What Are You Looking For?

A lively football story about a struggling team, a supposed cursed kit and Stanley’s efforts to restore confidence. Expect comic superstition, setbacks and team-focused action, with the ending centred on the last game.

A focused, dual-narrative historical novel about displacement, survival and access to water. Its language is spare, but the experiences include war, deaths and severe deprivation, balanced by perseverance and collective problem-solving.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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.

This is a spooky rescue adventure centred on a frightened boy trying to protect his brother. Expect cemetery and crypt imagery, supernatural games, riddles and sustained suspense, alongside friendship and compassion.

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 suspenseful school mystery follows three boys of colour who are treated as suspects after a principal’s murder. Their investigation brings together different perspectives while exploring prejudice, unequal schooling, friendship, determination and the pressure of protecting their futures.

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.

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 concentrated story of an ageing fisherman’s prolonged struggle at sea. It offers quiet reflection, precise physical detail and a serious meditation on perseverance, pride, loss and what achievement means when results do not last.

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 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.

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 fast-moving historical adventure about two young people and an elephant travelling towards safety while others pursue them. Expect suspense, changing loyalties, grief, humour and questions about who has the right to claim an animal.

A compact, atmospheric fantasy about courage and devotion, with a clear quest structure. Its cold landscapes and threatening folklore create suspense, while Ivan’s determination gives the story emotional purpose.

Expect a playful creative-process story rather than a straightforward adventure: Soren experiments, receives blunt reactions and keeps revising. Its humour includes a friend vomiting at an early song, alongside warmth about friendship and improvement.

This is a dark, romantic fantasy about survival, dangerous power and difficult choices. Its appeal lies in an immersive faerie world and intense relationships; its most attention-demanding material includes graphic injury, sexual content, coercion and frightening threats.