What Are You Looking For?

Expect an urgent survival adventure in which two children must respond to rising danger after extreme weather separates them from their group. Its environmental focus sits alongside friendship, courage and the pressures of fitting in.

This is a tension-led fantasy romance about a hidden witch and the witch hunter pursuing her. It combines alternating viewpoints, political intrigue, blood-based magic, secret identities, deception and a slow-building relationship between enemies.

A magical historical-fantasy adventure about identity, family and friendship, with mysteries uncovered through flashbacks. Expect spells, Fairyland, talking animals, shapeshifting and a curse rather than a realistic everyday setting.

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.

A celebrity-centred sequel about ambition and loyalty, offering backstage drama, fashion-business aspirations and relationship tension while questioning the costs of perfection and public success.

A thoughtful friendship story with a suspenseful edge, this novel explores how exclusion, secrets and personal circumstances can affect relationships. Its three narrators encourage empathy, though bullying and isolation may merit preparation or discussion.

This is a thought-provoking dystopian story about two apprentices learning to carry out sanctioned killings in a world where people otherwise do not die. Its central tension comes from competing ideas about duty, compassion, mortality and power.

This is an emotionally charged historical animal adventure: Delta uses courage and resourcefulness to search for separated friends while Pompeii faces catastrophe. It offers suspense, relationships and a window onto Roman life, including the unequal position of enslaved people.

This offers a tense journey story alongside a close account of sibling care. Clem’s storytelling, memories and uncertain perspective add emotional depth, while the political setting invites reflection on belonging, surveillance, displacement and how families preserve hope under pressure.

A vivid, culturally rooted coming-of-age novel about Sheba discovering power, heritage and responsibility while facing a threatening parent. It offers imaginative magic, close family care, friendship and an intimate portrayal of hair as connected with identity and inner life.

This is an adventure about two young people from opposing populations whose friendship brings hidden injustice into view. Its imaginative giant-built city provides a route into questions about prejudice, power, exploitation and environmental responsibility.

A moving wartime narrative seen through a horse’s limited understanding, contrasting battlefield destruction with loyalty, care, and shared humanity. Its emotional force comes from the separation of Joey and Albert and the suffering of horses and people.

This offers a straightforward survival thriller built around a countdown, extremist beliefs and attacks in a familiar city. Its strongest appeal is likely suspense and danger rather than deeply developed character exploration.

This is an imaginative, unsettling science-fiction story about cloned people, social control and the meaning of a ‘real’ life. Its strongest appeal is likely its unusual premise and willingness to leave difficult questions unresolved.

Katniss volunteers to replace her sister in a televised fight to the death. Alongside survival, the book examines government control, inequality, media spectacle and the costs of violence, with family loyalty and compassion providing important counterweights.

This is an imaginative coming-of-age fantasy in which Arthur’s education happens through encounters with animals, Merlin and the world around him. Its strongest offering is a warm, humorous exploration of how experience might shape wisdom and leadership.

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.

This is a sustained post-apocalyptic survival story in which blindness, predatory plants and human power struggles reshape everyday life. It offers danger, moral choices and competing ideas about how society might be rebuilt after catastrophe.

A school mystery gives Alex and David a route into an uneasy friendship. The story looks closely at how fear, peer pressure and self-protection shape choices, while using the Icarus idea to frame risk, hope and possible escape.

This is an intense retelling that gives a traditionally vilified woman an inner voice without excusing her actions. Its folklore, dark magic and shifting emotional perspective make the story morally complicated rather than comforting.

This is an action-led historical mystery about resilience, friendship and justice. Vita’s perilous journey through Roman London and the gladiatorial world combines family upheaval, betrayal, disguise and vivid historical atmosphere.

Expect an entertaining ghost adventure with intersecting storylines: kindly ghosts seek a home, while an orphaned heir faces a frightening scheme involving deliberately terrifying spirits.

A thoughtful wartime story about displacement, difficult loyalties and the stories people tell to explain frightening events. It offers an accessible surface narrative alongside deeper questions about guilt, power, family conflict and how childhood experiences can endure.

This is a magical rescue adventure featuring talking beavers, a threatening witch, most of the island’s inhabitants imprisoned, spell books and secret passages. It offers imaginative peril alongside friendship, kindness and bravery.

Expect a brisk moral fantasy rather than a cosy animal adventure. The story turns outrage about hunting into comic, threatening reversal, asking readers to feel the consequences from the animals’ perspective.

A lively superhero adventure centres on a comic-loving boy whose brother gains powers. Its main appeal is the clash between Luke’s expertise, Zack’s new role and a world-threatening challenge.