One of the handful of truly magical things that have happened in the past year was how one footballer shamed a government into feeding children. Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford MBE is a natural poster boy for staring down tough odds and working the dials on moral compasses. It makes perfect sense that he should have written a motivational self-help book for kids (with Carl Anka).

Conversational enough for the reluctant reader, but actually packed full of top-flight sports psychology and no little depth, You Are a Champion: How to Be the Best You Can Be (Macmillan) also marks the start of a book club aimed at disadvantaged kids – and WH Smith will give away a copy to the National Literacy Trust for each copy sold.

Magic can be controversial, though. Not in the sense of US fundamentalists decrying Harry Potter, but in that it sometimes provides a cheap way out of a plot hole. A selection of this season’s books pivot on some otherworldly powers, but this is the internally-consistent stuff of fable and legend, not just deus ex machina hocus pocus.

The setup for Kirsty Applebaum’s The Life and Time of Lonny Quicke (Nosy Crow) is engrossing. Young Lonny is a lifeling, a person who can save dying creatures – moths, rabbits, people – but pays for it with time off his own lifespan.

Accordingly, his family lives deep in a forest to protect Lonny from those who won’t have his best interests at heart. A series of crises pushes Lonny out into the world, where the contrast between what he has been told and the villagers’ beliefs about lifelings makes him lower his guard…

To Nigeria, where Efua Traoré’s protagonist, Simi, is a cosseted city girl, dependent on wifi and being ferried around Lagos in a middle-class bubble. Unexpectedly, she is sent to spend time in an off-grid village with a grandmother she has never met.

Children of the Quicksands (Chicken House) is full of secrets and myths that we discover alongside Simi, whose mother raised her far from the old-fashioned reach of her own mother, priestess of the Yoruba deity Oshun. Drawn by a power greater than her own will, Simi discovers a forbidden lake of quicksand, what lies beneath it and what it means to her broken family.

On to Australia now, where Meixing Lim is trying her best to assimilate into a baffling new culture while the local skinheads put up anti-Chinese posters and her family endures setback after setback. There is, though, a mysterious cat, guardian of the broken greenhouse in the garden, which only shows its fantastical treasures to those who need them most, when they need them most. A Glasshouse of Stars by Shirley Marr (Usborne) is full of ghosts, expanding houses and how unexpected friends and the kindness of strangers can make all the difference. The most magical sort of magic is unforced and matter of fact – a child’s version of magic realism, if you like.

Two reality checks balance out the fables and fantasias in the excellent Twitch (Walker) by MG Leonard, justly famed for her Beetle Boy series. Her latest is a twist-laden, thriller-like tale of a bird-mad boy, some bullies and an escaped convict hiding in the nearby woods who’s looking for the millions reputedly stashed there. It all hinges on who 12-year-old Twitch should trust: the ex-bully, whose olive branches might be fake, or his mysterious new birdwatcher friend.

At the top end of the age range is Something I Said (Bloomsbury) by actor and comedian Ben Bailey Smith, who has a parallel career as rapper Doc Brown (OK: he’s Zadie Smith’s little brother, too). When mild-mannered Carmichael – Car for short – becomes unexpectedly infuriated during his school talent show, the savage burns about his family and teachers go viral and he is suspended. Next thing, though, a US comedy show wants to fly him over to be on TV, much to the chagrin of his family. This wise and warm book is fat because it’s composed of equal parts plot and comedic riffing , all of which feels essential to its snort-out-loud charm.

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