is a street of wonders; of prodigious happenings, as the two human Toms discover on first meeting in the neighbourhood. In Margaret Mahy's Tale of a Tail cats and dogs haunt the street, masquerading as yowlers, hissers and mewlers; it's a place where dog-cats and cat-dogs coexist.

In Mahy's last work, based on a commission by a Polish acquaintance taken by her work, we have, as expected, a cast ripe for storytelling, and apt antagonists in the form of the roguish Cat-Kickers.

It is a street of heroes and villains, and alluring names like Farfetched Road, Wonder Walk, and Ominous Avenue abound. Mahy's story is full of wonderful word twists and catchy dialogue, and flighty characters in need of rescue. This is a rollicking story to beckon a young reader.

Ages 7-10.

The Curioseum is an assortment of short poems and bites of prose which had their origins in museum artefacts. Let a group of 22 celebrated writers zone in on Te Papa and they will create inventive histories for objects that spark something in their fancy.

While these stories began in the National Museum of New Zealand they could easily be transported to Toitu or Otago Museum.

There are tragic historical moments conjured up in wartime Vienna and on the battlefields of Gallipoli; and magical and mythical moments inspired by drawers-full of display case beetles, antiquarian attire for those instances of shipwreck, and samurai suits of armour.

A trip to the local museum would prove a great leaping point, and enable children to harness and express their own imaginations.

Ages 8-12.

Here are two fresh collections each of 25 short stories by New Zealanders. Featured are established writers such as Patricia Grace, Margaret Mahy, Emma Neale and Penelope Todd, as well as emerging names.

We find a variety of eager children's voices in everyday and preposterous situations where reality blurs with the imaginary.

Tales of goggle-wearing sharks and confrontations with the Hairy Man of Moehau jostle amongst crayfish-raising experiences and tree-climbing competitions.

The stories are short, sweet, and catchy: upbeatness is the thread connecting them.

The books' size, layout and font add to the accessibility and enjoyment.

Ages 6-7.

Grimhilda!: a fantasy for children and their parents was originally crafted as a script for a 2012 musical and is a jam-packed tale of witchy malice and parental foolishness.

By Dunedin-based writer Mike Crowl in conjunction with Cherianne Parks, the e-version contains emotive full-colour stills from the show.

Grimhilda! begins with a Peter Pan-type scenario: well-to-do parents abandon their child for a typically glamorous night out. Left in the company of a highly suspect child minder, 8-year-old Toby seeks solace in the make-believe world of his toys.

Yet under the influence of devious Miss Pimplay the toys come alive and havoc is wreaked. Toby finds himself on a quest through the Petrified Forest to save his parents, who have been spirited away.

Ages 6-12.

Two of Edinburgh-based prolific writer Alexander McCall Smith's children's series are set in African countries, amongst landscapes and cultures with which he is familiar, having been born in the then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

Precious is a 9-year-old Botswanian detective-in-training (her adult self appears in the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series).

This latest adventure in the Precious series features a visiting film crew on location, with main star Teddy, the actor lion.

The young girl is eager to be involved, saving the day when Teddy decides to roam afar. Informative diagrams wittily portray the sensory, such as a baby leopard afflicted with porcupine quills. What makes these books notable is McCall Smith's depiction of empathy.

His storytelling voice asks the child reader, alongside Precious, to consider their actions carefully. Thus it is important that the outcome for the lion is as harmonious as for the people involved. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Ages 7-10.