What Are You Looking For?

A summer by the sea turns into a search for answers when Cassandra meets Lawrence, who claims to be from 1925. Their relationship develops alongside a mystery, with Lawrence’s life at stake.

The story combines contemporary war with Slavic folklore: the girls meet Mara, a guide to the Beyond, after the war-tortured dead become unable to see her. Ghosts, friendship and belonging feature alongside the protagonists’ struggle to survive.

This is a fast-moving fantasy adventure built around a rescue mission and a scheme to take over the world. Expect magic, faeries, goblin impersonators and an unusual twist on cereal-company villainy.

Expect a friendship-led comic adventure, with Phoebe and Marigold sharing funny exploits. Their contrasting personalities and the way they value their bond are central to the book.

At the heart of the story is Jesse’s friendship with Roxanne, a thirty-year-old neighbour whose arrival changes Jesse’s outlook. Jesse also carries unresolved feelings connected with her baby brother’s death.

A mystery about a possibly valuable painting draws Theo into questions of family responsibility, art and her grandfather’s past. The search also brings her into contact with new friends across Manhattan.

Jake and Shani are pleased when their reserve is chosen for an elephant relocation, but nearby villagers worry the animals could damage their crops. As a fence is built, Jake suspects the volunteers may not be what they seem; ivory poachers also threaten an elephant.

A puppy’s imagined adventures while his owner is at school are the premise. The book combines a pet-centred situation with imagination and play.

Expect a varied collection rather than one continuous plot: the tales include royals, giants and trolls, married couples, and a far-off castle. The book is also illustrated.

This is a faith-centred family and school adventure in which Lenten choices sit alongside a spelling bee and a Bigfoot quest.

The story centres on horses, showing and Amy’s efforts to help Daniel and Amber. It also follows Amy as she balances competing commitments at Heartland.

A relationship setback prompts Becca to reconsider what she shares. Her shift from face-to-face talk to an online alter ego makes privacy and self-presentation central to the story.

This historical fiction follows Drucilla as she tries to keep her place in a new family while witchcraft accusations sweep Salem Village. Her own accusations add to the danger facing innocent people.

A young woman’s uncertainty about a married pastor’s affection becomes entangled with rumours of clergy abuse and a church scandal. Her choices about how to understand and tell what happened sit at the centre of the story.

Emery and Jake are held hostage with the children they tutor by a soldier involved in a custody dispute. The separated teens must try to protect and calm the children while managing the immediate threat.

Anna draws a picture of herself; readers follow along to see how she does. It is presented as a children’s beginning-reader story with a straightforward, participatory premise.

Leah’s new heart comes from a boy at her school whose death is believed to be suicide. She and his twin Matt share dreams and try to piece together his final moments, while their connection grows into a romance.

The book recounts how the Golden Gate Bridge became bright orange after people proposed other colour schemes. Its focus is the architects’ persistence and the choices behind a familiar landmark’s appearance.

Gwen’s music-school ambitions and her partnership with fellow student Robert unfold alongside the mystery of her grandfather’s disappearance and her great-uncle’s increasing pressure.

Follow the girl’s vivid animal adventure alongside her parents’ anxious search. Much of the storytelling happens in the illustrations, which let the child’s joyful vision and the adults’ worried perspective unfold side by side.

This is a survival story centred on protecting a vaccine, evading people who want to take it, and trying to find a safe haven while the group faces strain.

The book recounts the 1904 St Louis Olympic marathon, from the large field of entrants to an unusual finish. Its runners include a Cuban postman, a competitor who travelled part of the way by car, and one helped over the line by trainers.

A fast-moving space adventure mixes a travelling circus, monster-taming and the friends’ hot-dog business. Cosmoe’s past also comes into view, alongside danger for the group and the challenge of keeping their business going.

Painting prompts a chain of surprises as animals appear in different colours. The wordless format leaves the pictures to carry the story, with visual humour and an imaginative-play focus.

Tiffany’s effort to rescue her baby brother gives the fantasy adventure a family-centred goal. She faces the threat with help from the Wee Free Men, a fierce, sword-wielding clan.

This is a posthumous portrait of a teenager built from the recollections of people in his community. It explores how love and admiration can coexist with an inability to accept someone fully.

This sequel brings together wartime danger and Ada’s questions about who she is, whom she can trust and what she ought to do. Its household includes a Jewish girl arriving from Germany.

A supernatural mystery about friendship, vampire-hunting and lost memory, with a new horror shop raising suspicions.

This is a fantasy quest near its conclusion: the companions need the Belt’s final gem, and the Valley of the Lost presents dark mysteries as well as the threat of being trapped.

A rescue adventure unfolds in a richly imagined unicorn world, as Twig and Ben pursue Indy and confront the queen’s control of the unicorns. Ben’s hidden secret complicates their mission and may affect whether it brings rescue or conflict.

The story gives the Big Bad Wolf a chance to recount his encounter with the three pigs. Its playful reversal of a familiar fairy tale centres on perspective rather than simply retelling the usual version.

This is a romance built around a pursuit that Sue resists, with Chris treating her refusal as a challenge. A taken kiss and an intimate kitchen encounter bring consent and romantic boundaries into focus.

A political adventure about loyalty, leadership and stopping a coup, following Halt and Crowley as they try to bring the Rangers together and protect the kingdom.

This is a wilderness journey shaped by Billie’s doubts about her people’s legends and by the environmental dangers she has learnt about at school.

Caroline is troubled by her changing bond with Brenda and by Casey's illness. She grows closer to Aimee, while strange occurrences near the river bring uncertainty and a supernatural thread into the story.

A woman’s refusal to marry is followed by deception and her father’s failure to protect her; she ends up alone beneath the sea and becomes a powerful spirit. The story names her through several Inuktitut names.

Expect a sports adventure with familiar events, interplanetary settings and a rescue involving athletic skill, rather than a story centred on wholly futuristic sports.

A threatened magical safeguard, a revenge plot and unsettled royal families converge around Gracie, with a tournament and gathering werewolves adding complications.

The children try to raise money for their family's New Year meal by selling crafts. Their market attempt fails; a shrine visit and a thoughtful gift precede an unexpected turn of fortune.

Trinket seeks seven stories that will help her become a bard like her missing father. Her adventures draw on magical and folkloric figures, and the last tale reveals what happened to him.

The story follows a new student trying to find her place while her family is changing. Its central dilemma is whether collecting personal details is truth-telling or gossip, and what can happen when private information reaches others.

Henry faces illness in the family and an absent father while trying to make sense of unsettling sights around Hope House. She ventures into the nearby wood and makes a consequential discovery.

The story combines school life and romance with a magical matchmaking premise: Mimosa fears that falling in love will cost her the talent that defines her role as an aromateur.

A humorous historical adventure told as an imaginary diary, pairing knightly training and castle life with an attack and a mystery to solve.

An adventure about a girl who must cope with a tropical island’s challenges, while confronting her belief that a little litter does not matter.

Expect a fantasy quest that starts with Drue trying to find her cat and widens into a conflict between animals and humans, with shape-shifters drawn into events that could affect the future.

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.