What Are You Looking For?

A fast-moving mystery-adventure pairs a boy’s search for his missing father with unusual beetles, new friendships and a colourful villain. Expect comic characters, insect facts and bursts of action.

A dystopian survival adventure about Jen and Father, an AI who has cared for her since she was a baby. Their search for a new home brings danger, new connections and a difficult secret.

Expect playful pirate adventure, repeated rhyme and a secret shared by a grandson. The colourful artwork adds humorous details, while the narrative pairs Granny’s swashbuckling exploits with ordinary home life.

Expect a vivid underwater fantasy adventure led by a determined engineer, with a submarine expedition, imaginative creatures, perilous conditions and a group learning to trust one another.

This is an exploratory introduction to ancient Egypt, designed to be handled as well as read. Its strongest appeal is the blend of historical information, mystery, visual detail and activities rather than a straightforward history narrative.

Choose this for a reader who enjoys high-seas adventure, mermaids, treasure hunts, riddles and brisk action. The story also offers a character-led exploration of identity, friendship, prejudice and belonging.

This is an imaginative animal adventure with a clear home-and-exploration shape, enriched by detailed wildlife imagery and factual material about a real rat and its rainforest habitat.

A lively read-aloud about a lost dog’s imagined adventures, using rhyme, humour and expressive illustrations to explore survival, landscape, curiosity and the pull of home.

Choose this for a participatory story: children can help search for Patch, follow verbal prompts and enjoy rhyme, clues and playful pirate imagery. It combines an unfolding quest with a wind-down-to-bedtime framing.

A playful, high-energy quest turns familiar ideas upside down. Its central appeal is the combination of gaming-style adventure, colourful illustrations, unusual allies and a clear goal: return to the real world.

This is an engaging introduction to the First World War, linking its broad history to individual experiences. Its movement between people, countries and wartime settings makes a distant conflict feel immediate without turning it into fiction.

Choose this for a child who enjoys making pictures as well as following an imaginative journey. Its central appeal is participation: ripping and gluing paper helps complete scenes rather than simply reading them.

A brisk supernatural football mystery with three friends, secret overnight exploration and mounting suspense. Its short chapters and cliff-hangers may suit readers who want an exciting story without a long, slow build.

A lively guide for children who enjoy practical discovery, linking real expedition experiences with achievable activities close to home. Its emphasis is on learning by trying: outdoor skills, observation, planning and cooperation rather than simply reading about distant adventures.

A spooky Cornwall adventure with a mystery at its centre, this book brings together a young conservation-minded protagonist, an unusual dog, family members and a new friend against a curse that poisons and destroys the land.

A classic-style children’s adventure built around a coastal mystery, teamwork and discovery. Expect suspense from dangerous rocks, suspicious night-time signals, local wrongdoing and the children’s determination to investigate without adult direction.

This is a mystery adventure built around exploration, hidden places and a group of children acting together. Its strongest appeal is likely the remote coastal setting, animal companions and escalating danger.

A lively read-aloud about recovering a treasured teddy, with a bold heroine, pirate adventure, comic goat-riding and illustrations that offer plenty to notice together.

This is a fast-moving historical heist about a teenager challenging wealthy and powerful rulers. Its appeal lies in the team’s contrasting abilities, disguises and audacious objective, but the story also contains substantial violence and references to sexual violence.

This is a comic crime story about guilt, impulsive problem-solving and the complications of trying to make amends. Its appeal appears to lie in fast-moving mishaps, heist ideas and an adolescent protagonist.

A magical historical-fantasy adventure about identity, family and friendship, with mysteries uncovered through flashbacks. Expect spells, Fairyland, talking animals, shapeshifting and a curse rather than a realistic everyday setting.

A mythic rescue adventure centred on Marcy’s fear, determination and relationship with her father. Egyptian gods, the Sphinx and a legendary book create a vivid fantasy setting, while the illustrations carry substantial visual detail and action.

Choose this for a child who enjoys ancient Egypt, mysteries and hands-on problem-solving. It offers a story-led route into hieroglyphs and historical information, with the reader actively helping to investigate the crime.

Found offers a warm, imaginative seaside adventure centred on a close grandparent–grandchild relationship. The rescue of a seal pup brings excitement and peril, while the artwork shifts from realistic beach details towards strikingly fanciful scenes.

Expect a curiosity-led city adventure built around an unlikely friendship. Its main appeal lies in the contrast between Catherine’s orderliness and Big Cat’s wild, chaotic nature, alongside detailed artwork and discoveries hidden in familiar places.

This is a fast-moving, illustrated adventure about a vulnerable robot trying to recover its past and return to Beth. Friendship, fear, memory and the treatment of discarded things sit alongside danger and humour.

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.

This offers a warm, satisfying fairy tale with magical transformations, unusual characters and artwork rich in small visual details that create an intimate, familiar feel.

A brisk, humorous rescue adventure in which Dulcinea uses her wits to confront a witch and navigate enchanted obstacles, with illustrations that contrast her calm manner with the witch’s theatricality.

This is a nature-focused rainforest exploration that alternates between the canopy, forest floor and river. It offers animal facts through a child’s journey, with colourful illustrations and extra information at the end.

This is a family-and-identity story with two children whose experiences overlap but are not identical. It brings donor conception, LGBTQIA+ life, attraction, Jewish traditions and online research into one household and school setting.

This is an emotionally engaging family story about a child trying to understand separation, a parent’s newly disclosed sexuality and the limits of fixing adult problems. Friendship, humour and Pride’s community provide energy and hope.

This is primarily a visual, hands-on activity book: readers colour Sogumi and Soso in fanciful settings, using coloured reference pages for inspiration. Its appeal lies in gentle imaginative play and making pictures, while the role and extent of any written storyline are unclear.

This appears to offer an adventure centred on K-pop-related interests and a connection to K-Pop Demon Hunters fandom.

A warm, imaginative outing centres on companionship across generations. The visual journey—from heat and desert to a fantastical picnic—offers plenty to notice and discuss, without requiring a fixed answer about what really happened.

This is a grief-centred family adventure in which letters and puzzles connect Brie with memories of her mother. Its emotional movement includes loss, uncertainty, support from relatives and friends, and a developing understanding of herself.

A gentle family story about love, loss and renewal: a child learns about Grandad and Gramps’s life together, then helps Grandad move towards new adventures while keeping shared memories alive.

Expect a fast-moving fantasy mystery rooted in a Nigerian village, Yoruba myths and family relationships. Its atmosphere shifts between joy and dread, with danger often suggested rather than directly shown.

A lively read-aloud built around rhythm, counting and visual searching. The repeated countdown creates a clear pattern, while colourful details and sound-words offer several ways for children to join in.

Choose this for a hands-on pirate adventure: the fictional chase unfolds through journal entries, maps, flaps, letters, portraits and puzzles. It offers imaginative exploration alongside references to real pirate places and figures.

A lively, picture-rich pirate story whose appeal seems to lie in humorous disorder, brisk dialogue and small visual discoveries.

This looks like a lively friendship adventure built around contrasting personalities, imaginative inventions and a sudden encounter with a threatening figure. Its strongest appeal may be the trio’s teamwork and playful world-building.

This is a magical forest adventure centred on Hilda and Twig’s partnership. Its distinctive offer is a more active role for Twig, alongside storm sheltering, mysterious surroundings and a rescue-shaped challenge.

A lively first encounter with Greek mythology: ten short, illustrated adventures introduce heroes, monsters, magical objects and transformations. The collection prioritises memorable action and recognisable figures, making it suitable for sharing aloud or dipping into story by story.

Expect a brisk, high-stakes science-fiction adventure built from movie-like set pieces: secret hideouts, monsters, lost cities and missions. Its emotional centre is the friends’ changing reliance on friendship, loyalty, trust and teamwork.