What Are You Looking For?

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.

A playful story about facing a first dental visit: Simon is alarmed by Ferdinand’s imagined horrors, but meets a patient dentist and discovers the experience is not painful for him.

Choose this for a reader who enjoys high-seas adventure, mermaids, treasure hunts, riddles and brisk action. The story also offers a character-led exploration of identity, friendship, prejudice and belonging.

A concise, focused account of Walter Tull’s life, linking football achievement with racism, military service and the search for respect. Its accessible presentation may help readers encounter a significant historical figure without a lengthy or highly demanding text.

A lively football story about a struggling team, a supposed cursed kit and Stanley’s efforts to restore confidence. Expect comic superstition, setbacks and team-focused action, with the ending centred on the last game.

This is a tender story about finding comfort amid displacement, then recognising another child's loneliness. Its emotional centre is Lubna's difficult decision about a treasured object.

A playful, high-energy quest turns familiar ideas upside down. Its central appeal is the combination of gaming-style adventure, colourful illustrations, unusual allies and a clear goal: return to the real world.

This is an outdoor adventure about a child investigating her grandmother’s disappearance, helping eagles in difficulty and discovering a stronger sense of belonging in the mountain community.

This is a comic school-and-family story in which Tom’s everyday mishaps lead to a project about family, friends and furry creatures. His research reveals surprising family details, including how his parents ended up together.

A gentle magical story about hiding a distinctive part of yourself, losing joy through concealment, and finding encouragement to be seen. Its emotional message is carried strongly by changing colour and expressive illustrations.

This is a gentle, realistic story about a child negotiating identity and belonging after moving countries. It offers a clear starting point for discussing names, pronunciation, welcome and cultural pride.

A gentle, direct introduction to anxiety, depression and loneliness, centred on the beginning of a supportive friendship. It makes talking, seeking help and finding suitable support networks part of the story.

This is a warm, repetitive story about noticing differences in appearance while recognising shared ways of living, feeling and connecting. Its central reassurance is that families can belong together without looking alike.

A quiet, participatory family story in which closeness is conveyed through shared routines rather than explanation. The sparse text and cropped illustrations invite a child and adult to notice details and create spoken stories together.

A tense, contemporary tech thriller about wanting recognition and discovering that helpful technology can take influence too far. It offers a clear springboard for discussing online choices and personal control.

This is a focused contemporary family story about children’s privacy online. It offers a plot-led way to consider sharenting, consent and the consequences when a parent’s public identity depends on children’s visibility.

A gentle, imaginative flying adventure about wanting something extraordinary, meeting an unusual new friend, and discovering that home still matters after a thrilling journey.

A football-centred route into First World War history, this is an emotionally direct story about ambition, enlistment and survival. Its accessible presentation may support readers who want a gripping historical novel without dense prose.

A short, visually expressive story about a newcomer, suspicion and the possibility of belonging. Its emotional centre is the contrast between what the animals assume and what they learn about the stranger’s past.

A warm, direct story about love continuing across distance and separation. Its central metaphor may help children put words to feeling connected, while its references to anger and a deceased uncle invite more careful, individual discussion.

This is a direct, emotionally serious story about a child living through her mother’s death. It offers language for grief, shows that support can coexist with loneliness, and uses a familiar garment to represent continuing love and memory.

A visually led story about individuality, creativity and loss. Rabbit’s disappearance is followed by sadness, discovery and renewed music and colour, offering a gentle but potentially ambiguous way into conversations about someone no longer being present.

This offers a lively introduction to Welsh folklore through brief, retold stories with magical, humorous and emotionally resonant elements. It may particularly suit shared reading or readers curious about Wales, names and traditional tales.

Expect a brisk, comic swashbuckling story: pirates take Molly, but her courage and cleverness unsettle them. The story’s main pleasure is the reversal of who appears powerful and who needs to be feared.

This is a lively university romance built around an advice column: Mary-Elizabeth gives relationship guidance while navigating attraction, questionable choices, shaken confidence and changing views of the people around her.

This offers a lively blend of Ancient Egyptian history, mythology and danger, centred on a young princess who must rely on cleverness while uncertain allies and supernatural forces complicate her task.

This is a dual-perspective queer romance about learning to resist pressure from friends and family. It combines warmth and humour with uncomfortable moments involving identity, belonging, prejudice and competing expectations.

This is a socially engaged Manchester story about three Black teenagers whose lives become connected after a stabbing. Its central interest lies in contrasting viewpoints, unequal experiences and the friendships formed in the aftermath.

A comic fantasy adventure about leadership, strained relationships and finding workable compromises. Vampire lore, artificial blood and absurd food details sit alongside sincere treatment of self-doubt, responsibility and adolescent romance.

This is a breezy, witty murder mystery about two friends trying to become investigators while navigating popularity, school cliques and complicated friendships. Its comic voice contrasts with recurring deaths and deliberately grotesque details.

This is a fast, emotionally charged story about risk-taking and its aftermath. Rory’s experience opens space to think about peer pressure, friendship, blame, accountability and whether people can rebuild trust after serious harm.

Expect energetic visual comedy rather than realism: a previously weak baby becomes superstrong after eating avocado and uses that strength in increasingly surprising situations.

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.

A historical adventure rooted in the early-20th-century Philippines, following Amihan and Mariposa as they respond to official policy and try to return to Culion. Its emotional centre is family love and friendship.

Mandy’s recorded account combines humour with sadness as she faces a chaotic family life, school trouble, and worries about whether the adults around her can care for her properly.

This offers a straightforward survival thriller built around a countdown, extremist beliefs and attacks in a familiar city. Its strongest appeal is likely suspense and danger rather than deeply developed character exploration.

Expect a survival adventure led by three boys, with island exploration, natural history, outdoor living and encounters with danger. Its confident Victorian moral outlook is central rather than incidental.

A witty, emotionally serious story about teenagers confronting illness, love and mortality. It combines an accessible prose style with grief, brief sex, some swearing, drinking and reflections on literature, fate and what makes a life matter.

This is a long, character-rich coming-of-age novel in which David looks back on fear, labour, friendship and love. Its distinctive interest lies in the gap between what the younger David experiences and what the older narrator understands.

A mystery driven by testimony: the diamond’s disappearance is reconstructed through several voices, so readers must compare accounts rather than follow one straightforward viewpoint.

This is a dark, absurd literary novel about an individual facing an authority that refuses explanation. Its unresolved legal nightmare offers sustained material for discussing power, guilt and whether reason can help within an irrational system.

A fast-moving school thriller that turns familiar rules, routines and adult authority into a mechanism of control. Its central tension is whether individuality and independent judgement can survive pressure to comply.

This is a tense, compassionate story about a child taking responsibility in a dangerous society. It combines family survival, Afghan history, women’s restricted freedoms and moments of hope, while leaving Parvana’s immediate future unresolved.

This is a team-centred science-fiction adventure about young people confronting the organisation responsible for transforming one of them. Expect secret missions, superhuman and alien abilities, technology, fights and an urgent threat affecting millions.

This is chiefly a shared, performative reading experience: the repeated refrain and playful sounds make participation easy, while the outward journey builds anticipation before the family’s fast return.