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This is a time-travel story that uses six children’s visits to different periods to explore England’s past. History is joined to questions about how people are governed and treated.

A witty, humane fantasy about growing into responsibility while facing fear, prejudice and loss. Tiffany’s work as a witch centres on caring for people, while the story also brings darker threats and emotionally difficult relationships.

A brisk, atmospheric historical adventure: William searches London for John Diamond while confronting a troubling family secret.

This is a richly imagined sequel where magical danger carries emotional consequences. Alongside romance and wonder, the story examines whether compassion, memory and mercy can interrupt cycles of violence and inherited fear.

This is a grim historical adventure about unjust punishment, endurance and friendship. Its atmosphere is bleak, but Tom and Midgely’s imagination gives the story a counterweight of resourcefulness and hope.

This is a Halloween mystery built around competition, investigation and adventure.

A perception-bending mystery with a vulnerable teenage protagonist, combining science-fiction ideas with questions about identity, reality and innocence. Its emotional centre appears weightier than its adventure premise, particularly around mental health, fear, anxiety, loss and grief.

Expect an atmospheric historical fantasy centred on a vulnerable boy, an alchemist’s dangerous ambitions, and cats drawn into rivalry over magical inheritance. Its plot combines adventure with grim events and unsettling supernatural ideas.

This is a humorous but emotionally unsettled school-and-family story about coping when several losses and humiliations arrive together. Camille’s resilience is central, though the path towards it is described as difficult.

A stranger arrives by sea and is confined, mistreated and expelled as the islanders’ fear becomes hatred. Their final wall leaves a bleak image of exclusion rather than reconciliation.

This is an atmospheric, dark fantasy centred on a distinctive card-based magic system and Elspeth’s uneasy relationship with the Nightmare. Romance develops alongside political conflict rather than replacing the fantasy plot.

This offers a tense zombie-survival story alongside a developing romance between two boys. Its distinctive appeal lies in combining wilderness adventure with questions about belonging, prejudice, fear and how communities respond to outsiders.

A suspenseful historical coming-of-age story about friendship, fear and noticing injustice. Its child’s-eye investigation opens onto difficult adult realities, while humour, community details and emotional relationships give the darker subject matter human texture.

A playful animal story centred on making and sharing pancakes. Its appeal lies in comic trouble, recognisable characters and the contrast between refusing help and wanting the finished food.

A lively child-led detective adventure: Emil responds to theft by following the suspected criminal through Berlin and working with other children. Its appeal lies in pursuit, teamwork and the contrast between a small town and a large, exciting city.

This is a socially concerned crime novel that places a homeless teenager in danger while examining how homelessness, family breakdown and public attitudes affect people living on the streets.

This is a tense contemporary story about a Muslim teenager responding to terror, Islamophobia and school bullying. Its central interest is how identity, friendship and collective action can challenge prejudice without making the surrounding hostility feel trivial.

A fast-moving story about being misunderstood, facing an oppressive future and deciding whether individual actions can make a difference. It offers suspense, moral pressure and a strong focus on justice and responsibility.

This is a fast-moving fantasy adventure built around three young characters with different goals. It offers magical creatures, peril and hidden truths about the island and the beliefs surrounding its beasts.

A lively school-camp adventure centres on friendship, frightening folklore and a difficult peer relationship.

This is a spooky, emotionally charged mystery with a determined heroine, supernatural elements and a strong justice thread. It may suit readers who enjoy suspense while thinking about fairness, truth and growing up.

This is a tense dystopian story about selection, survival and uncertainty, pairing a damaged future society with a personal struggle over whether affection and trust can coexist.

Expect a tense supernatural adventure combining ghost investigations, dark humour and escalating danger. The team’s changing relationships matter as much as the cases, while Lucy’s contact with ghosts brings disturbing experiences and difficult choices.

This is a fantasy about dragons hiding among humans, a young dragon facing an imposed destiny, and a soldier whose certainty about his mission begins to weaken.

A historically grounded story about fear, racial prejudice and divided loyalties, centred on Shad’s choice as his community responds to emancipation and economic insecurity.

A dark historical story about a servant who may survive a hanging, told through her trapped thoughts and a medical student's dawning suspicion during a dissection.

A fantasy adventure centred on a stolen moonstone, fading fairy magic and dream-related danger. Rachel and Kirsty are presented as helping India search for the missing jewel before the situation becomes a nightmare.