What Are You Looking For?

A playful friendship story about celebrating what makes someone unusual. Its comic dog, park setting, missing pets and rescue premise offer opportunities for shared laughter, anticipation and noticing how a difference can become a strength.

This is a colourful, surreal graphic-fantasy adventure about belonging, friendship and trust. Its comic situations and unusual magical community sit alongside a possible trap, anxious feelings and a conflict that may slow the story’s momentum.

Choose this for a child who enjoys eerie folktales, unusual friendships and stories that leave some things to imagine. The visual mood is shadowy, but the skull is presented as polite and friendly rather than simply frightening.

A football-centred mystery with a young investigator, kidnapping and criminal danger.

This is a fast-moving horror adventure built around a familiar childhood game becoming strange and threatening. Its unusual file-based presentation adds mystery, while the friendship between Adam and Sol gives the frightening situation an emotional centre.

Choose this for a participatory story: children can help search for Patch, follow verbal prompts and enjoy rhyme, clues and playful pirate imagery. It combines an unfolding quest with a wind-down-to-bedtime framing.

A tense ghost story about recognising coercive control and reclaiming independence. Its supernatural premise makes the lingering effects of manipulation vivid, while Maya’s anxiety and fear keep the suspense emotionally close.

A layered YA mystery about friends, secrets and a murder, moving between modern Cornwall, the 1980s and the 1940s. Its appeal lies in suspense, changing perspectives and the gradual connection between past and present.

This is a dark, twist-led mystery about a young woman living under the shadow of a notorious parent. Its main appeal is likely the unfolding investigation and uncertainty about Ryan’s identity and knowledge.

This is a gentle beach adventure about a character whose plans repeatedly go wrong, then improve through friendship and a calming activity. Its central interest is recognising strong feelings and responding with compassion.

Expect a historical adventure centred on a boy involved in the Gunpowder Plot, with mystery, intrigue and danger.

Choose this for a YA reader drawn to supernatural mysteries, hidden village secrets, witchcraft and folk horror. The remote setting and archaeological discovery suggest an atmosphere-led story with suspense at its centre.

A creepy, energetic adventure that combines frightening creatures and suspense with banter, humour and an emphasis on four unlike students learning to support one another.

A tense supernatural mystery in which siblings work together while Barney tries to understand frightening experiences and uncover hidden family history. Its imaginative haunting sits alongside sharply observed family dynamics.

A family mystery with a strong relationship thread: Ani and Riri are trying to stay connected across separated households when a killing turns their theme-park visit into an investigation.

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.

A suspenseful story about a teenager carrying adult responsibilities while secret activities and threatening communications pull her into another person’s scheme. Expect twists, uncertainty and a morally complicated power dynamic rather than a straightforward adventure.

This is a supernatural romance built around powerful attraction, danger and the tension between protection and control. Its strongest discussion point is whether intense devotion can coexist with equality and respect.

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.

Expect an eerie, imaginative timeslip story in which Minty investigates a mysterious garden and tries to help two children from different historical periods. Its suspense is closely connected with family distress and compassion.

A tense, emotionally serious survival story follows Ade through a collapsing city while his mother withdraws and neighbours become an unexpected support network. Its strongest offering is a child-centred exploration of vulnerability, responsibility and collective care.

Expect a fast, twist-filled fantasy adventure that treats a frightening grandmother as an exaggerated comic villain. Joe’s difficult family life sits alongside grotesque peril and suspense, so the tone is more unsettling than an ordinary family story.

A fast, mischievous story about a child’s homemade medicine, comic disorder and rebellion against an unpleasant adult. Its humour depends on exaggeration, grotesque imagery and the reversal of adult authority rather than on model behaviour.

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.

This is a lively, illustrated adventure centred on a very worried boy who must respond when a neighbour announces a plan to destroy the world. Its humour turns danger into exaggerated, often absurd comedy.

This is a compact, atmospheric story about anticipation. Its repeated pattern steadily heightens expectation, while dark but recognisable illustrations make the unfolding journey feel contained and navigable.