Frank Cottrell Boyce gives some suggestions for summer:
for me, the ultimate summer thriller has to be Philippa Pearce's Minnow on the Say (OUP, £5.99/£5.69). It's an adventure story about two boys using a canoe to search for a lost treasure on the canals and backwaters of their town. It's brilliantly plotted, surprisingly emotional, and held together by a verse puzzle that keeps you guessing to the very end.An epic of childhood freedoms - ad hoc picnics, tree climbing, and time-wasting. The other book that captures that freedom is The Far Distant Oxus (republished by Fidra Books next month, £12/£10.80). It is set during a riding holiday on Exmoor, and my children loved not only the story but also the fact that it was written by two teenage girls - Katharine Hull and Pamela Whitlock - while they were on just such a holiday...
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