The Beautiful Game By Jon Blake. Jo’s Letter. By Mary Hooper. Walker Books, pound;3.99 each.

Dream On. By Bali Rai.

Twocking. By Eric Brown.

Barrington Stoke, pound;4.50 each

The majority of titles published for older struggling readers are too easily pigeon-holed as “special needs” books. Those that emanate from educational publishers are likely to be produced and bought in branded sets. The advantages and disadvantages of this are fairly obvious. A series such as High Impact from Heinemann, by virtue of strong editorial direction and a rigorous programme of test-reading at proof stage, is able to establish and maintain a reputation for reliability and effectiveness. Such series do deliver low reading age material, but interest levels (particularly for 14-plus readers) are often compromised by over-cautious language and subject-matter emanating from the gatekeepers of taste with the final say in purchasing.

General trade publishers have more freedom to operate, partly because they are able to present their wares directly to their audience, via bookshops. The Beautiful Game, an excellent book capable of appealing to readers aged 10 through to 16, provides a good example. It has been consciously conceived by Walker to fit into a “high-low” category (high interest, low reading age) but there is nothing in the packaging of the book to suggest this.

The game in question is snooker. Jamie, fancying himself as Ronnie O’Sullivan, challenges the junior club champion to a match in a moment of rash overconfidence. In fewer than 80 double-spaced pages, we see Jamie’s self-belief initially bolstered and then undermined by the reappearance of his wastrel father.

The culminating public denunciation of this wretched man, followed by a tearful reconciliation between Jamie and his mother, is somewhat melodramatic and psychologically unconvincing, but the heightened emotion is balanced by a sure feel for the subject (readers don’t need to know their Hurricane Higgins from their John Higgins, but it will help) and strong, no-holds-barred dialogue.

Jo’s Letter, another high-low title, belongs to a proposed mini-series of four “Letters to Liz”. This has the same 10-16 readership range but with girl appeal. Jo, the quiet one in a group of four, invents a holiday romance to boost her image, then discovers how difficult it is to maintain a lie. The ramifications are cleverly and entertainingly developed and then resolved by Mary Hooper.

A distinctive format - the books in this series are small and almost square - should appeal to those put off by more bulky reads.

Recent titles on Barrington Stoke’s Young Adult list, aimed at readers aged 13-plus with a reading age of eight-plus, include a splendidly moving story about a conflict between ambition, talent and perceived parental expectations in Dream On by Bali Rai, author of last year’s successful mainstream novel for teenagers, (Un)Arranged Marriage (published by Corgi).

Baljit’s Sikh parents run a fish-and-chip shop. He’s happy to help out most days, but when he wants to go to a football trial he fabricates a school trip to London. With impressive economy and tremendous characterisation (Baljit’s father is realised almost entirely by the dialogue), Rai manages to weave in subtexts relating to racism, cultural independence, feminism and a whole lot more. A glorious book.

Twocking by Eric Brown is an uncompromising tale of joy-riding and drug-running. Like Heinemann, Barrington Stoke does a lot of pre-publication test-reading and this title, we are told, “was adored by the consultant teenagers”.

Its depiction of a group of teenagers in the park pooling their money for a bottle of cider is certainly convincing. Because of its steadily escalated subject-matter, the ending (involving a fatal police car chase) is morally resolute and unequivocal. Acknowledging that its titles are not always accessible to those who are really struggling with reading, Barrington Stoke has launched a new list for pupils with a reading age of below eight. The first six books from 4u2read.ok will be parallel texts of books in the publisher’s existing list for 8- to 13-year-olds.

Michael Thorn is deputy head of Hawkes Farm primary school, Hailsham, East Sussex