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A fast-moving science-fiction adventure that places a thoughtful robot between fearful children, human survivors and hostile machines. Its strongest offering is a child-accessible route into questions about personhood, loyalty and moral choices during conflict.

This is a fast-moving survival adventure rooted in Welsh landscapes and folklore. Its emotional centre is a sibling group dealing with danger, responsibility and questions of belonging while trying to protect one another.

This offers a school-start story about friendship and belonging, with a particular focus on how Pelly’s difference affects her relationships with Tangle and Eno.

A bright, rhythmic school-community portrait where children learn, play, share food and celebrate together. Its central refrain gives the book a clear, reassuring shape, while the illustrations carry much of the representation.

Expect atmospheric Cornish tales where folklore, ghosts and magic meet farms, the sea and family life. The collection includes linked stories, including one about William, whose disability brings exclusion and cruelty from others.

This is a character-led environmental mystery about two young people who feel different or guarded. It combines wildlife protection, a beach discovery, family secrets and friendship, while giving Ivy’s difficult earlier experiences meaningful emotional weight.

A lively, first-person school story combines farcical problem-solving and slow-burn romance with serious family instability. Its emotional centre is Aideen’s habit of helping others while struggling to address her own circumstances.

A stranger arrives by sea and is confined, mistreated and expelled as the islanders’ fear becomes hatred. Their final wall leaves a bleak image of exclusion rather than reconciliation.

A frank, humorous YA novel about Rose’s difficult first sexual experience, a medical complication, relationship pressure and the shame surrounding bodies. It also follows friendship, online support and uncertainty about the future.

This is an urgent science-fiction adventure with horror elements: invasive plants threaten communities, while three young people investigate why they are unaffected. Alongside survival, the opening gives attention to illness, self-image, friendship and family relationships.

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.

This is a symbolic story about colours whose town becomes divided after one colour claims superiority. Friendship, mixing and cooperation challenge exclusion, making the book particularly useful for starting conversations about racism and belonging.

A visually rich, wordless comparison of family life in Australia and Morocco. Its mirrored structure and detailed collages encourage children and adults to notice routines, places, relationships and connections rather than relying on written explanation.

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.

A friendship begins when two boys meet during a beach trip. The story makes room for difference, uncertainty and everyday kindness, alongside questions, frustrations and confusions.

This is an adventurous, emotionally charged fantasy combining dragons with Cold War intrigue. It follows danger, friendship, romance and hope while confronting racism, bereavement, political violence and the destructive consequences of power.

This is an imaginative animal adventure with two contrasting protagonists: a calf escaping slaughter and a rejected boy pursuing him. The journey opens questions about compassion, human treatment of animals and how relationships can change thinking.

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.

A warm, identity-focused picture book in which Alex considers what makes him himself. It offers a straightforward celebration of individuality, including preferences, feelings, physical characteristics and thoughts, alongside similarities with others.

This is a gentle, participatory read-aloud built around rhyme, repetition and counting. Its central pleasure is noticing both the individuality of babies and the shared features that connect them.

Expect a gradual plot, military conflict, monsters, magic and questions about whether unity can challenge oppression.

A warm, question-led story about how Barley Bear and his adoptive mother became a family. It introduces adoption-related ideas through cuddling, conversation and illustrations, rather than presenting a detailed account of every adoption experience.

A gentle family story centred on two male penguins who care for an egg and raise Tango. Its main emphasis is belonging, parenting and adoption, with wider questions about what makes a family.

A gentle adoption story centred on Mia’s questions about family resemblance and her mixed feelings. It can open discussion of belonging without requiring every part of a child’s own experience to match Mia’s.

This is a warm, repetitive story about noticing differences in appearance while recognising shared ways of living, feeling and connecting. Its central reassurance is that families can belong together without looking alike.

This is a warm celebration of cousins as friends and family, including relationships maintained across countries. It offers a bright, inclusive shared-reading experience centred on connection.

A friendship-focused YA fantasy in which a varied group of young characters face dangerous, action-packed moments. Its emotional emphasis falls on empathy, trust and choosing to stand by one another rather than on graphic or gruesome detail.

This is an action-led fantasy about a trans teen navigating a dangerous divine competition, with friendship and social inequality at its centre. Its imaginative mythology and representation may appeal, while the sacrifice premise and sustained peril make the emotional stakes substantial.

This is a warm, mystery-led story about wanting to belong while pursuing an unusual ambition. Its seaside setting, humour, family secrets and theme of self-acceptance may particularly suit readers drawn to determined protagonists and magical possibilities.

This is a clue-led historical mystery with an active young protagonist, a strong seaside setting and a family crisis at its centre. It offers atmosphere, teamwork and a determined character whose limb difference is part of her life, not the whole plot.

A warm, nature-focused story about belonging and care. Roz learns by observing the island’s animals, while raising Brightbill gives the story a family relationship and a reason to explore migration, instincts and seasonal change.

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.

Expect a darkly funny, morally complicated fantasy heist: Elle rebuilds her crew to pursue a seemingly impossible rescue from the Afterlife while translating a mysterious manuscript and avoiding powerful syndicates.

This is a character-led fantasy romance about two girls navigating attraction, family expectations and a threat to connected worlds. It offers cosy magical adventure, contrasting realities and a focus on personal growth over action.

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.

This is a warm but perilous time-slip adventure about a child coping with frightening family circumstances. Its emotional centre is the growing trust between two boys who must care for one another while trying to return home.

Expect a richly illustrated, surreal story rather than a straightforward cosy tale. The Greenling brings abundance and connection, yet its arrival and departure carry an ominous, folkloric atmosphere.

This is a performance-centred coming-of-age story about pursuing talent while resisting narrow ideas of beauty. Its strongest offering is a protagonist whose confidence and vulnerability coexist, alongside representation of bisexual and Korean American identities.

A character-led YA novel about a Muslim teenager negotiating prejudice, family background, self-protection and first love in post-9/11 America. Music and breakdancing provide important ways for Shirin to cope and express herself.

Louie’s grief after his brother’s death unfolds alongside parental separation and a community’s devastation. The story uses ghosts and Endlander mourning traditions to explore how people remember the dead, communicate loss and begin rebuilding.

A grief-centred verse novel combining letters, school and home life, and cryptid mystery. Its emotional focus is Noah’s search for connection and belonging while navigating loss and identity.

A warm picture-book story about welcoming a mysterious, vulnerable stranger, forming attachment, experiencing sudden separation and extending hospitality to others like him. Its imaginative setting leaves room to discuss belonging without explaining everything about Mister Toots.

This is a gentle, emotionally serious story about grief. Its imaginative central image—a hare-shaped absence—gives difficult feelings a visible form, while memories and friendship bring warmth without removing the sadness.

Fox dies after a long life, and his friends share memories that help a tree grow. The story moves through grief, remembering and renewal, while keeping Fox’s influence alive in their community.

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.