Whether it is a hotel you have planned for your holiday or an Airbnb, a selection of children’s books will provide resonant reading for the young person in your life this summer. In Murder at the Ivy Hotel (Scholastic, £7.99, 8+), Emily Hourican offers a mystery to solve and a family drama to resolve, as its spunky young protagonists Meredith and Macy try to save their mother’s job and their home from money-hungry investors. The sisters are lucky enough to live in the grand hotel where the book is set, along with a variety of idiosyncratic (semi-)permanent residents. However, the Ivy has been sold to a faceless, ruthless company, putting both their home and their mother’s job on the line. When a dead body is discovered in one of the hotel rooms, they set out to investigate to what lengths the new owners will go in pursuit of riches. While the murder-mystery propels the plot along, it is the wonderful intergenerational relationships the girls have cultivated with the wide cast of characters that make this such a memorable story. Taratarus Hall, the atmospheric setting for Catherine Doyle’s Scare B’n’B (Bloomsbury,£7.99, 8+), also has new owners, among them step-siblings Ted and Frankie, whose parents have decided to marry and, worse, move them into a crumbling mansion they intend to turn into a hotel. The resident ghosts are just as unhappy with the plan as Ted and Frankie are, and they set about scaring the family back to town and restoring its chief ghost’s reputation as “the most renowned (and fashionable) haunter in the known universe”. The spooky inhabitants haven’t reckoned with Ted and Frankie joining forces, and family friction eventually gives way to collaboration. With shifting narrative perspectives, including that of the Duke of Snoring and his obnoxious texting teenaged niece Lady Arabella, Scare B’n’B is more funny than frightful, and a rollicking laugh-out-loud read.[ Catherine Doyle: ‘Death and loss do exist in the world of children, so I never try to shy away from them’Opens in new window ]There are also unwelcome supernatural visitors in The Skidderwolves (Gill Books, €10.99, 8+), the debut middle-grade novel by Ciara O’Connor. The electrically-charged Skidderwolves used to run free in Shoak Village, but after a local was attacked one night, they were forced back into the forest, while the townsfolk were forced to make vigilant plans in case they returned. As the book opens, it seems the creatures may indeed have returned, and 12-year-old Rory begins to suspect his dad might be involved, as do other influential people in the town. There is a legendary feel to this modern story, and O’Connor’s finely-tuned, first-person perspective gives it an immediate and gripping set-up for a young reader to pursue.In Shane Hegarty’s Minotaur Boy (DKflip, £8.99, 10+) myth and reality also collide in a contemporary setting. Alex is an adopted boy whose true origins become clear when a huge spot on his forehead reveals itself to be a horn. He is actually of minotaur stock. As Alex acclimatises to his new awkward physicality, he discovers the modern world is full of monsters just as fearsome as anything in Ancient Greece. If the scenario sounds Percy Jacksonesque, Hegarty’s sardonic, playful tone turns this tale of adolescent transformation into something entirely original, and no less entertaining.Christopher Galvin’s The Thing About Giants (Walker Books, £12.99, 10+) pits man against beast, or, rather, girl against giant. However, Jacq isn’t sure she wants to be a giant-hunter, and when she forges an unlikely friendship with Corman, the mousy “monster” her peers are determined to eradicate, their allegiance becomes the linchpin of an unfolding adventure about accommodating difference: after all, “giants are like people”. With the memorable setting of Fatach, a walled city built from giants’ bones, Galvin excels at world-building, with excerpts from key historical texts about the history of giants adding to the enveloping fantasy. This is an immersive and impressive debut. [ Catherine Doyle: ‘Death and loss do exist in the world of children, so I never try to shy away from them’Opens in new window ]Finally, if you are looking to lure your young reader away from the all-consuming competition of the World Cup, two new football fictions might just do the trick. Strike by Mitch Johnson (Usborne, £7.99, 10+) pits a young boy’s football fantasy against his burgeoning social conscience. When Owen is recruited by the new Premier League club Hollowell, his coaches advise him to be brave, but is he prepared to sacrifice his own dreams to expose the dark underbelly of exploitation that fuels the multimillion pound industry? In Football Spy: Red Card by Matt Oldfield (Hachette, £7.99, 10+), meanwhile, an elite football trainee finds himself embroiled in a similar ethical dilemma, when he is recruited to the secret Department Eleven, and he must choose between potential glory on the pitch or off it. Both stories use football to fuel broader discussions about personal responsibility and the greater good, and the overall message is a resonant one worth considering as the World Cup continues: there are more ways than one to consider teamwork. This is a theme of Let’s Play Football (Little Island, €11.99, 2+) by Gordon D’Arcy and Paul Howard too, which turns reading into a physically active experience, with a gently interactive format fluidly illustrated by Ashwin Chacko. Perfect fodder for footie fans of the future.Sara Keating is a freelance arts writer