What Are You Looking For?

Helmuth secretly listens to BBC news on an illegal short-wave radio, then distributes leaflets challenging what people are told. Arrested and tried for treason, he awaits execution while memories reveal how he reached this point.

Ready’s resourceful exploits and the balloon ascent set an adventure in 1853 San Francisco, with the city’s post-gold-discovery daily life as part of the setting.

A young artist paints animals in imaginative colours and forms, taking pleasure in the finished pictures. The story celebrates making art freely rather than trying to match familiar expectations.

A fashion-focused school story about Emma's designs, a magazine opportunity and the secret identity she creates. Friendship, school life and a new crush add competing demands.

Riven’s military mission takes her from a war-ravaged parallel world to modern Earth, where she must find and bring home Caden while trying to fit in.

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.

Expect a varied collection rather than one continuous story: its contents include Gothic horror, suspense and detective tales, with subjects such as murder, burial and fear.

Nikki is balancing summer plans with uncertainty about a visiting student's interest in her and the possibility of hurting Brandon. A personal decision sits at the centre of the story.

A teen social-life story about fitting in, dating and trying to manage different versions of oneself. Lucy’s three party invitations give the identity charade a practical, increasingly complicated shape.

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.

This is a friends-on-the-case mystery built around apparently eerie happenings and the possibility that someone wants the girls to leave. The friends set out to investigate rather than simply accept the haunting story.

A fantasy adventure sends Spencer and Daisy, alongside rebels, fleeing the Sweepers. Spencer has a fabled manual and must work out how to summon the founding witches to help save education.

A fairy-led adventure combines exploration of Key West with a journey into its past. The lighthouse and the 1835 hurricane bring local history into a story of time travel, hazardous weather and a rescue question.

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

This fantasy follows two teenagers in different worlds whose paths meet around a portal, a rescue effort and a prophecy. Koren’s newly discovered gift may help or endanger her people.

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.

Chewbacca's story is retold through selected highlights from four films, with a character head on every spread and a button-triggered Wookiee sound woven into storytime.

A gentle, fantastical story about Gracie trying to keep a star close, then attempting to bring back its shine when it turns dull in her hands.

Orion must respond to an emergency at a space station by decoding alien messages, tackling security and playing a laser game. Computer programs and a reference manual accompany the adventure.

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.

The story centres on two friends pursuing answers after Hamilton’s father is poisoned, with suspicion falling on several people around the family.

This illustrated adventure combines a mystery about a brother’s death with a task to protect a valuable diamond. Ivy’s family life at a funeral home and her encounters with several people drive the plot.

A gently described adventure follows Solo from one discovery to the next. The mystery of her mother’s whereabouts gives the exploration a thread of uncertainty, alongside a fright in the cellar.

An adventure about Han’s ambition to become a pilot takes him from Corellia into a dangerous criminal-underworld job. Chewbacca and smuggler Lando Calrissian are among the characters he meets.

Expect a hands-on project as well as a retelling: readers are guided towards creating puppets, props and a stage, then putting on a play using a starter script.

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.

Three pet mysteries bring Sly, a schoolgirl who also works as a private detective, into the odd goings-on around her neighbourhood.

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.

The story combines horse riding and competition with a mystery: Vivienne suspects Harmony may have witnessed the vet’s death and begins investigating whether it was murder.

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.

Expect angelic training, exams and supernatural conflict, alongside a faith-focused story about Jonah facing setbacks that touch several parts of his life.

Ming’s search for the tomb links a present-day family predicament with accounts of Emperor Qin and the ancient terra-cotta soldiers. The story also includes photographs of village life, the Great Wall and the excavated tomb.

This is a survival story about a teenager adjusting to an unfamiliar life after being separated from the person who shared her upbringing. Sky’s search for River also leads towards a revelation about their past.

Expect a high-stakes fantasy adventure built around coordinated quests, magical talismans and an impending conflict over the mer realms.

A compact film-history survey, it follows the genre from Méliès’s early experiments through well-known films and groups its material around subjects such as aliens, robots, future worlds and science.

This is a magical retrieval adventure: Rachel and Kirsty try to get Scarlett’s stolen garnet back. Its loss disrupts the fairy’s size-changing magic, while the larger series quest concerns finding seven jewels.

The siblings face a mysterious forest, Aunt Eda’s many rules and questions about their missing uncle. Strange creatures, night-time sightings and the contrast between chills and humour shape the story.

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.

A high-stakes fantasy quest follows Corayne and a varied band of allies as they try to prevent a magical threat from destroying their realm.

A fast-moving contest against a corporation unfolds through activism, public revelations and suspicions of a concealed operation. This is the concluding instalment, so the conflict belongs to a larger series arc.

This is a Moon-colony mystery about a boy seeking answers after his father fails to return from a mission officials deny ever happened.

This is a playful story about turning an impossible wish into a sequence of experiments. Its appeal lies in the boy’s imaginative plans and the surprising distinction between a star in the sky and something star-shaped.

A focused, dual-narrative historical novel about displacement, survival and access to water. Its language is spare, but the experiences include war, deaths and severe deprivation, balanced by perseverance and collective problem-solving.

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.

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 nature story combines a small character’s change of circumstances with information about oak trees, seasons and the many species associated with them.

This is a creative introduction to feelings, using alphabetic rhymes and animal imagery to give emotions memorable forms and language. It may work especially well as a shared conversation book.

This is an active read-aloud: children can watch each animal, hear a movement prompt, and answer “I can do it!” before copying the action. The sequence introduces body parts and movement words through repetition and colourful collages.

This is a gentle story about staying emotionally connected when physical contact is not possible. It offers several concrete, non-touching ways to show affection, while keeping the reason and duration of separation unexplained.