What Are You Looking For?

This is a high-stakes fantasy sequel combining a love triangle with battles, prophecy and threats to whole populations. Its strongest appeal is likely the mixture of romance, magic, creatures and extreme peril.

A fast-moving mystery-adventure about children building a home together while uncovering secrets around a missing billionaire, a threatening uncle and a possibly real sword-wielding protector.

A playful, participatory story combines repeated wind sounds, a determined spider and shape recognition. Its strongest offer is shared looking and joining in, rather than a realistic account of how spider webs work.

A lively historical mystery follows Scooter from helping with staged séances to investigating a death after finding a dead man in Houdini’s torture tank. It offers adventure, period atmosphere, supernatural imagery and a brisk first-person voice.

An adventurous Arctic quest gradually becomes a confrontation with powerful institutions and adults who control children’s lives. Lyra’s courage, unusual companions and truth-seeking device drive a story that leaves moral boundaries deliberately unsettled.

A good fit for readers who enjoy ghostly mysteries, clues and twists, especially when a story also explores family changes. The suspense is prominent, though the narrative may feel crowded and its conclusion is described as contrived.

This is an informational collection of women’s wartime experiences, spanning roles such as medical work, journalism, resistance and revolutionary activity. It presents participation on multiple sides of the Vietnam War rather than treating the conflict as an all-male story.

A fast-moving historical adventure about two samurai sisters who leave an unsafe school to find their mother and younger brother, while facing danger and pursuing family honour.

A lively haunted-theatre adventure for readers who enjoy supernatural mysteries, jokes and rapid action. Expect ghosts, occult activity, threats to Zack and references to brutal past deaths, alongside a developing friendship.

Expect a brisk fantasy quest built around danger, escape and puzzle-solving. The book spends substantial time in Noradz, where cleanliness is enforced harshly, before moving towards a frightening confrontation in the City of the Rats.

A quest fantasy about Daring Do trying to reach Cirrostrata, a hidden city above Equestria. Legends, ancient magic, a rare Pegasus type, a mysterious treasure and hazardous flying create the central mystery.

This is a supernatural camping adventure centred on two siblings confronting a frightening creature. Its strongest offer is atmosphere: mountains, forest, a loch and an ancient cave frame mystery, family interaction and danger.

This offers multiple literary forms and personal perspectives on Holocaust experiences, including survival and life afterwards. It may invite thoughtful comparison between voices, rather than provide one continuous narrative.

This is a fast-moving spy adventure centred on Cammie, Macey and their friends. Kidnapping attempts, presidential politics, school secrets and a developing relationship create a blend of danger, mystery and personal loyalties.

This is a setting-led adventure about determination, faith, travel and attachment to an animal. Its strongly romanticised treatment of events may be as important to discuss as Momo’s bravery.

A contemporary fantasy adventure follows Charlee from relocation and social difficulty towards visions, self-discovery and a potentially world-changing responsibility. The mysterious bicycle appears central to how she confronts the danger.

This offers an imaginative quest built around dreams, magic, wizards and a threatened fantasy land. Miranda’s movement through distinct settings may appeal to readers who enjoy fairy-tale-inspired adventures and determined protagonists.

This is a wartime story about a child trying to understand occupation, separation and moral choice. Its strongest thread is Marit’s changing view of courage, loyalty and compassion amid danger.

This is a magical rescue adventure in which Arica responds to the unicorns’ call and confronts a threat to their world. Expect fantasy creatures, danger, loyalty and a child making consequential choices.

This is a fantasy adventure about cats, competing Clans, prophecy and hidden motives.

A magical friendship story combines snowy adventures with questions about fear, loneliness, community and letting go. Tasha's bond with Alyana is central, while winter's persistence may affect other people around them.

Expect an urgent survival adventure in which two children must respond to rising danger after extreme weather separates them from their group. Its environmental focus sits alongside friendship, courage and the pressures of fitting in.

Expect an energetic rescue adventure moving between a rural industrial town and an imaginative jinn world. Nura’s loyalty, resourcefulness and courage drive the story, while friendship, family responsibility and resistance to exploitation shape its emotional centre.

A dark, imaginative adventure for readers who enjoy secret societies, mythological creatures and determined protagonists. Its strongest hooks are the hunter trials, the forest’s threats and Winnie’s effort to reclaim her family’s standing.

A fast-moving fantasy about siblings protecting a rare book while confronting tyranny, imprisonment and loss. Expect mystery, magical adventure and moral decisions, alongside darker material involving death, torture and violence.

Choose this for a child who enjoys eerie folktales, unusual friendships and stories that leave some things to imagine. The visual mood is shadowy, but the skull is presented as polite and friendly rather than simply frightening.

A football-centred mystery with a young investigator, kidnapping and criminal danger.

This is a fast-moving historical ghost story that combines football, Iron Age Britain and unsettling visions, with Seth’s family worry and a meeting that helps him find courage.

This is a bleak, emotionally charged dystopian novel: survival, loyalty and resistance unfold amid child combatants, grief and tightly controlled public narratives. Its literary symbolism and political ideas sit alongside substantial graphic violence.

This is an adventurous, emotionally charged animal-led quest. It offers talking animals, friendship and humour alongside a bleak altered world, separated families, imprisonment, disease and threats to survival. The ending appears to open into a continuing story rather than resolving every possibility.

A family’s fear grows as a huge black dog watches their home. Small Hope faces it, leads it on a chase, and discovers a playful way to bring it inside.

A gentle environmental story about a small, quiet character whose observations are initially overlooked. Whisper’s eventual advocacy involves friends, creativity and persuasion rather than simply becoming louder.

A gentle story about moving from a very small comfort zone into wider experiences. Mabel’s journey offers opportunities to discuss fear, curiosity, confidence, changing seasons and supporting someone who is hesitant.

This is an encouraging poetic address to dreamers. It presents ambition as a process involving time, setbacks and uncertainty, and values the effort and passion involved rather than promising that every dream will come true.

A lively introduction to women’s contributions across history and different fields, presented through colourful illustrations, short profiles, facts and quotations. Its page-by-page structure supports dipping in, revisiting individual figures and noticing links between personal achievement and wider social change.

This is an imaginative, issue-led adventure about environmental collapse, inequality and resistance, balanced by family loyalty and hope. Its vivid language may invite close discussion as much as straightforward plot-following.

A playful, illustrated story that uses rhyme and a small central character to explore dreams, fears and courage. Its chapter structure may support reading aloud in short sittings and revisiting key ideas together.

Expect a lively rescue adventure centred on Molly’s courage and cleverness. The pirate setting, island peril and treasure chase offer momentum, while Molly’s role gives the story an assertive child protagonist.

Follow Nathaniel from a Jamaican plantation to England, where his belief that English soil means freedom is tested. His hopes for escape and his family’s future drive the story.

A comic adventure about an underestimated child confronting a frightening threat, while the adults and children around him face the consequences of past choices. Its imaginative monster story also explores belonging, courage and changing relationships.

A tense survival adventure places young people in a natural disaster and gives Dylan and Louie difficult practical and emotional problems to solve. Its strongest thread appears to be movement from suspicion towards cooperation.

A fast-moving survival adventure where four children must depend on one another in an unfamiliar rainforest. Alongside practical dangers, it explores courage, trust, fear, friendship and the difficult choices needed to keep going.

This is a poignant historical family story about isolation, hardship and perseverance. Its emotional centre is Laura’s longing to help, belong and reunite her family, alongside compassion for a vulnerable turtle.

This is a creepy, atmospheric adventure for readers who enjoy forests, folklore, faerie magic and monsters. Its central appeal appears to be suspenseful discovery, with Pippa investigating what is watching from the trees.

A lively read-aloud about recovering a treasured teddy, with a bold heroine, pirate adventure, comic goat-riding and illustrations that offer plenty to notice together.

This is an atmospheric fantasy quest in a desperate winter-bound world. Quill travels towards danger and discovery, while ancient mythology, supernatural beings and a threatened balance between light and dark shape the adventure.