What Are You Looking For?

A gently comic story about a well-meaning girl whose attempts to do the proper thing repeatedly become escapades. Its pleasures appear to lie in lively mishaps, period details and a distinctive small-town setting.

A playful haunted-house adventure centres on two rowdy poltergeists, a babysitting arrangement and children trying to repair the disruption. Expect comic supernatural trouble, resident ghosts and a brisk problem-solving storyline rather than a realistic family drama.

This is a humorous Minecraft fantasy built around a looming threat, friendship and action. It may suit a child seeking a familiar game world, silly situations and a fast-moving battle rather than realism.

A lively football story about friendship, team identity and the excitement of entering a proper championship. Humour drives the opening, while competition and disagreement introduce more serious questions about belonging.

Expect exuberant pretend play rather than a realistic animal story: the elephant’s presence turns ordinary routines into comic problems, while friendship and physical affection provide the book’s reassuring centre.

Expect a warm family story with humour and emotional depth. Batty’s efforts to earn money, her singing talent and the changing relationships around her provide several strands beyond the central grief.

This is an inventive, fast-moving apocalypse fantasy built around Vincent’s attempt to protect his family.

This is a fast-moving supernatural adventure built around fugitives, pursuit and an unusual romantic triangle. Its appeal lies in alternating teenage viewpoints, comic observations and emotional conflict, while its zombie premise brings deliberately gross and frightening material.

A lively choice for readers who enjoy supernatural danger, a strong teenage voice and romantic complications. Its main appeal is momentum: ghostly conflict turns questions of trust, desire and responsibility into immediate choices.

A lively comic adventure that may make reading feel playful and social, especially through visual storytelling, absurd humour and drawing prompts. Its energetic action and deliberately rough language sit alongside kindness, loyalty and forgiveness.

This is a mystery-driven story about online identity and an unsettling face-to-face meeting. Its central appeal appears to be suspense, with humour and adventure also noted by readers, though reactions to its tone vary.

A playful animal tale builds humour around a toothache and a reversal of fortune. Its clearest offering is a simple situation in which laughing at another character’s discomfort comes back to the laugher.

Expect a playful extraterrestrial rescue adventure involving a missing spaceship, Area 51, legendary aliens and deep-freeze discovery.

Expect a fast-moving, comic animal adventure about being lost, protecting something valued and finding unexpected companionship. Its distinctive voice comes from Streaker narrating her own chaotic experiences.

Expect a brisk, creepy fantasy balancing frightening school imagery with jokes and determined sibling teamwork. Its emotional pressure comes from abandonment, captivity and mind control rather than realistic school life.

This offers fast-moving supernatural suspense alongside school and family drama. Its appeal lies in a vulnerable heroine facing lost powers, dangerous opponents and complicated relationships, with humour appearing alongside fear and physical peril.

This is a colourful, humorous graphic-novel adventure about Berry finding a companion, Terry causing havoc, and Berry trying to prevent his departure. It offers playful fantasy, energetic visual storytelling and a friendship-centred problem to follow.

Its emotional centre is the search for a new meaning of home.

This is a comic, imaginative rhyming story about Nora’s unstoppable appetite. The escalating silliness moves from food to unexpected objects, then into a fantastical space adventure, ending with a surprising happy consequence.

Expect inventive comic mishaps, misunderstandings and an eccentric central character rather than a serious science story. The humour often comes from failed inventions and Branestawm’s difficulty with everyday social situations.

A humorous diary novel about starting a new school, managing friendship changes and feeling self-conscious while family life also shifts. Drawings and comic mishaps give Lottie’s worries a light, accessible presentation.

This offers a lively route into scientific curiosity: invention, robots and jokes are paired with explanations of antimatter, atoms, robotics and the scientific method. It may particularly engage readers who enjoy illustrated, idea-rich adventures.

A lively fantasy quest with a determined heroine, comic creatures and a school setting. Bronte’s pursuit of knighthood challenges traditional expectations while the story explores courage, responsibility and standing by others.

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.

This is a playful crime caper about a planned theft of toys and the police response. Expect comic conflict between robbers and officers, though the ending and the consequences of the attempted crime are unclear.

This is a comic coming-of-age diary in which Adrian interprets family upheaval, school problems and first love while presenting himself as unusually sensible and mature.

Expect a series of self-contained, startling tales rather than one continuous plot. Children encounter odd powers, unusual creatures, bodily changes, animals in danger and emotionally difficult family situations, usually within a comic or bizarre framework.

A lively, voice-driven story about friendship, family pressure and a risky plan. Its humour and invented slang sit alongside shouting at home, money worries and the tension of deciding whether to join in.

A lively, voice-led coming-of-age novel combining humour and friendship with family strain, social pressure and gang-related danger. Lemar’s art and relationships offer warmth, but the story also reaches a killing and difficult choices.

This is a lively Greek-myth fantasy where comic gods and a young goddess accompany Elliott through danger. Its emotional centre is a child trying to care for his unwell mother while protecting his family’s home.

A fast, mischievous story about a child’s homemade medicine, comic disorder and rebellion against an unpleasant adult. Its humour depends on exaggeration, grotesque imagery and the reversal of adult authority rather than on model behaviour.

A warm sibling-centred collection in which a very young girl’s curiosity and mischief drive comic family episodes. It offers recognisable domestic situations, while some incidents may invite discussion about consequences and other people’s boundaries.

A funny, brisk story about two reluctant readers whose library visit becomes an adventure. It offers comic exaggeration, sibling banter, a vivid librarian and a clear change in how the boys view books.

This is a comic adventure about resourcefulness, friendship and family loyalty, set against the pressure of possible eviction. Magical potions and their possible use in the pizza shop set up energetic slapstick, while the story gives serious subjects space without presenting humour as belittling them.

A comic fantasy adventure about work, family duty and finding a place in the world. Sebastian travels towards royal employment while danger, friendship, creatures and a succession of familiar fantasy episodes complicate his plans.

A comic school story about Faith navigating Year Ten, friendship difficulties and a choir project involving boys.

Expect a playful quest presented through a very cheerful setting, with five heroes facing frozen lands, dungeons and frightening creatures while searching for stolen crystals.

This is a wartime coming-of-age story seen through family affection, community routines and a child’s uncertainty. Expect comic boyhood episodes alongside waiting, separation and the pressure to live up to admired heroes.

This is a comic pet mystery built around a group of friends, an ugly dog and increasingly puzzling disappearances. Expect playful embarrassment, detective activity and gross-out imagery rather than a quiet or realistic animal story.

This is a domestic adventure about Paddington and a visitor connected with his past. Its central interest appears to be how a familiar family home is affected by questions of belonging.

This is a humorous story about a child whose repeated tattling affects his relationships and is followed by a striking tongue-related problem. Its central distinction is between unnecessary reports and warnings about matters that may require attention.

Expect a comic underwater setting, familiar characters and self-contained-feeling adventures shaped by SpongeBob’s optimism and unintended chaos. The emphasis appears to be on imaginative situations, friendship and humorous problem-solving rather than a single clearly described storyline.

A playful farmyard mystery built around mistaken appearances: Bitzer’s hunger, a strange howl and a barn shadow make an ordinary night seem threatening. The humour comes from competing explanations and an apparently outrageous plan.

This is a comic Halloween sequel about six children whose repeated misbehaviour disrupts the whole town. It combines theft, spray-painting and threatened loss of celebration with a reversal in which the disrupted event is presented as unexpectedly successful.

A discussion choice for a reader interested in friendship and unfairness, with care around debt and criminal choices.