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Expect a warm, humorous story built around Lottie's plan to grow a giant pumpkin with her grandfather. Its comic elements sit alongside school bullying, family strain, bereavement, illness and Lottie's responsibilities at home.

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.

Follow Nathaniel from a Jamaican plantation to England, where his belief that English soil means freedom is tested. His hopes for escape and his family’s future drive the story.

This is a survival adventure about dependent pets forced into an unknown, dangerous world. Its emotional centre is the animals’ struggle to cope, cooperate and change when familiar human protection disappears.

A tense coming-of-age story follows Kadeen as football offers connection and purpose in a new home. Her secret involvement with the team is complicated by her aunt’s opposition and the need to avoid recognition.

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.

Choose this for a reader who enjoys horses, richly imagined landscapes, folklore and a slowly tightening mystery. Its emotional centre is a complicated family whose love and resilience coexist with absence, suspicion and uncertainty.

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.

Expect an imaginative factory adventure centred on five children, with comic fantasy, moral contrasts and a strong focus on Charlie’s honesty. The story also includes poverty, rule-breaking and punishments that may prompt differing reactions.

This is a character-led school story about a young person who is often judged by her behaviour but wants to belong, make friends and change direction. Its central appeal is the possibility of second chances.

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.

A tense historical adventure about separated siblings and Jan, a young thief who joins them. Its strongest qualities are resourcefulness, loyalty and compassion, alongside a serious portrayal of children navigating war’s aftermath.

This is a historical family story about rebuilding after hardship. Ellie’s practical courage, connection with nature and willingness to help others sit alongside grief, difficult choices and uncertainty about what people have experienced.

Choose this for a child who enjoys immersive fantasy quests, invented creatures, game-like challenges and a determined protagonist whose family and friendships matter as much as the adventure.

This is a fanciful, visually distinctive story about bereavement, adaptation and returning home. Babar moves between an animal world and a human-style society, with wonder, danger and a strong emphasis on manners, effort and belonging.

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 lively animal adventure also centres on family change: Taya must manage the aftermath of a house fire, pressure on the family business and uncertainty about her twin’s new friendships.

This is a family-centred story about a summer visit, growing responsibility and a child confronting fear. Its emotional focus is Flora’s uneasy relationship with Nelson, rather than a broad account of the holiday.

A faith-based guide for preteens about living out a God-given mission through everyday choices, relationships and perseverance. Each chapter combines direct explanation with a preteen’s story intended to connect the teaching with ordinary life.