Children’s and teens roundup: the best new picture books and novels

From insect adventures and alien invasions to the fate of 10 hapless chipolatas

Imogen Russell Williams

 @imogenrw

Sat 24 Feb 2018 09.00 GMT

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 Arachnid adventures … Spyder. Photograph: Scholastic

This month, Nosy Crow celebrates the centenary of voting rights for (some) women with an anthology of work by contemporary female authors, ideal for readers of eight plus. Crammed with assured writing from Katherine Woodfine, Catherine Johnson, Sally Nicholls and others, Make More Noise examines girls’ access to money, education, respect and power. It’s a thought-provoking collection of short stories.

Capable girls also battle patriarchal values in Robin Stevens’s A Spoonful of Murder (Puffin), the latest in the bestselling series starring 1930s schoolgirl detectives Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells. This instalment, set in Hong Kong, features ultra-English Daisy feeling “foreign” for the first time, an unexpected development in the Wong family – and a murder close to home for Hazel. Stevens’s combination of meticulous research, character development and a knotty plot is guaranteed to please.

MG Leonard’s entomological trilogy comes to a spectacular conclusion in Battle of the Beetles (Chicken House), featuring chitinous villain Lucretia Cutter on her most ambitious quest yet for world domination. As anti-beetle feeling surges, Darkus, Bertolt, Virginia and their six-legged pals must find Lucretia’s secret Amazon biome before she releases a wave of giant Frankenbeetles that will change the world for ever.

From Usborne, meanwhile, for readers of seven years and up, comes Politics for Beginners by Louie Stowell, Alex Frith and Rosie Hore, which clearly explains the basic principles of decision-making and political representation. As well as history, it explores differing ideologies and poses the big questions without ever patronising or overwhelming the reader. Kellan Stover’s infographic-style illustrations keep the packed pages vivid and accessible.