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The boy’s hope of helping his family gives his night in the haunted house a practical aim, alongside the challenge of facing a frightening ghost.

This is a dual-protagonist mystery: Alice and her tutor Iris investigate what happened to Brooke, while Alice’s earlier disappearance remains unexplained. Their search involves a reward, a suspected boyfriend and clues from Christie’s mysteries.

Kim’s friend Natalie is pregnant and set to marry Ben, who does not love her. Meanwhile, Kim considers whether to reconnect with her birth mother and whether she and her father might take in her cousin Maya.

This retelling combines a Cinderella-like courtship with repeated rebirths and a violent final punishment. Its ending may prompt questions about whether revenge brings justice or simply extends the harm.

Readers navigate friendship tensions, a shared crush, discomfort about body hair and an invitation to join a popular group that comes with a price. Their decisions determine how their story unfolds.

Connor is taken to an island camp intended to make him change after coming out. He plans to escape with other teenagers and expose the camp’s secrets.

A comic-sounding Christmas caper brings cousins together around a shared attempt to recover their presents.

The renewed Empire’s assault on the Rebels unfolds alongside a threat to Han and Leia from Jabba’s heirs. Luke’s possible opposition adds a close personal uncertainty to the struggle.

The story follows the children as they learn about a family rift and try to uncover the past. The newly discovered aunt and cousin bring excitement, while their father’s silence leaves the reasons for the estrangement unresolved for the children.

A comic fantasy premise turns goblin expectations upside down: Matty’s parents want her to un-tidy and eat slug porridge, while her baby dragon’s goodness is a problem. Matty may seek help from the Forest Fairies.

A classic quest premise drives Alex from an unusual shop encounter towards a dragon's lair. The adventure is framed around courage, fear, friendship and choices that may change his life.

Malinda arrives at her mother’s home and finds that its beauty masks family secrets. She remains to seek the truth, while facing frightening events and threats to her life and sanity.

This is a family story about Cassie’s love of violin, her father’s explosive moods and the effects of past violence. It follows her flight to a homeless shelter and her family’s struggle to repair relationships.

Sage travels from Starland to Wishworld on a mission involving wishes, a deadline and the challenge of life on a new planet.

This is a story about siblings who have been moved between foster homes and an older couple who invite them into their lives. It centres on belonging, trust and the possibility of a loving home.

Cassie’s family struggles to preserve their land and dignity amid racism in Depression-era Mississippi. The story also contains threats, mob violence and other serious harm.

This is a coming-of-age novel about a gay teenager navigating family expectations, work and love. A parallel supernatural thread follows a murdered girl and an otherworldly Queen, giving the story an eerie counterpoint.

Rafe’s move away from home and worry about his father lead into a fantasy adventure involving classmates, angels and other mythical beings. His search for a way back becomes tied to a threat to the heavens.

The story centres on friendship under pressure and a powerful invention whose control could affect money, culture and politics.

Shiraz’s unexpected exam success opens a route into higher-level classes. She weighs that opportunity against her mother’s doubts, her café job and the prospect of mixing with wealthier pupils.

The book offers several school-life storylines, including a student's wish to change his appearance, another student's plan concerning bullies, a mysterious valentine message and an invention nearing its reveal.

A first day at school turns difficult when Patcheeno is picked on for his breed. His teacher and big sister help him persist, and the story ends with the pups accepting him.

This is an animal fantasy adventure with a moral dilemma at its centre: Veil’s choices are shaped by the welcome he receives, the crime that leads to his exile and his connection to his father.

This novel brings a missing-child crisis into the same small-town setting as Samara’s strained family life and changing relationship with faith.

Maddie’s first trip abroad combines exploration of Northern Ireland with questions about Ryan’s family past. Her changing ideas about her future and developing friendship with Ryan run alongside the mystery.

Three siblings discover they are heirs to a legendary kingdom and flee north. The route includes monsters, hostile people and a threatening factory, while tensions within the family add another challenge.

Nim's practical island skills and animal companions sit alongside a growing need to rely on friends when contact with her father stops.

The boys share games and basketball interests, while Jamal’s family food, mealtime customs and occasional special clothes differ from Joseph’s. Their friendship is the story’s central focus.

This is a hands-on introduction to family-history research: readers fill in details about relatives, organise findings into charts and records, and explore family stories and customs.

The story centres on three characters whose lives connect through a factory town shaped by scarcity and hardship. It brings together friendship, family ambition and resistance to the town’s rules.

Megan faces a move that means leaving her friends. She feels sad, but later finds positive aspects of living in a new place.

Expect a book to work through together: its problems range across everyday and imaginative subjects, and the three difficulty groups offer different levels of challenge.

This is a family story about two sisters getting to know their unconventional grandmother through a shared journey and her recollections. Her earlier life includes leaving home as a teenager and military service during the Second World War.

Louis’s reasons for joining include wages and the Union’s fight to end slavery. The story follows his experience in the Irish Brigade and brings together the perspectives of an Abenaki teenager and the Civil War.

Yelena’s hoped-for reunion and magic training are complicated by feeling out of place, a strict deadline and competing dangers. The story also brings her into a political struggle over Ixia’s throne.

A fantasy rescue adventure centres on friendship and helping Mae search for Pan Pan, who may be taken to Jack Frost’s icy zoo.

The scouts are unsettled after time-related events, and Jen sets out to encourage them through a search for a jackalope. They encounter a young cowgirl living in the woods with unusual animals.

A contemporary young-adult story about Ariana, consent and accountability, it follows her from a sexual encounter without clear agreement through rumours, new friendships and a group effort to expose Luis.

The novel follows three teenagers as the 11 September attacks reshape their lives, bringing grief and uncertainty alongside new friendships and a gradual effort to move forward.

A family’s escape from an abusive father begins as an adventure for Jayni, who adopts the name Lola Rose. As money runs out, the family’s new life becomes harder to sustain.

Babymouse wants to stand out rather than conform, and takes that ambition into the film club, where she sets out to make a movie.

Bayliss’s grief and fear of change unfold alongside her parents’ plan to foster two homeless girls. The story centres on sibling love, loss and the possibility of making room for new relationships.

A friendship-group story about choices and learning from mistakes, with loyalty at its centre. JP's choice around a contest gives the theme a concrete focus.

A family’s financial hardship leads to the sale of Joe’s collie, Lassie. After repeated escapes, Lassie is taken far away, and the novel follows her arduous attempt to return home.

Laila shares journeys about character, with making good choices presented as a way to support positive lives for herself and others.

An arrest changes Kalifornia’s living arrangements and school life. She must adapt to her father’s rules and police-academy drills while navigating a new partnership and trying to help someone in danger.