PONY racing, fairy folk and a rivalry between Eithne and Mandy are just some of the themes of Pauline Devine's new novel for teenagers, Riders by the Grey Lake (The Children's Press, £3.95). Illustrated by Terry Myler, and written in a bouncy, breathless prose that maintains its pace throughout, the book takes its readers headlong from page one until the finish line looms up and the prize is won.
Eithne has the gift of second sight and has no difficulty with the boy on the white horse who lives in Knocanore Hill, while Mandy and her friends view her as being merely "weird". Then there's the mining company which wishes to develop land sacred to the spirits. Mandy's father sees only the prosperity it will bring, while Eithne's mother wishes to preserve the natural beauty of the environment. Full of incident and with attractive, well-drawn characters, Riders of the Grev Lake is a whirlwind of a read
The Guns of Easter, by Gerard Whelan (O'Brien Press £3.99), is set during the insurrection of 1916 and tells the story of 12-year-old Jimmy Conway's odyssey through the war-ravaged streets of Dublin as he goes in search of food to feed his starving family. This is history sweetened by the emollient of an exciting and well-told story, teaching as it entertains.
Set a few years further on during the Civil War period, Ann Carroll's Rosie's Troubles (Poolbeg, £3.99) sees time travelling Rosie in Croke Park on Bloody Sunday while on a quest to find out what happened to her Gran's best friend Catherine, who disappeared around that time. Again, many of the events and personages of that troubled period appear, the writing is lively, and, in Rosie, our author has drawn a most likeable and vivacious heroine.
Back to the present for Joyce A. Stengel's The Caribbean Jewels Mystery (Poolbeg, £3.50), in which 14-year-old Cassie Hartt finds adventure and romance aboard a luxury cruise liner bound for Martinique. The exotic locale gives an extra fillip to a story that also sees Cassie having to come to terms with her new stepmother and stepsister, while at the same time striving to rescue a stolen statue and restore it to its rightful owners.
Leon McAuley's Albert and the Magician (O'Brien Press, £3.99) is for younger children and tells the tale of seven-year-old Albert's encounter with The Great Gazebo, a magician gone somewhat past his sell-by date. However, with his aid, Albert manages to put one over on his older sister, Fionnuala, whose teasing of her brother contains a streak of cruelty. The black and white illustrations by Josip Lizatovic add greatly to a most entertaining package.
Finally, we have Eileen Dunlop's collection of Celtic stories and myths, Waters of Life (Poolbeg, £3.99). The book contains tales from Scotland and Ireland that deal mainly with water, and in them feature all kinds of mermaids, witches, water spirits and seals that turn into people and vice- versa. Plenty here for those who possess a fantastical turn of mind.