What Are You Looking For?

A coastal mystery combines shell collecting, friendship and bereavement with wartime and present-day danger. The story may suit a child who enjoys clues and adventure but benefits from space to discuss Alice’s loss.

This is a richly illustrated mermaid adventure about protecting a home from development. Its diary format, playful language and underwater world may invite shared reading, visual exploration and discussion.

This is a relationship-focused school and family story about donor conception, confidence, friendship and adapting to change. It offers two children’s perspectives as they move from resentment towards working together, though the final resolution is unclear.

A gentle environmental story about a small, quiet character whose observations are initially overlooked. Whisper’s eventual advocacy involves friends, creativity and persuasion rather than simply becoming louder.

A visually led story about migration, courage and belonging, with no written narration to settle meaning. Its animals and expressive images invite readers to infer what leaving, travelling and arriving might involve.

This is a warm, socially grounded adventure about two girls whose friendship grows after an initially hostile meeting. A herd of cows, family difficulties and community problems combine humour, feeling and an unexpectedly hopeful direction.

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.

A warm, illustration-rich story about rebuilding a neglected hotel through practical work, creative problem-solving and cooperation. Its main tension comes from whether Anna and her team can meet an inspector’s challenge.

This is a lively choice for a child who enjoys mischief, silly bodily humour and action. Its Viking setting, school episodes and group problem-solving provide variety, while the short, episodic structure can support shared reading or growing independence.

This is a practical, pick-and-choose book for doing things outdoors rather than reading from beginning to end. Its breadth supports spontaneous play, creative making, simple experiments and gardening across different seasons.

A suspenseful historical mystery set around Pompeii, combining a children's investigation with vivid historical detail and the looming eruption of Vesuvius. Expect friendship, curiosity and adventure, but also sorrow and frightening material near the conclusion.

A fast-moving survival adventure where four children must depend on one another in an unfamiliar rainforest. Alongside practical dangers, it explores courage, trust, fear, friendship and the difficult choices needed to keep going.

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 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 lively mystery about belonging somewhere new: Poppy’s unusual circus upbringing meets boarding-school traditions, while friendship and investigation draw her into a dangerous case involving an Egyptian ruby.

This is a lively shared-reading book centred on noticing who lives in a building, what each neighbour enjoys and how separate activities become a collective celebration.

A gentle adventure about curiosity becoming a shared project. Arthur and his father respond to rumours about the forest by building towards a view beyond it, while bread, neighbours, a storm and a dog add warmth, suspense and opportunities to notice how the community responds.

A lively, high-concept eco-adventure: inventive technology, racing and space-bound rubbish drive a race against time, while contrasting communities give the story social and environmental weight.

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.

A lively school-election story about finding allies, challenging unfairness and turning strong feelings into action. Its campaign plot combines humour, friendship and political participation with a developing lesson about listening and working constructively with opponents.

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.

A fast-moving fantasy adventure about mermaids, Vikings, gods and a threatened ocean. Alongside magic and danger, it offers a clear route into conversations about environmental damage, leadership, friendship and how communities respond to conflict.

Expect a brisk, surreal adventure in which Max uses communication skills, friendship and cooperation to help a divided miniature society. The story also gives deafness a central, plot-relevant place.

A warm, lively story about an isolated child finding companionship, then helping her family reconsider a wild animal. Its historical setting and concluding information extend the story into an introduction to prehistory and domestication.

A socially engaged coming-of-age story about disability, access and self-determination, with Sam’s campaign creating opportunities for friendship while exposing barriers in school and daily life.

This is a breezy, witty murder mystery about two friends trying to become investigators while navigating popularity, school cliques and complicated friendships. Its comic voice contrasts with recurring deaths and deliberately grotesque details.

A visually rich introduction to detective fiction, offering a contained mystery, recurring animal friends and clues for readers to inspect. It combines suspense about a theft and suspected parents with humour, friendship and collaborative problem-solving.

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

A warm wilderness adventure combines a new family arrangement, practical outdoor activity and animal characters with comic community problems. It offers a gentle route into discussing belonging, cooperation and care for the natural world.

Expect an imaginative café adventure built around peculiar food requests, mythical creatures and the partnership between Rene and Glumfoot. Its rhyming, visually led presentation makes the story’s grotesque culinary comedy a central part of the experience.

A lively fairy-tale reimagining where three heroines encounter magic, danger and friendship. Its central movement is from Rumaysa’s enforced confinement towards escape, shared adventure and protagonists who act as their own rescuers.

A fast-moving rescue adventure about courage, loyalty and learning to trust. Wolves are central companions, while Feo’s journey brings danger, humour and a friendship that develops under pressure.

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.

This is a comic, time-pressured friendship adventure: two estranged boys must complete an unusual delivery while facing increasingly alarming obstacles. The story appears to balance humour, quarrelling and suspense, though its resolution is not known.

This offers an energetic, imaginative quest combining Greek and Roman mythology, modern technology and recognisable British settings. Its strongest appeal is likely the blend of action, humour, inventive creatures and a determined central character.

A brisk, atmospheric whodunit offers clues to examine, several viewpoints to compare and a snowbound mansion full of secrets. Its emotional centre is the unexpected bond formed by three very different girls.

This is a high-pressure survival mystery built around an unseen shooter, a confined setting and secrets among friends. Its interest lies in suspense, shifting trust and how people respond when cooperation becomes necessary.

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.

This is a grief-focused wilderness adventure in which two young people pursue a hopeful but dangerous mission. Expect emotional recovery to matter alongside physical survival and friendship.

This is a team-centred science-fiction adventure about young people confronting the organisation responsible for transforming one of them. Expect secret missions, superhuman and alien abilities, technology, fights and an urgent threat affecting millions.

A brisk family adventure centres on Beans, her gadget-inventing father and a dangerous invention. Its main appeal is likely the combination of imaginative technology, a rescue mission and children taking determined action with friends.

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.

A gentle imaginative search story, pairing a missing teddy button with a moonlit garden, animal encounters and the comfort of putting something right. Its appeal appears to lie in wonder, visual discovery and companionship.

This is an adventure about competing for lasting recognition, while unexpected friendships form during a demanding journey. Its mythological basis and animal characters offer a lively route into the lunar-zodiac story.

A tense climate-emergency adventure that combines rising floodwater and urgent problem-solving with questions about identity, friendship, bullying and finding courage. The children’s changing relationships are central to the story’s momentum.

A playful fantasy adventure combines a damaged family business, an apologetic young ogre and a kingdom facing an attempted takeover. Its pleasures include imaginative names, chocolate-cake humour and characters working together to repair harm and restore stability.