What Are You Looking For?

Its emotional centre is the search for a new meaning of home.

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 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.

A thoughtful migration story combines everyday hardship with magical realism. Leelu’s loneliness, her brother’s difficulties and the family’s uncertainty make belonging feel complicated rather than instantly solved.

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 warm, busy story about making something together when home and family security are under pressure. Its strongest appeal is the blend of theatre-making, farm life, friendship and practical determination.

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 calm picture book about Alex moving between Mum’s and Dad’s homes, showing ordinary pleasures in both places rather than treating one household as the only home.

A fast-moving dystopian adventure combines a family search with uncertain alliances, a lottery camp and an environmental mystery. Its central pull is whether belonging means escaping Earth or helping protect it.

An emotionally serious adventure about belonging and uncovering the past. Arlo’s school project and interest in a shipwreck provide momentum, while supportive relationships and the possibility of recovery balance the secrecy, loss and uncertainty.

This is a character-led wartime coming-of-age story: relationships and growing up receive sustained attention before and during the conflict. Its view extends beyond the front to family life, nursing and shortages in England.

A gentle adoption story that acknowledges frightening beginnings, uncertainty about change and lingering sadness or anger, while offering comfort through foster carers, social-worker support and a loving adoptive family.

A gentle, fantastical story about a statue searching for a place where she feels important and accepted, then discovering the warmth of familiar community. City scenes and animal characters support the emotional journey.

This is a visually led story about a frightened newcomer trying to return home. Its emotional centre is Leaf’s isolation, while the woodland animals’ changing response opens space to discuss fear, curiosity and welcome.

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.

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 lively conservation adventure centred on teamwork among rainforest animals.

A short, visually expressive story about a newcomer, suspicion and the possibility of belonging. Its emotional centre is the contrast between what the animals assume and what they learn about the stranger’s past.

A reflective picture book about leaving home and adjusting to an unfamiliar journey. Its mother’s reassuring voice offers steadiness, while the illustrations and repeated questions leave room to notice uncertainty, loss, hope and the child’s perspective.

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.

A dark, atmospheric fantasy for readers who enjoy folklore, mystery and psychological unease. Alice’s search for her mother carries questions about trust, belonging and who has the right to shape a story.

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.

This is a socially engaged coming-of-age story about belonging, prejudice and resistance. Its emotional centre is Zara’s effort to protect her family and future while remaining true to her identity and connected to people who support her.

This is a wartime survival adventure combining danger, horses and displaced children. Its central appeal is resourceful young protagonists protecting vulnerable beings, while the historical setting brings serious questions about war, loss and responsibility.

A tender story of Waverley the cat and Donald’s separation, set alongside illustrations of a homeless war veteran. Its emotional focus is friendship, waiting and the contrast between kindness and people being overlooked.

This is a brisk gateway to interconnected Greek myths rather than a single narrowly focused war story. Its sweep includes the war’s background, the conflict itself and the difficult returns of several heroes.

This is a character-led story about foster care, adoption, friendship and the effects of introducing an artificial intelligence into school life. Its tone combines humour with poignant circumstances and thought-provoking questions about human–AI relationships.

This is a school and family drama about a quiet teenager confronting public lies, persistent bullying and a frightening home atmosphere. It also follows her growing connections with Elijah, Aunt Polly and the mysterious ‘red pen’ correspondent.

A dark, imaginative fantasy about a teenager navigating homelessness, fractured relationships and a dangerous supernatural bargain. Its central appeal is the collision between recognisable adolescent difficulties and a modern vision of Hell.

This is a serious, emotionally focused novel about returning home, confronting painful memories and imagining a future beyond harmful family dynamics. Flooding and climate danger provide an urgent backdrop, while romantic love adds another strand.

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.

This is a story about displacement, responsibility and belonging, with ballet providing a meaningful connection between Aya’s past and her emerging life in England. Friendship and practical kindness sit alongside worry about family, paperwork and whether home can be rebuilt.

This is a lively, comic adventure about identity, family and belonging. Film-making, mistaken identity and celebrity create the fun, while Rafa’s disrupted home life and concern for Cillian give the story a more serious emotional thread.

A gripping, humane mystery follows Ayrton, Stanley and Sen as family secrets bring them together. Its emotional centre is friendship: the three young people face very different pressures while trying to understand adults and their own identities.

A warm story about a child whose busy family weekend becomes an unexpected learning experience. It offers a lively picture of shared work, celebration and community, while making room for a child’s worry about disappointing school expectations.

A portal-like magical shop gives Daniel a route from hardship into wonder, responsibility and danger. The story combines bullying, orphanhood, inventive fantasy and a clear save-the-Emporium quest, with creative possibilities beyond the plot.

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 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.

An imaginative journey transforms how three children see both nature and their tower-block home. The story offers a strong visual contrast between built surroundings and greenery, then turns towards community, belonging and renewed appreciation.

This offers a lively, personal story about cultural and family pressures, school belonging and wanting independence. Humour sits alongside increasingly serious material, so the emotional experience may change notably as Jo grows older.

This offers a spooky family mystery alongside sibling relationships, friendship and moving home. Its strongest appeal is the tension between ordinary difficulties—housing, work and school—and the possibility that the tower is genuinely cursed.

A thoughtful verse novel about a child facing an unwanted move and gradually finding steadiness. Its imaginary-friend narrator gives Ray’s worries a distinct voice while the story broadens towards kindness, refuge and understanding others.

Mandy’s recorded account combines humour with sadness as she faces a chaotic family life, school trouble, and worries about whether the adults around her can care for her properly.

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.