What Are You Looking For?

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.

Expect an urgent survival adventure in which two children must respond to rising danger after extreme weather separates them from their group. Its environmental focus sits alongside friendship, courage and the pressures of fitting in.

A dark, imaginative adventure for readers who enjoy secret societies, mythological creatures and determined protagonists. Its strongest hooks are the hunter trials, the forest’s threats and Winnie’s effort to reclaim her family’s standing.

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.

This is an adventurous, emotionally charged animal-led quest. It offers talking animals, friendship and humour alongside a bleak altered world, separated families, imprisonment, disease and threats to survival. The ending appears to open into a continuing story rather than resolving every possibility.

This is a tender story about finding comfort amid displacement, then recognising another child's loneliness. Its emotional centre is Lubna's difficult decision about a treasured object.

This is an action-led coming-of-age story about a troubled child entering an extraordinary spy-training organisation. It offers perseverance, teamwork and personal change alongside danger, bereavement, coercion and language some families may wish to discuss.

A tense survival adventure places young people in a natural disaster and gives Dylan and Louie difficult practical and emotional problems to solve. Its strongest thread appears to be movement from suspicion towards cooperation.

This is a serious memoir about a child navigating poverty, school exclusion, racism and violent home relationships. Alongside distressing experiences, it includes friendship, sibling joy, Abuela’s influence and moments of perseverance.

This is a fast-moving fantasy adventure centred on a fierce, guarded heroine. Expect a dangerous rescue journey, strange creatures, corrupted magic and evolving friendships, alongside a serious exploration of loss, guilt and anger.

A lively fantasy mystery for readers who enjoy hidden worlds, supernatural beings, competition and surprises. Its emotional centre is Amari’s search for her brother and her movement from feeling like an outsider towards recognising her strengths.

This is a fast-moving wartime escape story combining orphanhood, sibling loyalty and espionage. Its child characters repeatedly make difficult choices while trying to survive danger, loss and separation.

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.

A whimsical quest combines magical characters, tongue-in-cheek humour and determined friendship with a strong longing for home. Its imaginative surface is interrupted by abrupt, casually narrated violence that may surprise readers expecting gentler fantasy.

A folklore-rich quest about a girl protecting her home and family. Its imaginative setting, magical companions and nature imagery sit alongside questions about self-belief, inherited responsibility and whether the past can be repaired.

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 gentle, imaginative flying adventure about wanting something extraordinary, meeting an unusual new friend, and discovering that home still matters after a thrilling journey.

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 visually led story about forced movement, family resilience and the search for safety. It may help children consider refugees as people with fears, relationships and hopes, rather than as an abstract issue.

This offers immersive folklore, a slow-building relationship and a heroine confronting shame about her magic. It may suit readers who enjoy gothic atmosphere, complex myth-making and emotionally difficult fantasy rather than a light fairy-tale retelling.

This is a fantasy adventure combining K-pop performance culture, martial-arts action and supernatural danger. Its emotional centre is a friendship group learning to work together while facing fears that affect them and others.

This is a war novel centred on a young woman’s divided loyalties: caring for the wounded, protecting family and considering escape. It offers an emotionally intense perspective on civilian danger, responsibility and hope.

A dark, atmospheric Dracula retelling centred on two sisters, captivity and resistance. Its strongest offering is the way female relationships, Traveller identity and collective courage reshape a familiar vampire story.

This is a fast-moving wartime escape story centred on protecting horses and people. Its strongest features are peril, courage and companionship, while the historical setting gives the adventure serious emotional weight.

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.

This is a character-led story about four lonely children becoming connected. Its emotional focus is stronger than its action, with distinct voices, friendship and courage developing alongside questions about fate and belonging.

A supernatural horror story rooted in a family homecoming, with queer romance and questions of belonging. It combines frightening events with explorations of Vietnamese American identity, colonialism and family history.

A dark, fast-moving supernatural adventure about a girl learning to manage dangerous spirit-related powers while uncovering mysteries around the Uncles, her family and the wider paranormal world.

This is an emotionally charged historical animal adventure: Delta uses courage and resourcefulness to search for separated friends while Pompeii faces catastrophe. It offers suspense, relationships and a window onto Roman life, including the unequal position of enslaved people.

A clue-driven historical adventure centred on a determined violinist, with friendship and perseverance alongside bereavement, abandonment, deception and threats. Its journey spans India, the sea voyage and Victorian England.

A reflective story of two girls connected through dreams, grief and a Welsh poem. Its interest lies in the developing bond between contemporary school life and an imagined medieval world.

This is a refugee journey told through Sami’s changing circumstances: a familiar life in Damascus gives way to displacement, danger and attempts to rebuild in England. Family bonds, guilt, anxiety, kindness and discrimination shape the experience.

A spooky, character-led mystery about protecting ghosts, confronting fear and forming connections. It offers queer representation, a disabled protagonist and a romance alongside supernatural danger, with Charlie’s personal growth central to the story.

This offers a brisk supernatural mystery rooted in London, drama, museum history and identity. Its appeal lies in clues, red herrings and links between attacks across time, alongside Niamh’s new friendships and possible romance.

Expect an imaginative, creature-filled adventure centred on finding sanctuary. Friendship, loyalty, courage and environmental loss sit alongside danger, threatening creatures and occasional insulting language.

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 a child-centred mystery with suspense and emotional depth. Matthew’s restricted life, observations and growing involvement in the search create a story about connection, courage and how others respond to mental-health difficulties.

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 lyrical verse novel about grief, relocation, racism, belonging and the effort to turn anger into creative purpose. Ronny’s experiences centre young people’s challenges while presenting perseverance and artistic expression as possible ways forward.

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 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 family-centred coming-of-age story: Katy’s energetic adventures give way to pain, dependence and gradual change. Its strongest appeal lies in a vivid household, an imperfect heroine and a sustained focus on how relationships respond when ordinary life is disrupted.

A gentle but serious rural story in which Spider’s connection with animals gives him purpose and belonging. It presents difference, kindness and courage through a character whose strengths are recognised by those who care for him.

A thoughtful, atmospheric family mystery in which Kate’s investigation opens difficult questions about death, secrecy and belonging. Its suspense is closely tied to emotional upheaval rather than adventure alone, and the ending involves significant family change.

Rumaysa’s search for her parents leads into a magical adventure involving a queen, traditional fairy-tale figures and unusual creatures. The story combines danger, humour and a heroine who takes an active, compassionate role.

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.