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This is a reflective coming-of-age story about bereavement, family relationships, friendship and ideas of beauty. Melissa uses memories and her father’s journal while trying to understand love and decide how to live in the present.

A school-based detective adventure follows two sisters as they investigate a threatening note, pursue puzzling clues and confront danger surrounding a newly acquired bronze fountain.

Expect a brisk fantasy quest built around danger, escape and puzzle-solving. The book spends substantial time in Noradz, where cleanliness is enforced harshly, before moving towards a frightening confrontation in the City of the Rats.

A family’s fear grows as a huge black dog watches their home. Small Hope faces it, leads it on a chase, and discovers a playful way to bring it inside.

A comic adventure about an underestimated child confronting a frightening threat, while the adults and children around him face the consequences of past choices. Its imaginative monster story also explores belonging, courage and changing relationships.

A spooky fantasy adventure about a girl who enters a dangerous forest to understand what happened to her sister, with the story’s central mystery challenging simple ideas of bravery and rescue.

This is an emotionally charged historical animal adventure: Delta uses courage and resourcefulness to search for separated friends while Pompeii faces catastrophe. It offers suspense, relationships and a window onto Roman life, including the unequal position of enslaved people.

A lively historical-fantasy mystery follows two young detectives through Parisian streets and sewers. Its strongest appeal is the blend of family questions, magical folklore, riddles, danger and a richly used city setting, with Zélie and Jules sharing the adventure.

This appears to offer an adventurous, imaginative tale centred on a frightening-sounding mystery and concern for a living creature. Its strongest known appeal is the contrast between alarming stories and Erin’s protective purpose.

A fast-moving dark fantasy about vigilance, ingenuity and family loyalty, with comic grotesquerie alongside genuine suspense. Its imaginative premise may appeal to confident readers who enjoy frightening stories with a strong emotional centre.

This is a family-centred coming-of-age story: Katy’s energetic adventures give way to pain, dependence and gradual change. Its strongest appeal lies in a vivid household, an imperfect heroine and a sustained focus on how relationships respond when ordinary life is disrupted.

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.

A compact, atmospheric fantasy about courage and devotion, with a clear quest structure. Its cold landscapes and threatening folklore create suspense, while Ivan’s determination gives the story emotional purpose.

Expect a fast-moving fairy-tale adventure involving illness, magic, strange creatures, rival pursuers and travel through unsettling settings. Red’s fear, friendship with Goldie and changing understanding of others drive the story.

This is a character-led family story about a child making sense of adult failures without surrendering her own needs. Cooking, artistic ambition and friendship offer purposeful threads alongside uncertainty and emotional upheaval.

A light, fantastical superhero adventure in which a successful villain changes the hero into a potato, but cannot remove his powers or his determination to pursue justice.

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.