What Are You Looking For?

A character-led story about grief, guilt and anxiety, balancing painful experiences with humour, friendship and a slowly developing first relationship. Petula’s movement towards connection is central, while Jacob and the therapy group bring different burdens and perspectives.

This is a faith-centred teenage story about living with a parent’s serious illness while friendships, romance and personal convictions are tested. It may suit families wanting discussion of prayer, uncertainty and relationship boundaries.

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

This is a short, otherworldly survival story about bereavement and rebuilding a life. Its central movement is inward: Green's damaged identity gradually changes as she accepts help and reconnects with care.

This is a character-led story about anger, shoplifting, secrecy, family change, accountability and healing, with community service and a developing romance shaping Morgan’s summer.

This is a character-led fantasy about recovery, political negotiation and widening loyalties. Chaol’s treatment and Nesryn’s separate path give Antica importance beyond scenery, while romance and the approaching wider conflict develop alongside them.

This is a serious, emotionally intense story about bereavement, abuse and recovery, balanced by friendship, romantic connection and the possibility of accepting help. Tyler’s choices drive the movement towards a different future.

A tea-centred fantasy of competition, palace intrigue and family devotion. Ning’s search for a cure gives the plot emotional urgency, while brewing, tasting and reading ingredients become ways to investigate danger and negotiate power.

This is a war-and-refugee coming-of-age novel: Kateryno leaves Kharkiv with her mother and brother, settles with a British host family, and navigates separation, new relationships and the emotional aftermath of invasion.

Expect atmospheric Cornish tales where folklore, ghosts and magic meet farms, the sea and family life. The collection includes linked stories, including one about William, whose disability brings exclusion and cruelty from others.

This is a serious historical novel about Hiroshima’s bombing and its long aftermath for one family. Its movement between prose, poetry and haiku gives the story a distinctive shape, while the paper cranes connect grief, promises and hope.

A grieving teenager travels through Zimbabwe with her family and an elusive companion only she can see. The story combines family conflict, cultural discovery and emotional reflection, with a deliberately mysterious ending that may reward close attention.

A grief-centred verse novel combining letters, school and home life, and cryptid mystery. Its emotional focus is Noah’s search for connection and belonging while navigating loss and identity.

This is a grief story with a supernatural or possibly imagined presence at its centre. Jade’s friendship with Vicky is loving but unequal, and recovery involves recognising control, facing guilt and accepting help.

A quiet story about losing someone important, carrying grief, and finding understanding. Bear’s friendship with the Wildcat offers companionship without demanding that he simply forget, while music and memory accompany his movement towards healing.

This is a quiet story about bereavement, attention and connection with the natural world. Its visual storytelling invites readers to notice small details alongside Poppy, while the mother–daughter relationship gives the discoveries emotional purpose.

A thoughtful speculative story about whether a digital recreation can be treated as a person. Its emotional centre is Isla’s changing relationship with her returned sister, alongside family disagreement and the island community’s divided response.

A vivid, culturally rooted coming-of-age novel about Sheba discovering power, heritage and responsibility while facing a threatening parent. It offers imaginative magic, close family care, friendship and an intimate portrayal of hair as connected with identity and inner life.

This is a quest fantasy about siblings facing separation, magical danger and inherited family trouble. Its appeal lies in Fairyland, nature-linked magic, riddles, storytelling and a movement from grief and hardship towards courage and hope.

This is a tender story about settling somewhere new while carrying memories of the past. It combines sadness with hope, showing how familiar relationships and community support can matter during change.

This is a compassionate story about displacement, sibling connection and different responses to upheaval. Its dark imagery and lyrical language make room for fear, loss, uncertainty, hope and courage without revealing every detail.

This is a nature-centred coming-of-age story about grief, friendship and caring for a wild bird. Will and Omar’s discovery of an osprey nest creates an adventure while reflecting their own unsettled lives.

This is a survivor-centred historical novel about the Rwandan genocide, following Jeanne from ordinary family life through persecution, flight, massacre and survival. Its focus is one family’s experience rather than a general history of Rwanda.

A thoughtful story about a child whose precautions cannot protect her from grief. Its emotional movement comes through relationships, humour and community support rather than adventure or danger-solving.

This is a character-led YA romance about grief, outsider identity and a transformative friendship. Its emotional centre is Maggie and Dahlia’s growing love, alongside music, unconventional behaviour and difficult social responses.

This is a fast-moving fantasy adventure about a vulnerable child, a remarkable instrument and adults who seek to exploit its power. Its central appeal is the tension between healing as a gift and healing as something others may exploit.

This is an intense family drama about escaping violence while recognising that being harmed does not remove responsibility for harming someone else. Its focus is emotional recovery, accountability and difficult family loyalties rather than sensational action.

A mystery-driven story about a vulnerable boy confronting loss, secrecy and uncertainty. Its emotional centre is the relationship between Gabe and Vernon, alongside questions about memory, wartime suffering, courage and finding family.

A lively mythological quest with humour, friendship and a strong sense of movement. Its distinctive idea is that Magnus’s decisive challenge is met through words, healing and understanding rather than fighting alone.

A gentle, reflective book that invites children to notice nature’s presence in ordinary indoor surroundings and to consider their place within a larger, connected world.

This is a grief-centred story about a child facing repeated family upheaval, resisting dependence, and encountering an orphaned wolf pup. Nature, animal care and an unfamiliar landscape appear to shape Nika’s emotional experience.

This is a family-centred story about grief, unexpected belonging and a difficult question: should love, biological connection or a child’s established home decide where she belongs?

Consider this for a teenager interested in family identity and history; make space for questions about parentage and the lasting effects of war.