What Are You Looking For?

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.

A true story about two sisters facing Nazi persecution and Auschwitz, centred on a promise, their separation, and Toby’s attempt to save Rachel.

A good deed brings Rupert a golden goose, but a feather-stealing attempt sets off a growing chain of people stuck to the bird. The tale pairs this comic predicament with Plasticine illustrations.

Mr Elliot is a school custodian who cannot read, a secret he has hidden for years. After recognising a child’s difficulties, he decides to learn, with his granddaughter as his audience.

A summer job that promises cooking and camaraderie turns into monster hunting. The story follows Toby as he faces frightening creatures and considers what might happen if he leaves.

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.

A reference-style exploration of Jewish values, customs and concepts, organised by Hebrew letters. Each entry is paired with a story; subjects range from faith and respectful argument to generosity, rest and study.

Jessica’s love of dolphins is part of her everyday life, from learning about them to wearing a dolphin piercing. Her summer also includes time with friends, beach activities and a family trip to America.

A lively introduction to Jack Russell terriers combines breed history and traits with stories of dogs doing unusual activities.

This is a supernatural fantasy about Joy’s Sight, an assassin’s threat and a consequential choice involving Ink and the Twixt. Her decision may affect those close to her.

Expect a broad tour of technologies, from communication and household inventions to transport, robotics and microtechnology, rather than a single inventor’s story.

Players’ recollections are combined with league history, press coverage, statistics and illustrated material, giving the book both personal stories and a broader historical frame.

This is a perilous adventure about a boy pursuing escape and reunion, with a fantasy thread built around his father’s unfinished dragon story. Benji’s disability is central to how he sees himself and how others treat him.

A relationship-led coming-of-age story about a transgender teen navigating a new school, friendship and the decision to share her past. It combines first love with questions of trust and belonging.

A Jewish faith-focused conversation book: children’s questions about God are answered by rabbis, often with stories, followed by activities for personal reflection.

This historical tale centres on Melkorka’s efforts to survive captivity, learn about the people holding her and care for frightened children. Her silence becomes part of how others respond to her.

A supernatural adventure built around a missing-father mystery, a secret society and threats involving evil sages. Christian symbols are part of the boys’ equipment and the story’s spiritual-warfare premise. In the revised version, added scenes and twists heighten the hunt and battle.

Lily’s care for Adam and her wish for independence run alongside her growing concern for Nori, a dolphin in captivity for treatment. The story brings family responsibility into tension with animal welfare and the question of release.

This is a grief-centred story about a teenager facing her mother's death, state care and successive foster homes. It also follows her relationships with friends and the possibility of finding family in unexpected places.

A teen’s attempt to turn grief into a list of brave experiences drives this novel. Drawing, friendship, family strain and a developing crush all shape Georgia’s search for what living fully means to her.

A collection of boyhood escapades turns homemade attempts at extreme sports into comic tales, from car-towed skiing to improvised jumps and a bear encounter.

The story combines family tensions, a ghost and Sami’s adjustment to life at the manor. Her attraction to Adan crosses the boundary of the old feud, though romance is not the sole focus.

A family-and-basketball story: Billy is caught between his father’s expectations on court and the upheaval at home, while his brother Ben’s piano recital competes with the championship game.

A horse-and-friendship story with a ghostly mystery: Ellie and Jonah try to discover whether a haunting lies behind the guests’ worries and the threat to the family business.

A lively family wedding story, with Ellie’s worries about bad luck alongside humour, mishaps and Jewish wedding traditions.

Expect accounts of wartime deception and resistance, including military fakery and efforts to misdirect German forces. The book also features archival photographs, colour maps, illustrations and sidebars.

This is an alien-invasion survival story centred on Jesse, whose escape and unexpected powers leave others treating him as a possible saviour. The immediate stakes are stark: most people have been killed or enslaved, and further aliens are expected.

The story follows the consequences of a hit-and-run across four teenagers’ lives, including a choice to conceal what happened and the pressure of protecting a future in sport.

This is an activity-led book rather than a story: each maze is designed to reveal a picture, with some puzzles adding an inverted-path colouring challenge.

Expect a fantasy adventure centred on a riding competition, a lost magical helmet and help from two friends. Horses, fairies and goblins are part of its story world.

A fantasy finale about a young hero confronting a death prophecy and defending a city under attack. Family protection and the prospect of peace sit alongside the danger of war.

A witty, sharp-edged Cinderella variation follows Becky through sudden glamour and public attention, while she tries to hold on to who she was before the transformation. Expect satire alongside questions of beauty and belonging.

This is a friendship story shaped by serious illness and anticipated loss. Jory’s changing relationships and her struggle with anger sit alongside the practical and emotional support the characters offer one another.

Bat and Squirrel communicate through notes while awake at different times. Their misunderstandings shape a humorous friendship story about finding common ground across differences.

A fast-moving adventure mixes cousinly competition and outdoor challenges with a science-fiction mystery about a meteorite—and what it may have brought with it.

Dogs drive cars, run through mazes and take part in a party high in a tree. A recurring hat question adds a small comic thread to this lively, colourful story.

Mare searches for people like herself and tries to gather them against the new king. Alongside rebellion and shifting loyalties, the story follows her reassessing her identity and past relationships.

A famine-era story links Giovanni’s change of heart to the St Joseph’s altar tradition. Faith, prayer, food and generosity are central, with a practical altar-making guide at the end.

This is a comic school mystery as well as a friendship story: the newcomers must piece together what is happening while learning how the school’s social world works.

This adventure follows Alfred and his animal companions across the Pacific, where historical sites and present-day marine damage shape his travels. Encounters with an environmental crew prompt him to pursue ocean protection.

Expect a varied story collection rather than one continuous plot: familiar myths and literary tales sit alongside tall tales, folk stories and a selection of poetry.

A missing magic hoop gives Rachel and Kirsty a clear quest amid preparations for the Fairy Olympics. The goblins’ threat makes the competition’s fate part of the adventure.

A Batman mystery combines a threat to Gotham’s bridges with flashbacks to the city’s formation. Dick Grayson is Batman, and other costumed allies take part.