What Are You Looking For?

This is a comic-sounding story about Jack trying to find work that suits him, with advice from the people he meets along the way.

A fantasy mystery about Emma taking charge when violinists vanish, with music, a parallel world and connections involving her family driving her investigation.

A fantasy mystery about an independent-minded Alice, with photography setting the strange events in motion. It may suit readers drawn to a familiar Wonderland revisited through a new predicament.

This is a high-school romance about uncertainty, public attention and a teenager trying to make sense of past and present feelings. A song's popularity brings Nattie's private questions into wider discussion.

The visual arrangement is part of the poetry, not just decoration. Readers may enjoy noticing how the shape and placement of words contribute to each poem.

This is a teenager-centred adventure involving an unusual ability and missing children, with Jess caught between social expectations and her own ambitions.

This combines a boarding-school story with ghosts, an old abbey and a mystery centred on a persistent supernatural evil. Fiona’s friendships and her efforts to confront the danger offer threads beyond the haunting.

A high-status schoolboy’s resentment towards his father’s new ward shifts into a desire to keep her close. A mistake separates them, while secrets and betrayal unsettle his family.

The central idea is being boldly yourself, expressed through a drag queen’s performance. Consider whether that focus fits what you want to share with your child.

A playful, participatory fantasy: the reader is not just following events but is invited to help shape them with a pencil.

A fantasy adventure about a teenager who acts impulsively, becomes involved with a newly hatched dragon and faces a choice about preventing further destruction.

Expect an outdoor adventure centred on a dog’s determination to find her team, rather than an account of the race rules or a factual guide to the Iditarod.

This is a comic fantasy adventure built around a displaced heir, a possible magical calling and a risky attempt to regain power. Trix and Tiana's alliance gives the story a second strand beyond revenge.

This is a tense journey story centred on two cousins seeking a chance to make their own choices. Jaime’s drawing gives him a personal connection to home as the journey changes what it means to him.

This story centres on a teenager negotiating faith, attraction and the beliefs expressed around him at a Bible camp.

Expect a high-stakes fantasy sequel with strong romantic tension, jealous rivalry and dangerous powers. Its emotional centre is Dez’s determination to protect Kale while both characters face threats, loss of control and possible separation.

This is an approachable informational guide that explains puberty, body care and healthy habits through conversational advice, illustrations and practical instructions. It presents bodily variation as normal and invites readers to seek support from trusted adults.

This is an emotionally focused story about a fatal skating accident, a heart transplant and two families changed by loss and survival. Its speculative connection between the girls sits alongside realistic tensions about grief, dependence, independence and parental expectations.

A reassuring story about starting school, separation from a beloved comfort object and discovering that independence can include support. Bear’s experience gives children permission to find a new situation hard without treating that difficulty as failure.

This is a fast-moving supernatural mystery built around codes, riddles and island secrets. It offers an emotionally involved teenage viewpoint, with investigation intertwined with isolation, family conflict and danger.

This is a dark, imaginative continuation built around consequences, identity and dangerous attempts to repair a damaged world. It may suit readers who enjoy elaborate fantasy settings more than tightly focused character development.

This is a light, episodic school fantasy in which magical animals appear from Ms Plum’s cupboard and become catalysts for pupils’ changing behaviour, confidence, friendships and worries.

A poetry collection about young people using classic and spoken-word forms to explore identity, relationships, belonging and social issues, with personal narratives connecting poems to lived experience.

This is an adventurous animal-fantasy quest built around a threatened community, a stolen cultural object and young characters taking responsibility. Expect suspense, battles, pursuit and a strong contrast between courage, loyalty and ruthless ambition.

This is a quest fantasy in which music has unusual power and animals’ inner voices matter. Its imaginative conflict is paired with emotionally weighty separations, giving the adventure a tender as well as threatening atmosphere.

A fast-moving finale combines mythological adventure with questions of identity and belonging. Its emotional centre lies in characters confronting painful memories and deciding what they owe to friends, communities and the wider world.

This appears to be lively contemporary fiction about a girl balancing environmental convictions, musical ambitions, friendship and romantic feelings as exciting opportunities begin to reshape her world.

This is a serious family drama about a teenager carrying responsibility for a struggling parent. Its strongest material lies in showing how trauma affects relationships, choices and the possibility of accepting support.

A realistic school-and-family story about a small triplet seeking greater independence, with friendship developing through a butterfly-garden project and factual butterfly material extending beyond the narrative.

This is a supernatural horror adventure about a timid child facing ghostly control. Its central appeal is escalating suspense: a Halloween visit becomes dangerous when The Haunter's instructions grow increasingly threatening.

This is a child-centred mystery adventure combining seaside exploration, hidden places, secrecy and a rescue involving a royal child. Its appeal appears to lie in teamwork, discovery and sustained pursuit, though the ending and the intensity of the danger are not described.

This is a young-adult story focused on Marisa’s family party, with social life, dating and driving forming part of its adolescent setting. Its distinctive angle is the meeting of Cuban family customs and an uptight neighbourhood.

A discussion-led companion to Twilight, this collection examines characters, relationships, supernatural freedom and cultural allusions. It offers several contributors’ perspectives rather than continuing the story, making debate and interpretation its central experience.

This offers gothic fantasy, imaginative magic and a strong twin-sister relationship, with family secrets and romantic restrictions at its centre. The story also leaves the sisters facing an ancient curse, supernatural peril and difficult choices.

This is an interactive mystery collection: each case gives readers clues before Encyclopedia Brown’s solution. Its short investigations invite observation, deduction and discussion rather than requiring one continuous storyline.

A theatre fantasy turns familiar roles upside down: the ogre is frightened and unhappy, while the beautiful princess is cruel. Margot’s curiosity leads her backstage, where she helps challenge the spell holding children captive.

Expect a character-led fantasy adventure with romantic tension, shifting identities and a heroine negotiating personal freedom against obligations to her country. Its appeal lies in pursuit, hidden histories and gradual character change; the ending continues some series threads rather than resolving every larger question.

A familiar fairy tale becomes a villain-centred story about how family harm, bereavement and magical influence may contribute to the Queen’s transformation. Its emotional approach is sympathetic, but the character’s inner motives are not always fully sustained.

A portrait of Chanel’s rise in fashion sits alongside discussion of poverty, prejudice, self-invention and wartime controversy. The book offers achievements and faults together rather than presenting an uncomplicated style icon.

A character-led teen novel about using scientific curiosity to change everyday habits, while asking how body size, appearance and other people’s attention affect identity.

A relationship-focused coming-of-age story about a girl confronting a mother’s long absence, a changed family, friendship difficulties and new caring responsibilities. Poetry and supportive relationships help Apple express complicated feelings.

This is a myth-inspired fantasy about coercion, resistance and identity. Its central tension comes from Jae Hwa’s struggle to retain her humanity while serving a powerful god, alongside a damaged relationship and a threat to Korea.

This is a character-led family story balancing humour with poignant questions about divorce, remarriage, family reputation and growing into a more compassionate understanding of oneself and others.

This is a teen romantic comedy built around an awkward reunion, travel chaos and the possibility of moving beyond heartbreak. Expect a light, mishap-driven premise rather than a detailed account of every emotional development.

This is an imaginative, peril-filled adventure about children confronting witches, water orcs and punkchopgoons in cottage country, sometimes aided by a giant. Expect mystery and fantasy, but not a clear account of the ending or resolution.

Expect a historical adventure centred on Sally and Roger, their mother’s efforts to protect gold, and the threat posed by approaching British forces. The book also foregrounds family loyalty, courage and a woman taking charge.