What Are You Looking For?

This is a child-centred school story told from a hamster’s viewpoint. Its appeal lies in observing pupils and families through Humphrey’s perspective, with plans to address problems and a generally gentle tone.

A lively school-and-family story about handling change, friendship and unfair treatment through humour and imagination. Omar’s Muslim identity is part of everyday life, not a separate lesson.

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.

A family roadside stop becomes a meeting point between a child's embarrassment and her parents' difficult memories. Watercress offers a compact story about family history, migration, hardship and a growing understanding between generations.

A warm, quietly observant set of linked stories about friendship across generations, loneliness after moving, and animals needing care. Its emotional force comes from vulnerability balanced by companionship and hopeful outcomes.

Expect a playful fantasy adventure centred on an unusual hotel, magical visitors and comic world-building. The story appears designed for momentum and imaginative enjoyment, with short chapters, action and humour rather than a complex plot.

This is a comic school adventure about embarrassment, reputation and the wish to become popular. Dante’s supernatural surroundings, friendship plots and illustrated presentation offer energetic humour alongside questions about confidence and belonging.

A compact, imaginative fantasy about a child’s anger and imaginative escape. Max’s journey towards and away from the Wild Things gives the book energetic movement, while his return home brings the story back to family.

A lively Thames-set fantasy about three friends whose mudlarking leads to an underwater adventure. Expect imaginative world-building, comic eccentricity and an active quest rather than a quiet, realistic story.

A gentle, episodic story about meeting fear with curiosity. Plop’s conversations introduce several ways of understanding darkness, alongside owl facts and moments of comic mishap as he learns to manage a new experience.

Expect a fast-moving school adventure set in 2507, combining pirate training, a mysterious newcomer and danger in the academy. Friendship and cooperation sit alongside sailing, knots, swords and an escalating enemy threat.

Expect a quest-led fantasy centred on bravery, friendship and teamwork. Magical creatures create danger, while the conflict is framed as a struggle against an evil wizard’s spell rather than realistic wrongdoing.

Expect anarchic humour, imaginative adventures and a central character who challenges adult authority. Pippi’s friendships, confidence and physical strength drive the fun, while the episodic structure offers distinct comic situations rather than one tightly unfolding plot.

A gentle magical adventure carries a serious environmental problem: the children must respond as trees are threatened, extreme weather worsens and their village floods. Friendship and changing viewpoints help drive the response.

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 classroom story about meeting difference with empathy: the new girl’s loneliness and strength sit alongside the class’s harsh words, creating space to discuss how people treat one another.

A curious fantasy about Polly Flint’s unusual way of seeing, and her involvement with people caught outside their proper time. Expect mystery, strangeness and an imaginative hidden world.

This is a gentle school story about feeling unseen, noticing someone on the margins and making room for them. Its central movement is from social isolation towards connection through thoughtful, practical acts.

This is a performance-friendly poetry collection: playful sounds, repeated rhyme, comic images and short narratives offer opportunities to laugh, listen, join in and notice how words work.

A compact, atmospheric fantasy about courage and devotion, with a clear quest structure. Its cold landscapes and threatening folklore create suspense, while Ivan’s determination gives the story emotional purpose.

Expect a comic, episodic adventure in which children help gentle yetis seek refuge. The story combines absurd details and rescues with sharper material about captivity, animal cruelty, hunting and threatened communities.

This is an atmospheric circus fantasy about curiosity, belief and stepping into the unknown. Its strongest features are theatrical build-up, magical transformations and artwork that makes the mysterious Place Between feel vivid and slightly uncanny.

A football team gains a famous new coach, but his very demanding regime tests three friends who mainly want to enjoy playing. The central tension is between ambition, pressure and pleasure.

A magical friendship story follows Lewis after he discovers an angel on the roof. The angel’s presence appears to alter relationships around him, while Lewis is drawn towards seeing difference and other people differently.