What Are You Looking For?

This is a fantasy adventure about training for a war, but it also puts Evie's ideas about princesshood, family and compassion under pressure.

The story pairs an escape adventure with questions of identity and friendship: Arthur gains a name and a loyal companion after a life of harsh treatment. Its fantasy world includes animal-human groundlings and a ban on music.

This is a fantasy adventure centred on Lirael’s mission and emerging sense of destiny, with Prince Sameth also drawn into a threat to the Old Kingdom.

A historical war story follows a young Abenaki recruit through battle and encounters with prejudice, acceptance and contrasting leadership. Its central perspective connects military service with the Union’s stated fight against slavery.

The story centres on Anaxandra’s resourcefulness as she repeatedly adopts another identity to stay safe. Greek mythological figures and the growing conflict between Sparta and Troy frame her struggle to find security and a sense of home.

This is an imaginative fairy-tale adventure about family, friendship and finding missing people, combining modern Virginia with an older magical world. Its shifting settings, time structure and recognisable story figures may appeal to readers who enjoy elaborate retellings.

This is a concise, illustrated Christian biography combining life events with Calvin’s writings, ministry, theology and sixteenth-century setting. It includes personal relationships, bereavement and illness, while presenting Calvin within a distinctly Reformed understanding of church history.

This is a high-stakes survival story about three teenagers fleeing danger, with friendship and hope providing emotional counterweights to fear, loss and an uncertain journey.

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 tense fantasy sequel about escape, rebellion and difficult loyalties, with brave characters confronting oppression. Expect frequent peril and disturbing violence, while romance and friendship add emotional stakes.

This is a fast-moving fantasy quest about rescuing Gus, uncovering dangerous family secrets and navigating a frightening parallel world. Its emotional centre is Oksa’s determination to protect her friend while facing increasingly perilous trials.

This is a school-and-sport story about a deaf boy seeking belonging and recognition. Its central interest is how Landon responds to exclusion and whether friendship and determination change his place within the team.

This is a paranormal school adventure about discovering an extraordinary identity, navigating exclusion and questioning rules. It combines dragon lore, friendship, attraction, danger and a determined protagonist who resists simply going along with authority.

A historically grounded creative-life story in which the origins of Curious George are closely tied to a Jewish couple’s flight from wartime Europe. Its strongest elements are human connection, artistic work, and a tense escape.

This is a contemporary school story about a girl working out where she belongs while friendships, racial identity and public events reshape her understanding of courage. It offers an emotionally grounded route into questions about rules, protest and standing up for values.

A visually presented introduction to Hispanic and Latino American figures whose work spans culture, public life, science, sport and the arts. It offers short life sketches rather than one continuous narrative.

A folklore-infused fantasy about a cursed princess undertaking dangerous trials to save her brothers. Its strongest threads are family loyalty, courage, sacrifice and repairing harm, while its trials include physical danger, death and bereavement.

This is an emotionally charged teen novel about being seen beyond labels. Its central relationship brings together romance, loneliness, grief, bullying, disability-related experience and efforts to reclaim confidence and possibility.

This is a reflective coming-of-age story about bereavement, family relationships, friendship and ideas of beauty. Melissa uses memories and her father’s journal while trying to understand love and decide how to live in the present.

This is a creepy, story-rich fantasy about a young writer using imagination under pressure. Its strongest appeal is the blend of escape adventure, friendship and attention to how stories are made.

This is an imaginative fantasy sequel centred on magic, competing loyalties and conflict between magical and anti-magical groups. It offers friendship, compassion, courage and teamwork, but its adventure includes disturbing death imagery and broad comic material.

A sports-centred school story broadens into questions about trying unfamiliar activities and supporting a friend. Kyle’s basketball and theatre commitments provide the main conflict, while homophobic bullying is a significant social issue in the story.

A faith-centred retelling of Rahab’s story, focusing on courage, secrecy, escape and protection of family. The telling strongly foregrounds Christian belief and presents Rahab’s earlier profession only obliquely.

This is a brisk fantasy quest built around maps, hidden identity and a legendary weapon. Its strongest appeal is likely imaginative adventure: a new world, unusual companions, magical objects and repeated danger.

This is a fast-moving science-fiction fairy-tale reworking, centred on determined young characters facing divided loyalties, prejudice, identity and difficult choices about power. Its adventure is accompanied by graphic violence, frightening attackers, torture, deaths and some romantic and drinking-related content.

This is a coming-of-age journey about bereavement, uncertain family ties and making a fresh start. Kendall’s encounters with Evie, Miss Clare and Marcus broaden the story beyond her search for one relative.

This is a high-stakes young-adult mystery about loyalty, identity and truth. Nearly’s investigation crosses community, family and school pressures, with danger becoming increasingly personal.

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.

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 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 is a compact Norse fantasy about an overlooked boy who responds to hardship with ingenuity rather than force. Its adventure introduces gods, giants and morally complicated mythology while leaving room to reflect on courage, loss and belonging.

This is a speculative survival thriller about a teenager separated from her familiar world and confronted by a society that rejects medicine. Expect danger, mystery, pursuit and questions about how authority controls knowledge.

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.

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.

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 visually led story about recovery after a frightening fall, with humour, expressive emotion and a clear movement from avoidance towards renewed possibility. Its ending offers hope, while leaving room to discuss different ways of coping.

This is a serious, emotionally layered coming-of-age novel about how family difficulties, social media and friendship choices shape Taylor’s life before and after catastrophe.

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.

This is a survival adventure centred on resilience, resourcefulness, grief and connection with nature. Karana's growing self-sufficiency drives the story, while her isolation and the treatment of Indigenous characters add weight beyond the adventure.

This is a fast-moving fantasy adventure centred on a fierce, guarded heroine. Expect a dangerous rescue journey, strange creatures, corrupted magic and evolving friendships, alongside a serious exploration of loss, guilt and anger.

A lively fantasy mystery for readers who enjoy hidden worlds, supernatural beings, competition and surprises. Its emotional centre is Amari’s search for her brother and her movement from feeling like an outsider towards recognising her strengths.

This is an imaginative adventure combining friendship, mystery and a robot with a society changed by water scarcity. It also gives sustained attention to Auden’s experience of achromatopsia and his changing relationship with that difference.

This is a fast-moving, illustrated adventure about a vulnerable robot trying to recover its past and return to Beth. Friendship, fear, memory and the treatment of discarded things sit alongside danger and humour.

A whimsical quest combines magical characters, tongue-in-cheek humour and determined friendship with a strong longing for home. Its imaginative surface is interrupted by abrupt, casually narrated violence that may surprise readers expecting gentler fantasy.

This offers a warm, satisfying fairy tale with magical transformations, unusual characters and artwork rich in small visual details that create an intimate, familiar feel.

This is a historically grounded coming-of-age story about a girl pursuing football while working in wartime industry. It offers determination, teamwork and questions about who gets opportunities, alongside setbacks when social and institutional attitudes change.