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This offers an engrossing, multi-viewpoint dystopian adventure, with telepathy, wartime politics, secret identities and dramatic reversals. Its strongest appeal appears to be the combination of tense plotting and questions about belonging, tolerance and social control.

This is an imaginative fantasy adventure centred on magical theatre: Harper joins the travelling Wonderia, learns spellcraft and works with new friends while danger threatens their school. Expect theatrical spectacle, mysteries, peril and a lively, rapidly unfolding world.

A good choice for shared reading about family history, friendship and how the past shapes present relationships. Its historical strand offers substantial discussion, while the school setting gives children an immediate way into questions about belonging and courage.

This is a coming-of-age story about a boy navigating family disruption, curiosity and an unsettling local legend. Its appeal appears to lie in the meeting of everyday summer life with friendship, fear and magical possibility.

A gentle magical story about making, companionship and renewed connection. Its wonder comes alongside an older character’s loneliness and a child’s experience of missing her father, holding sadness and happiness together.

Expect a brisk historical adventure centred on bereavement, trust and belonging. Maggie’s errand expands into an international race, with shifting loyalties, danger and friendships providing momentum.

This is a humorous contemporary story about first love, embarrassment and trying to change an uncertain situation. Its unusual musical intervention gives Marv’s school-based crush a playful, surreal element.

A tense supernatural adventure rooted in Jamaica, where friendship and investigation unfold alongside a young person’s struggle with grief, frightening visions and uncertainty about reality.

Expect a fast-moving speculative story where environmental change, enhanced abilities and social ideas create pressure for Akaego and her friends. Its strongest promise is the combination of action, relationships and questions about how people respond to crisis.

This is an energetic animal adventure about responsibility, deception and persistence. Marty’s first working day becomes hazardous after a prank, while friendship and comic illustrations help keep the story lively.

Expect an imaginative underwater adventure with a determined heroine, a strong sibling bond, unusual creatures and a richly developed river community. The story combines quest tension with questions about trust, belonging and changing long-held assumptions.

A coming-of-age story about a dancer forced to rethink her future after a medical crisis, with singing, friendship, performance, school life and romance shaping what comes next.

This is a cricket-centred story about belonging and persistence. Kerry-Ann’s love of the game, family connection to Jamaica and grandfather’s history sit alongside a conflict over who is welcomed at the club.

This is a socially focused story about a child whose poverty makes him feel visibly different. Its central movement is from feeling conspicuous and socially different towards confidence, friendship and empathy.

This is a contemporary relationship-focused novel about former best friends reconnecting at eighteen. Expect friendship, romance and difficult personal circumstances, with Fin’s family relationships also part of the picture.

This is a free-verse school story about friendship changing, family crisis and finding a way to express difficult feelings. Nate’s love of reading and writing becomes important as he faces anger, worry and transition.

This is a school-set murder mystery with a stroppy, humorous central voice, a satisfying investigation and emotionally weightier material beneath its mischief. It may particularly suit readers who enjoy puzzles, crime references and lively ensemble characters.

This offers a poetic, character-led account of a young person facing anorexia and other mental-health difficulties, with attention to treatment, relationships, bullying and the possibility of accepting help.

A tender story about a child whose extraordinary friendship is tested by growing older and a family move.

A relationship-focused coming-of-age story about queer identity, family and friendship. It offers several queer perspectives and a strong fandom element, while allowing characters to hurt one another, argue, forgive and change.

Expect a tense American road story combining mystery and crime with themes of inner strength, self-confidence and personal growth. Jessie and Brooke’s changing relationship is central, with music and cassette tapes forming a recurring creative feature of their journey.

Expect an energetic treasure-hunt adventure involving tunnels, caves, ruins, a hidden weapon and suspected betrayal. Its central appeal is discovery under pressure, with Tom’s street-smarts and his friends’ trust tested as the expedition unfolds.

Seed combines family difficulty and bullying with magical gardening, an unlikely adventure, friendship and dreams of escape. Its emotional material is presented alongside humour, wonder and suspense rather than as a purely realistic story.

A character-led coming-of-age story about an autistic teenager navigating friendship, secrecy, school life and disruption to routine. Its central appeal is Phoebe’s perspective and the changing demands placed on her relationships.

This is a school-based story about a quiet pupil whose achievement brings unexpected visibility. Its central interest is the tension between being encouraged to speak up and retaining the right to be yourself.

A small whale who keeps to himself finds purpose through friendship and action when his brother is in danger. The lively rhyme and colourful sea imagery frame a reassuring story about courage that is not measured by size.

A wartime adventure about loyalty and protection: Ronnie is troubled by his brother’s secret work for dangerous people, while bombs fall on London and the boys face choices about whom to trust.

This is a thoughtful story about a child carrying adult responsibilities who finds friendship, creativity and adventure while visiting Italy. An injured otter and the people Jakub meets help broaden his sense of who he is.

A fast-moving environmental dystopian adventure about polluted air, family survival, invention and corporate control. Sparrow and Miriam face a powerful opponent while trying to make clean air available beyond one supplier.

A lively coming-of-age romance about a confident, self-styled teenager whose plans for finding a boyfriend meet the complications of attraction, theatre and changing friendships.

This is a story-led introduction to donor conception, donor siblings and varied family structures, alongside friendship and self-acceptance.

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

This offers a warm, determined story about rebuilding ordinary life after major change, with humour, friendship and family alongside frustration, social hurt and physical setbacks. Its central challenge is adjustment, not simply achievement.

This is an adventurous nature-centred novel about Orla’s investigation into a disease damaging plants and harming people. It combines magical plant knowledge, travel, friendship and questions about how people can work towards a common good.

This is an immersive fantasy adventure in which a rejected boy is drawn into unicorn riding, dangerous magic and a threat to the wider community. Alongside suspense, it explores grief, disappointment, friendship, loyalty and the search for belonging.

A spirited magical adventure about a girl pursuing family answers, learning witchcraft and building friendships in Hedgely. Expect a picturesque but spooky setting, folklore-inspired creatures, exciting escapes and a heroine whose courage develops unevenly.

Choose this for a child who enjoys immersive fantasy quests, invented creatures, game-like challenges and a determined protagonist whose family and friendships matter as much as the adventure.

A warm, imaginative school mystery combining animal shapeshifting with friendship, sensory overwhelm and family pressures. Alice’s investigation offers adventure while bringing several pupils’ struggles with belonging into the story.

A tender coming-of-age story about coping with family change, mental ill-health and school upheaval. Magic, mystery and friendship give Phyll ways to explore belief, choice and the possibility of making a new beginning.

A serious, introspective time-loop novel about responsibility after a classmate’s death. Its repeated-day structure gives Spence opportunities to notice harm, question his loyalties and reconsider how he treats people around him.

A spirited story about boxing, loyalty and making sense of difficult circumstances. Molly’s investigation brings mystery and emotional pressure together, while the verse-and-prose form gives her voice a distinctive, place-rooted rhythm.

A strong choice for readers drawn to atmospheric fantasy, folklore and friendships tested by danger. Its Welsh setting, farming life and translated Welsh dialogue give the adventure a distinctive cultural texture.

This is a socially focused YA novel about racism, Muslim identity and belonging, balancing painful conflict with family, friendship, faith and Somali community. Its central movement is from enforced quietness towards speaking up.

A contemporary Welsh-mythology adventure about a child drawn into magic, friendship and a struggle against an Otherworld ruler. Expect monsters, supernatural elements and a quest structure, alongside Vivi’s transition from Wales to London.

This is a queer historical romance centred on an unexpected friendship: Gwen and Art support one another while navigating betrothal, family expectations and separate attractions. Its light banter and gradually developing relationships contrast with a later, abrupt political and violent turn.