What Are You Looking For?

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.

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.

A tense survival adventure places young people in a natural disaster and gives Dylan and Louie difficult practical and emotional problems to solve. Its strongest thread appears to be movement from suspicion towards cooperation.

A spooky Cornwall adventure with a mystery at its centre, this book brings together a young conservation-minded protagonist, an unusual dog, family members and a new friend against a curse that poisons and destroys the land.

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.

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 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 football-centred story about pressure, responsibility and learning to co-operate, with Roy juggling his place in the team, college, family duties and coaching. It offers both match-focused excitement and everyday-life concerns.

This is a fantasy adventure combining K-pop performance culture, martial-arts action and supernatural danger. Its emotional centre is a friendship group learning to work together while facing fears that affect them and others.

A festive, clue-led murder mystery for readers who enjoy solving puzzles alongside a team. Its emotional centre is a group of five neurodivergent children combining different strengths while trying to protect their out-of-school club.

Expect a brisk, high-stakes science-fiction adventure built from movie-like set pieces: secret hideouts, monsters, lost cities and missions. Its emotional centre is the friends’ changing reliance on friendship, loyalty, trust and teamwork.

A humorous adventure about a reluctant child facing unfamiliar activities, social pressure and team expectations. Tim’s practical idea in a challenge suggests that contribution need not depend on sporting ability.

This is an adventurous friendship story set around hiking, camping and outdoor survival. Its emotional centre is Vincent’s struggle with school, coordination and belonging, alongside classmates whose different circumstances affect how the group works together.

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.

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.

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.

Expect a fast-moving, imaginative adventure in which time travel connects family relationships, grief and responsibility. The story also makes room for humour, friendship and emotional growth, with Al facing both practical dangers and difficult choices.

Expect a fast-moving school adventure set in 2507, combining pirate training, a mysterious newcomer and danger in the academy. Friendship and cooperation sit alongside sailing, knots, swords and an escalating enemy threat.

Expect a quest-led fantasy centred on bravery, friendship and teamwork. Magical creatures create danger, while the conflict is framed as a struggle against an evil wizard’s spell rather than realistic wrongdoing.

A tense climate-emergency adventure that combines rising floodwater and urgent problem-solving with questions about identity, friendship, bullying and finding courage. The children’s changing relationships are central to the story’s momentum.

A playful fantasy adventure combines a damaged family business, an apologetic young ogre and a kingdom facing an attempted takeover. Its pleasures include imaginative names, chocolate-cake humour and characters working together to repair harm and restore stability.

A sweeping fantasy adventure centred on two young people, a hidden magical world and the struggle to preserve disappearing magic. Expect imaginative creatures, perilous quests and emotionally significant losses alongside companionship, ingenuity and moral responsibility.

Expect a pirate-school adventure involving lessons, frightening situations and a rescue. The story’s central movement is from first impressions of Patagonia to a more sympathetic understanding.