What Are You Looking For?

This is a peril-filled journey home, followed by a return to a household changed during Odysseus’s absence.

Expect a short, illustrated superhero adventure centred on Superman’s powers, courage and attempts to protect people or a place. The precise setting and sequence of events remain uncertain.

Choose this for a child drawn to imaginative adventure, airborne fantasy and unusual inventions. The central appeal appears to be entering an extraordinary kingdom rather than following a realistic everyday story.

Expect a cat-centred adventure that combines fear, monsters, friendship and comic mischief.

A sweeping historical adventure centred on Hekja’s resourcefulness, loyalty and determination to find a place in a world shaped by raids, journeys, service and competing forms of leadership.

This is a historical adventure following Ronald through arrests, escapes, travel, military service and political upheaval connected with Prince Charlie, Fontenoy and Culloden. Its emphasis is on movement, danger and varied incident.

A warm, episodic family story in which each child encounters a different mishap or opportunity. It combines humour and adventure with working life, financial constraint and the affection holding a large family together.

A good choice for discussing how an apparently exciting journey can become exhausting and dangerous, while relationships and shared celebrations help people endure prolonged hardship.

A quest fantasy about Daring Do trying to reach Cirrostrata, a hidden city above Equestria. Legends, ancient magic, a rare Pegasus type, a mysterious treasure and hazardous flying create the central mystery.

Expect a vivid underwater fantasy adventure led by a determined engineer, with a submarine expedition, imaginative creatures, perilous conditions and a group learning to trust one another.

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.

A lively read-aloud about recovering a treasured teddy, with a bold heroine, pirate adventure, comic goat-riding and illustrations that offer plenty to notice together.

A mythic rescue adventure centred on Marcy’s fear, determination and relationship with her father. Egyptian gods, the Sphinx and a legendary book create a vivid fantasy setting, while the illustrations carry substantial visual detail and action.

This offers a warm, satisfying fairy tale with magical transformations, unusual characters and artwork rich in small visual details that create an intimate, familiar feel.

A brisk, humorous rescue adventure in which Dulcinea uses her wits to confront a witch and navigate enchanted obstacles, with illustrations that contrast her calm manner with the witch’s theatricality.

Expect a fast-moving fantasy mystery rooted in a Nigerian village, Yoruba myths and family relationships. Its atmosphere shifts between joy and dread, with danger often suggested rather than directly shown.

This is a magical forest adventure centred on Hilda and Twig’s partnership. Its distinctive offer is a more active role for Twig, alongside storm sheltering, mysterious surroundings and a rescue-shaped challenge.

A playful food-finding caper with expressive squirrels, jokes and a gentle visual style. Its central scheme involves altering fortune messages to influence people, creating opportunities to discuss cleverness, honesty and consequences without treating the antics as realistic guidance.

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.

A whimsical, suspenseful fantasy about escaping ordinary life and confronting danger, with a bittersweet focus on childhood and growing up. Its imaginative appeal sits alongside language and attitudes that require historical distance.

Expect a nature-centred adventure in which Nim’s resourcefulness and relationships with animal companions matter.

Expect a humorous adventure shaped by Benji’s determination to help his uncle, alongside more tender material about his parents and the possibility of family change.

A gentle imaginative search story, pairing a missing teddy button with a moonlit garden, animal encounters and the comfort of putting something right. Its appeal appears to lie in wonder, visual discovery and companionship.

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

This is a treasure-seeking pirate adventure built around movement, obstacles and comic shipboard details. The combination of stormy travel, rival pirates and visual detail may make it particularly suitable for shared looking and prediction.

This is a brisk, imaginative adventure built around a homemade submarine, an unusual crew and a far-reaching search. Its appeal lies in successive challenges and travel, while Atlantis may remain more tantalising than fully explored.

This is a quest adventure combining fantasy, humour, danger and deception. Its strongest thread appears to be the contrast between chasing wealth and finding courage, companionship and a sense of home.

This is a war story centred on women’s practical support: feeding, nursing-related work and driving ambulances. Midge’s changing understanding of courage moves the narrative from imagined adventure towards demanding service and confronting wartime consequences.

This is an interactive-feeling museum mystery: a young investigator follows a clue, pursues a legendary artefact and faces competition from a thief. Its main appeal is adventure combined with puzzles for the reader.

This is an Arthurian fantasy adventure led by three young characters who must act while Camelot’s adults sleep. Expect magical trials, danger, humour and an emphasis on cooperation during a quest to protect the kingdom.

A playful fantasy adventure centres on friendship, magical mishaps and a heroine learning to manage a changing identity. Its appeal appears to come from comic characters, imaginative creatures and a purposeful journey.

This is a fast-moving fantasy adventure about friendship, dangerous challenges and the choice of one superpower at a time. Its central hook is the boys’ attempt to help Hercules while confronting a threatening flock of birds.

A portal fantasy and mystery built around a bereaved child, a family house full of secrets, and a dangerous shadow-world. Expect suspense, unusual creatures and questions about trust and courage.

This is an adventure about a child travelling with family, meeting someone new and confronting fear. Brazil, the ocean and rainforest provide the setting for Lea’s changing relationship with excitement and risk.

This is a quest-shaped fantasy about an endangered noblewoman and two unlikely companions. Its appeal lies in adventure, mysterious figures and the possibility that people’s outward roles do not reveal their full character.

This is a historical time-travel adventure built around Amelia Earhart’s planned 1937 flight. Young investigators pursue the mystery of her disappearance while confronting danger, secret plans and questions of faith.

This offers a fantasy quest built around a magical object, an explorer-led contest and two friends whose ordinary imaginations meet an unexpectedly extraordinary situation.

A fast-moving mystery-adventure about stolen treasure, international clues and an archaeological dig. The Hardys face danger and uncertainty as they pursue answers, with the story ending in their enemies being outsmarted and a surprising revelation.

This is an adventure story about two young people making their own fun, then facing a hijacking after boarding a mail train. Its appeal lies in energetic escapades, partnership and undercover danger.

Treat this as a grief conversation to share, not an automatically gentle choice because it is a picture book.