What Are You Looking For?

A gentle nature story combines a small character’s change of circumstances with information about oak trees, seasons and the many species associated with them.

A tense ghost story about recognising coercive control and reclaiming independence. Its supernatural premise makes the lingering effects of manipulation vivid, while Maya’s anxiety and fear keep the suspense emotionally close.

This is a friendship-and-identity story in which a disrupted routine opens space for music, independence and new connections. Its interest lies less in high-stakes danger than in ordinary emotional change and finding a direction.

This is an ocean adventure about attempting something others doubt, preparing carefully, coping with difficult conditions and discovering capability. It also brings ocean wildlife and pollution into the story through Lucy’s classmates.

A focused biography about curiosity, family support and persistence: Louis Braille loses his sight, encounters inadequate books and develops a six-dot system to make reading and writing more accessible by touch.

A fast-moving London quest places a blind heroine at the centre of a supernatural crisis. Its strongest offering is Ella’s practical experience of blindness, alongside friendship, family tensions, mythology and a high-stakes struggle against darkness.

Expect fast-moving fantasy adventure: Emily and her friends train, discover powers and attempt a dangerous rescue while war approaches. Family tensions and questions of trust sit alongside battles and emotional uncertainty.

A warm, humorous adventure about a determined young inventor, with imaginative technology, a strong female lead and a clear focus on why sleep matters.

A hands-on baking guide offering varied cake recipes, decorating techniques, adaptations and ideas for presenting cakes as gifts. Its strongest appeal is practical activity: reading leads directly into making, decorating and sharing food.

A comic family-and-school story about a child navigating ambitious parents, a new school and competing ideas about attention. Its main appeal is the child’s perspective on adult expectations and the awkward question of whether independence can become neglect.

A resourceful teenager creates a solitary life in the Catskills, learning through observation, library research and practice. The story combines practical wilderness detail with an imaginative challenge to ordinary ideas about comfort and possessions.

This is a poignant historical family story about isolation, hardship and perseverance. Its emotional centre is Laura’s longing to help, belong and reunite her family, alongside compassion for a vulnerable turtle.

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.

A structured introduction to everyday money matters, moving from saving and investment to borrowing, insurance and budgeting. Its practical examples connect financial knowledge with university, college, starting work and travel.

A tense story about a young person trying to escape a parent’s extreme survivalist rules while navigating foster care, distrust and the possibility of being found. Its emotional force comes from Amber’s guarded, sharply ironic voice.

A tense story about girls seeking safety and belonging under Sol’s control. As new relationships and demands unsettle the cabin, the book follows questions of loyalty, selfhood, survival and whether protection can become coercion.

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 practical, playful invitation to turn found and recycled materials into animals, insects and habitats, while noticing details of the natural world. Its strongest offer is creative freedom: children are encouraged to experiment, display their work and value connection over perfect results.

This is a coming-of-age story about a Muslim teenager finding confidence and voice while facing social pressure, racism, family expectations and manipulation. Its serious subject matter is presented alongside humour, relationships and hope.

A contemporary YA romance about an art-loving teenager whose secret travel plans, difficult partnership and online attraction create competing pressures. Venice provides the setting for artistic work, cultural experiences and shifting romantic feelings.

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 grief story with a supernatural or possibly imagined presence at its centre. Jade’s friendship with Vicky is loving but unequal, and recovery involves recognising control, facing guilt and accepting help.

This is a tender, nature-centred story about a boy’s bond with a seal and his grandfather. Its strongest offering is emotional range: delight in the sea sits alongside physical danger, disappearance, the grandfather’s absence and the passage of generations.

A romance about two teenagers navigating disability, belonging and pressure: Ellie confronts ableism after leaving her Deaf school, while Jackson faces frightening bodily changes and demanding expectations. Their connection is presented alongside anger, uncertainty, compassion and questions of self-determination.

This is a slow-burning, atmospheric thriller for readers who enjoy uncertainty, dreamlike fantasy and family mysteries. Its strongest interest lies in how Shelby’s changing understanding of herself reshapes the story around her.

A thoughtful contemporary romance about finding ways to communicate, with disability, anxiety, friendship and family relationships treated as substantial parts of the story rather than simple obstacles.

Expect brisk, idea-led stories rather than one continuous adventure. Robots, scientists, technicians and institutions face puzzles arising from rules intended to protect people, with the linked structure building a wider argument.

This is a seasonal cooking and gardening book: recipes move through the year while introducing produce, gardening activities, tools, and a visual guide to when fruit and vegetables are available.

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.

Expect a highly atmospheric Christmas fantasy: cosy feasts and snow sit alongside wolves, criminals, magic, shifting time and pursuit. Its strongest appeal is the uneasy movement from delight into responsibility.

This is an atmospheric picture-book journey in which a child navigates an intimidating city and offers practical-sounding advice about danger, warmth and food. Its central emotional effect comes from seeing a small person try to make sense of a large world.

A lively child-led detective adventure: Emil responds to theft by following the suspected criminal through Berlin and working with other children. Its appeal lies in pursuit, teamwork and the contrast between a small town and a large, exciting city.

A historical adventure rooted in the early-20th-century Philippines, following Amihan and Mariposa as they respond to official policy and try to return to Culion. Its emotional centre is family love and friendship.

This is an emotionally attentive story about a child whose secluded woodland life is abruptly disrupted. It explores unfamiliar family relationships, different ways of experiencing the world, and the possibility of connection without requiring October to become someone else.

A seasonal collection follows Beti through birthday events, a journey to a waterfall, berry picking with Mam, a storm, and winter responsibilities. Friendship, family reassurance, practical problem-solving and living alongside nature shape the book’s gentle world.

A suspenseful story about a teenager carrying adult responsibilities while secret activities and threatening communications pull her into another person’s scheme. Expect twists, uncertainty and a morally complicated power dynamic rather than a straightforward adventure.

A fast, threatening fantasy about teenagers preparing for an ordeal that can permanently alter or kill them. Its strongest distinctive element is Nessa’s disability and refusal to be treated with pity.

This is a coming-of-age story about leaving home, making a new life and navigating first love while music gives Marty a route towards independence. It foregrounds identity, trust, relationships, friendship and found family.

Expect a survival adventure driven by resourcefulness, solitude and danger. Its interest also lies in Crusoe’s changing relationship with fear and faith, alongside troubling material involving captivity, slavery and colonial power.

This is a character-led coming-of-age novel about identity, secrecy, family and finding community. Its emotional centre is Amir’s attempt to reconcile his Muslim family life, sexuality, fear and desire for freedom.

This is a tense, compassionate story about a child taking responsibility in a dangerous society. It combines family survival, Afghan history, women’s restricted freedoms and moments of hope, while leaving Parvana’s immediate future unresolved.

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 warm, mystery-shaped family story in which Xanthe investigates Nani’s past with friends, alongside magical visions, archaeological clues and a rooftop garden. It links family care with history, migration, friendship and belonging.

A gentle, episodic story about meeting fear with curiosity. Plop’s conversations introduce several ways of understanding darkness, alongside owl facts and moments of comic mishap as he learns to manage a new experience.

Expect a nature-centred adventure in which Nim’s resourcefulness and relationships with animal companions matter.

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.