What Are You Looking For?

A lively read-aloud about a lost dog’s imagined adventures, using rhyme, humour and expressive illustrations to explore survival, landscape, curiosity and the pull of home.

This is an adventure-led historical novel centred on Deaf community, sign language and human dignity, while exploring how inherited prejudice shapes relationships between communities.

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 suspenseful historical mystery set around Pompeii, combining a children's investigation with vivid historical detail and the looming eruption of Vesuvius. Expect friendship, curiosity and adventure, but also sorrow and frightening material near the conclusion.

This is a mystery adventure built around exploration, hidden places and a group of children acting together. Its strongest appeal is likely the remote coastal setting, animal companions and escalating danger.

This is an imaginative, politically charged fantasy for readers interested in languages, dragons and morally complicated loyalties. Vivien’s translation work opens onto family upheaval, rebellion, class divisions and a war whose human and dragon costs are visible.

A gentle adventure about curiosity becoming a shared project. Arthur and his father respond to rumours about the forest by building towards a view beyond it, while bread, neighbours, a storm and a dog add warmth, suspense and opportunities to notice how the community responds.

Expect a curiosity-led city adventure built around an unlikely friendship. Its main appeal lies in the contrast between Catherine’s orderliness and Big Cat’s wild, chaotic nature, alongside detailed artwork and discoveries hidden in familiar places.

This is a visually led story about a frightened newcomer trying to return home. Its emotional centre is Leaf’s isolation, while the woodland animals’ changing response opens space to discuss fear, curiosity and welcome.

A clue-driven mystery set among gifted students, pairing investigation with questions about grief, friendship and the human cost of treating crime as an intellectual puzzle.

This is an illustrated story about Becky pursuing an ambitious science project while classmates grow seeds in paper cups. Its interest lies in the contrast between an ordinary classroom activity and a more imaginative possibility.

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 gentle, visually playful story about curiosity, invention and noticing nature. Norton and Alpha’s discovery gives children a clear contrast between a mechanical home and the living world outside.

A supernatural horror story rooted in a family homecoming, with queer romance and questions of belonging. It combines frightening events with explorations of Vietnamese American identity, colonialism and family history.

A spooky social-media horror story about amateur ghost hunters pursuing missing vloggers into a dangerous house. Its distinctive video-diary presentation and page progress bar are intended to make the investigation feel immediate.

A tense, science-rich story combines South London settings, two connected teenage lives and an urgent attempt to prevent tragedy. It offers momentum alongside questions about whether circumstances, choices or both shape a person’s future.

This offers a lively route into scientific curiosity: invention, robots and jokes are paired with explanations of antimatter, atoms, robotics and the scientific method. It may particularly engage readers who enjoy illustrated, idea-rich adventures.

Expect a playful fantasy adventure centred on an unusual hotel, magical visitors and comic world-building. The story appears designed for momentum and imaginative enjoyment, with short chapters, action and humour rather than a complex plot.

Expect an exuberant, highly imaginative world built around joy, singing, visual comedy and surprising arrivals. Its appeal appears to lie more in playful characters and happenings than in a fully explained plot, though the available storyline is incomplete.

A mystery-led, psychologically serious story about a teenager trying to live under a new identity while her childhood crime, family history and public scrutiny remain close behind.

Expect a fast-moving, atmospheric slasher mystery built around teenage friendship, investigation and uncertainty about whether a haunting is real. The central appeal is suspense and clue-following rather than realistic crime analysis.

This looks like nature-centred fiction that invites children to wonder about trees and the wider living world.

Expect a comic treasure mystery driven by Aisha and her unusually capable dog. Its appeal lies in brisk adventure, puzzles, archaeology and playful language, though some readers may find the opening slow or the pace uneven.

Expect an imaginative fantasy built around ordinary household objects seen from a tiny family’s perspective. Its appeal lies in clever details, family relationships and the contrast between the Borrowers’ hidden life and the human world.

A gentle, episodic story about meeting fear with curiosity. Plop’s conversations introduce several ways of understanding darkness, alongside owl facts and moments of comic mishap as he learns to manage a new experience.

A determined scientist and her crew travel through icy Arctic waters seeking a creature no one has seen. The story’s visual mystery is paired with observations of animals, ice, equipment and shipboard work.

A warm sibling-centred collection in which a very young girl’s curiosity and mischief drive comic family episodes. It offers recognisable domestic situations, while some incidents may invite discussion about consequences and other people’s boundaries.

This is an atmospheric circus fantasy about curiosity, belief and stepping into the unknown. Its strongest features are theatrical build-up, magical transformations and artwork that makes the mysterious Place Between feel vivid and slightly uncanny.

This is a dark, imaginative picture-book story about curiosity, repeated looking and a device showing destruction across time. Its central appeal appears to be mystery and visual strangeness, with fear and possible disappearance adding weight.