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A lively, comic animal adventure, with an eccentric family and a cat whose unusual condition drives the plot. Billy’s collecting hobby and the pet-show challenge add extra strands to the story.

The story combines a household mystery with whimsical fantasy: Henry tries to discover what Harvey’s unusual work means, while music, poetry and kindness shape the characters’ experiences.

This fantasy centres on conscience, grief and an unlikely bond, set against danger to a kingdom’s survivors. Its central tension is whether Jordam can resist his violent impulses.

The body-switch premise puts a bullied student in her tormentor’s circumstances, then follows her attempt to get back. The story also takes her into situations involving exploitation and danger.

This is a friendship story about two friends adjusting to change while one faces an eating disorder and possible self-injury.

The story pairs Flora’s ambition to become a ranger with fantastical dangers and a threatened city. Her efforts to help a friend and uncover family revelations add personal stakes.

This is a friendship story about two girls whose different circumstances shape how they approach making friends. Their meeting brings companionship and change into both their lives.

This is an adventure story set against a family bereavement: Chad, Kate and their father try to build a new life while travelling for their company.

A comic ghost story built around Frissella's unexpected inability to pass through walls, her doctor's proposed explanation and her stay among unusual fellow ghosts.

A family-and-school story about three sisters balancing wedding preparations, a romantic bet and an attempt to support a new pupil dealing with bereavement. It also offers Indian-British family and cultural context, with bhangra music central to one arrangement.

A fast-moving fantasy quest built around a magical timepiece, a threatened fairy queen and a race to save an entire kingdom. Expect imaginative creatures, magic, a witch’s spell and a humorous heroic tone.

This is a calm, information-rich story about preparing a working farm for winter, with seasonal change shown through chores, crops, animals and richly detailed pictures.

This is a relationship-focused horse story about returning, reconnecting and recognising that a beloved place or person may not determine someone’s future.

A horse-focused story about balancing care, ambition and personal priorities. Amy’s dilemma gives the book an emotionally serious centre, while the Heartland setting emphasises trust, responsibility and helping horses recover.

This offers an unusual fantasy of human-and-animal identity, endangered magic and a kingdom in crisis. Its emotional centre is a restrained relationship tested by changed bodies, difficult choices and the demands of a larger quest.

A family-centred coming-of-age story about coping with a parents’ impending divorce while living with grandparents, learning origami and forming new connections. Its emotional concerns are serious, but the presentation is described as honest, compassionate and sometimes humorous.

A rescue story about a racer who can no longer race and takes on firefighting instead. Its central premise is the shift from racing to helping protect a national park during a wildfire emergency.

A horse-centred story about returning home, changing relationships and deciding whether to remain with a familiar life or pursue an uncertain new opportunity.

A reflective picture-book story about Eva’s connection to Ethiopia after adoption. It contrasts difficult access to water and food with practical comforts in her new home, while holding memory, loss and belonging together.

This is a gentle woodland story about preparing for a storm, helping neighbours and recovering after Badger’s home is damaged. Detailed illustrations and a hopeful rebuilding sequence support shared reading and discussion.

Expect a light, ensemble relationship story built around dates, ex-partners, social events and competing responsibilities. It also gives readers access to characters’ thoughts and motivations beyond what a television episode could show.

This is a character-led story about a teenager’s self-image and changing relationships, set alongside Cassie’s disability and her family’s circumstances. Its several viewpoints invite readers to consider how people’s inner lives may differ from what others can see.

This is a magical rescue adventure in which Arica responds to the unicorns’ call and confronts a threat to their world. Expect fantasy creatures, danger, loyalty and a child making consequential choices.

A lively, premise-led adventure about a young K-pop fan and her headteacher experiencing each other’s lives. Expect humour from their contrasting ages and personalities, alongside questions about friendship, family relationships, authority and seeing life from another person’s position.

A farm hen becomes too tired to lay eggs, is taken home, and receives care while her feathers grow back. Grass, worms, bugs, puddles, friends and freedom mark her new life, followed by an unspecified joyful surprise.

A thoughtful verse novel about the upheaval of starting secondary school. Nate encounters friendship, rules, family change, anger and conflict, while a returning figure from the past makes life more complicated.

This is a fast-moving mystery-romance centred on recovery, guilt and uncertain trust. Its atmosphere combines a summer setting with disturbing discoveries, while journal flashbacks gradually disclose the protagonist’s past.

A focused, dual-narrative historical novel about displacement, survival and access to water. Its language is spare, but the experiences include war, deaths and severe deprivation, balanced by perseverance and collective problem-solving.

This is an action-led coming-of-age story about a troubled child entering an extraordinary spy-training organisation. It offers perseverance, teamwork and personal change alongside danger, bereavement, coercion and language some families may wish to discuss.

A gentle adoption story that acknowledges frightening beginnings, uncertainty about change and lingering sadness or anger, while offering comfort through foster carers, social-worker support and a loving adoptive family.

A gentle family story centred on Rosie’s imaginative wrapping game, moving through familiar objects, caring relatives, bedtime upset, and the arrival of a new baby sister.

Expect a richly illustrated, surreal story rather than a straightforward cosy tale. The Greenling brings abundance and connection, yet its arrival and departure carry an ominous, folkloric atmosphere.

This is a tender but potentially painful story about a child living alongside a seriously ill sibling. Nature, friendship and imaginative activity offer connection, while the family faces worsening illness and possible bereavement.

This is a gentle, lyrical story about Polar Bear and Cub discovering the changing world together. Seasonal imagery frames the central reassurance that a parent’s love does not change.

A mythic sea adventure carries Phoebe through danger, quests and encounters with gods and monsters, while her real-world worries about Cass, memory and loss remain central.

A warm, imaginative friendship book that treats caring for a ghost as an everyday responsibility. It combines playful instructions and gross-out food details with a broader portrait of companionship lasting through major changes in life.

This is an atmospheric historical mystery combining family upheaval, friendship, a much-loved rabbit and art theft. Its central puzzle offers adventure, while Caro’s changing circumstances create an emotional thread alongside the investigation.

This is a serious, emotionally focused novel about returning home, confronting painful memories and imagining a future beyond harmful family dynamics. Flooding and climate danger provide an urgent backdrop, while romantic love adds another strand.

A lyrical island story about making connections when home means different things to different people. Tilda’s friendship with Albie brings questions of belonging, change and loss into a landscape shaped by community memory and the natural world.

This is a high-stakes school thriller centred on a student’s planned revenge with an explosive device. Its central appeal is likely suspense, while its subject matter invites reflection on bullying and changed identity.

A richly atmospheric story about a hidden garden and friendship. Its movement from selfishness towards care sits alongside bereavement, illness, colonial prejudice and older attitudes that may need thoughtful discussion.

A thoughtful verse novel about a child facing an unwanted move and gradually finding steadiness. Its imaginary-friend narrator gives Ray’s worries a distinct voice while the story broadens towards kindness, refuge and understanding others.

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 an emotionally attentive story about a child whose secluded woodland life is abruptly disrupted. It explores unfamiliar family relationships, different ways of experiencing the world, and the possibility of connection without requiring October to become someone else.

This is character-led contemporary fiction centred on two care-experienced young men. It explores how they manage trauma, vulnerability and change without necessarily resolving their past, while keeping a strong sense of place and emotional warmth.