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A football-obsessed boy’s kick sets off a comic-scale adventure, taking the game from Earth to the moon and bringing football-mad aliens into the story.

On a psychiatric ward, McMurphy’s challenges to Nurse Ratched’s rules prompt conflict among patients and staff. Bromden’s first-person narration filters events through vivid metaphors and perceptions that may be unreliable.

Expect a collection of short adventures built around Mrs Pepperpot’s sudden changes in size. The situations include a crafty fox, a monstrous mousetrap and enormous food.

This poem sets a planetary concern in motion through a meeting of six Earth Goddesses and Coyote’s decision to join them. Its central draw is the unusual gathering and what Coyote brings to it.

A magpie takes Splodge along with a shiny object, prompting Bug Belly and the other froglets to attempt a rescue. Their route brings dangers from owls and snakes; Bug Belly relies on an inventive plan and gadgets.

A lively introduction to BTS’s members and career, with the band’s rise set against the wider K-pop scene. It is particularly suited to readers who want the group’s story as well as some context for how K-pop idols meet pop audiences.

Expect a fantastical underworld of masked demons and hungry ghosts, with bargains involving personal treasures. Kasu’s effort to help Arun brings danger and deceit into a story that also features a cat companion.

A single collection combines familiar fairy tales with nursery rhymes. Scheffler illustrates the book; the selection includes animal tales and “Puss in Boots”.

Nine ancient Egyptian tales combine mythology with early history, while comic-strip storytelling and Rami’s appearances bring cultural and technological advances into view.

The story turns quiet into something Owl and Squirrel can gather: they notice stillness in nature and collect it to take back to Squirrel’s babies. The woodland journey pairs a magical idea with close attention to sounds and pauses.

The book introduces AI, including how it works, possible uses, potential dangers and biases. It is intended to give children and grown-ups a starting point for making sense of the technology.

Billy’s bond with Kes gives him a focus and a chance to show knowledge and skill. Around that, the novel depicts a troubled household, school bullying and corporal punishment, against a background of limited opportunities for working-class children.

The novel follows a friendship that begins with Natalie finding Tulip exciting, despite her lies and behaviour at school. Their invented games draw other people into the girls’ increasingly unsettling play.

Bod’s life among the graveyard’s ghosts and other supernatural residents gives him an unusual upbringing, while he faces dangers from both the living and the dead.

A comic animal adventure driven by clever schemes and escalating trouble. Mr Fox’s efforts to feed his family widen into a rescue for other hungry animals.

A fast-moving mystery-adventure pairs a boy’s search for his missing father with unusual beetles, new friendships and a colourful villain. Expect comic characters, insect facts and bursts of action.

A dystopian survival adventure about Jen and Father, an AI who has cared for her since she was a baby. Their search for a new home brings danger, new connections and a difficult secret.

Expect a tense escape-and-journey story shaped by David’s guarded outlook. New sights and ordinary comforts become striking discoveries, while the threat of being caught shadows his encounters with people who may help him.

The book centres on children’s questions and feelings about adoption, using a story-book presentation alongside steps intended to help them cope.

A quick-thinking mouse fends off animals that want to eat him by telling stories about a fearsome creature. When he meets the Gruffalo, he improvises again to get away.

Expect an expansive quest rather than a brisk adventure: the journey moves from the Shire towards Mordor, with the fate of the Ring tied to a wider war and Middle-earth’s deep history.

Follow Paul from the Atreides’ political upheaval to Arrakis, where the Fremen and the planet’s precious spice connect local life to the empire’s wider struggle for control.

A child-centred fantasy adventure about friendship across very different ways of life, with a final episode that invites readers to decide what really happened.

A close view of young soldiers’ wartime experience, with an anti-war perspective and attention to comradeship. It may suit readers ready to think about how war affects those sent to fight.

The progress-report format brings you close to Charlie's changing perspective. His growing understanding is accompanied by loneliness and painful memories, so the story is not simply an uplifting account of scientific success.

Expect an intergenerational family story shaped by biblical parallels, with identity and love among its central concerns. Its tone is described as often brutal, so the emotional register may be intense.

This is a sweeping fantasy about Zélie’s attempt to restore magic, pursued by the crown and complicated by her feelings for an enemy. Its imagined kingdom also carries themes of racial oppression and resistance.

A fantasy caper built around a criminal boy’s plan to ransom a fairy, with high-tech opponents and a possible clash between species.

At its heart, this is a story about Addie trying to make her voice heard and keep people from the town’s past from being forgotten.

A lively visual story about making a home from mishaps. Its strongest pleasures are comic accidents, inventive machinery, expressive illustrations and the animals’ growing community.

A gentle, visually clear introduction to adoption, centred on the Teazle rabbits welcoming a baby bunny. It may help begin conversations about joining a family and feeling wanted.

This offers a fact-led way to explore how volcanoes and earthquakes are understood, supported by diagrams and photographs. It may suit a child who enjoys topic books, though the balance between explanation, imagery and humour is unclear.

A brisk, gadget-filled spy adventure centres on Alex’s mission against Herod Sayle. Its appeal lies in danger, mystery and implausible ingenuity; its intensity comes from repeated threats, killings and peril rather than quiet character development.

A fast-moving historical crime novel with alternating viewpoints, moral uncertainty and romantic tension. Caitlin’s determination drives a search through sharply unequal New York, while William’s divided loyalties complicate ideas of justice and personal change.

Expect playful pirate adventure, repeated rhyme and a secret shared by a grandson. The colourful artwork adds humorous details, while the narrative pairs Granny’s swashbuckling exploits with ordinary home life.

A hands-on introduction to birds, their homes and garden habitats, combining flaps with facts about food, special features and migration.

This is an emotionally intense survival story about grief, anxiety and changing relationships. Its suspenseful wilderness episodes sit alongside Case’s uncertain understanding of his brother and the difficult process of living after loss.

A playful celebration of an unusual hairstyle, built around rhyme, bright illustrations and visual discovery. Its main pleasure is noticing who has a mullet and uncovering the final whale surprise.

This is a visually led introduction to ancient Egypt that combines an imaginative journey with factual exploration. It offers opportunities to notice details, learn terms and connect everyday activities with a historical setting.

A lively science book for readers who enjoy surprising animal facts and questions about perception. It moves across many species and senses, using illustrations, explanations and researchers’ work to make unfamiliar experiences imaginable.

An inviting introduction to crow lives, combining Oki’s fictional life story with factual explanations and close-up artwork. It offers a lively route into animal behaviour, observation and natural history rather than a conventional adventure narrative.

Elise Gravel’s graphic nonfiction book explains fake news, disinformation and conspiracy theories through deliberately silly fictional examples. Serious consequences include harmful health claims, pollution denial and damaging political accusations, though the tone remains humorous and non-blaming.

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.

This is a supernatural thriller about a transgender teen whose post-operative recovery is interrupted by a werewolf attack. Friendship, bodily change, prejudice and the pull of revenge sit alongside the horror premise.

This is a serious, emotionally charged story about a boy seeking acceptance and a grandmother carrying painful memories. Its Zimbabwean settings and two connected personal histories foreground prejudice, fear, guilt and forgiveness.

Expect a vivid underwater fantasy adventure led by a determined engineer, with a submarine expedition, imaginative creatures, perilous conditions and a group learning to trust one another.