What Are You Looking For?

A funny school-and-family story about disrupted routines, fostering and learning to cooperate when two boys must tackle a shared challenge.

A thoughtful time-slip adventure about two boys separated by centuries but connected by hardship. Its mystery framework brings contemporary housing insecurity and Victorian workhouse life together, while the boys’ friendship gives the story an emotionally hopeful centre.

Expect children’s fantasy involving the named protagonists. Its appeal lies in lively family exchanges, problem-solving and events shaped by the children’s decisions.

Expect comic poetry about growing up, using exaggerated everyday situations such as sibling conflict, an unwanted shirt and a spider. The collection appears suited to reading aloud and sharing reactions.

This is a personal and historical account of migration, family separation, reunion and racism. Its emotional movement includes joy, fear, sadness and determination, with illustrations or presentation contrasting Trinidad and England.

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.

A child navigating a new life, missing family and friendship encounters a magical garden whose promises lead towards adventure and a darker fairy-tale atmosphere.

This is a family adventure involving financial uncertainty, threatened property and a long journey from rural India towards the city and across the Himalayas.

This is an imaginative, unsettling quest about two dependent beings trying to build a home rather than achieve isolation. Expect comic absurdity alongside menace, moral complexity and sustained questions about freedom, family and survival.

Expect an eerie, imaginative timeslip story in which Minty investigates a mysterious garden and tries to help two children from different historical periods. Its suspense is closely connected with family distress and compassion.

A child’s perspective makes refugee experience, antisemitism and changing countries personal and discussable. Family solidarity and curiosity sit alongside historically grounded accounts of persecution and loss.

A fast-moving mystery about a child trying to clear her father’s name, with computer crime, family pressure and danger. Victoria’s intelligence, courage and persistence drive the investigation.

Expect an entertaining ghost adventure with intersecting storylines: kindly ghosts seek a home, while an orphaned heir faces a frightening scheme involving deliberately terrifying spirits.

A warm, strongly moral story about an orphaned girl, changing homes and the relationships she forms. Its emotional centre is the contrast between Heidi’s mountain life and her unhappiness in Frankfurt.

A tense, emotionally serious survival story follows Ade through a collapsing city while his mother withdraws and neighbours become an unexpected support network. Its strongest offering is a child-centred exploration of vulnerability, responsibility and collective care.

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.

Choose this for a reader who enjoys atmospheric mysteries, eccentric characters, supernatural adventure and comic wordplay. Its central appeal is following clues through an unusual seaside world while Herbie and Violet face escalating danger.

A high-stakes fantasy about two young people facing an oppressive society, dangerous magic and threats to their families. Its strongest focus is courage joined with cultural pride and resistance to injustice.

This is a suspenseful historical story about family separation and friendship under political pressure. The documentary-style sections let readers see events through children’s eyes while gradually revealing the risks surrounding their attempts to stay connected.

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 thoughtful story about a child carrying adult responsibilities who finds friendship, creativity and adventure while visiting Italy. An injured otter and the people Jakub meets help broaden his sense of who he is.