What Are You Looking For?

A lively story about a child whose entrepreneurial idea grows rapidly, testing friendships and responsibilities. It offers an engaging way to think about ambition, persistence and the consequences of taking risks.

A fast-moving science-fiction adventure that places a thoughtful robot between fearful children, human survivors and hostile machines. Its strongest offering is a child-accessible route into questions about personhood, loyalty and moral choices during conflict.

This is an emotionally tense story about two former friends facing grief and guilt after a tragedy. Its alternating viewpoints offer different perspectives on damaged trust, private struggles and the possibility of moving forward.

A dark, imaginative adventure for readers who enjoy secret societies, mythological creatures and determined protagonists. Its strongest hooks are the hunter trials, the forest’s threats and Winnie’s effort to reclaim her family’s standing.

This is a colourful, surreal graphic-fantasy adventure about belonging, friendship and trust. Its comic situations and unusual magical community sit alongside a possible trap, anxious feelings and a conflict that may slow the story’s momentum.

A suspenseful historical adventure combines a child-led mystery with Tutankhamun’s story. It offers friendship, family loyalty and questions about who has the right to remove cultural treasures, alongside period travel and Egyptian history.

A gentle intergenerational story combines farm life, family memory and a practical challenge: a grandson helps his grandfather learn to read and write before travelling to Australia.

A horror-comedy sequel with a strongly supernatural setting, school friendships and a continuing threat from Charley’s past. Its appeal lies in combining eerie atmosphere with genre-aware humour and a central relationship marked by betrayal.

A gentle, affirming story pairs ocean exploration with a message about self-trust. Its distinctive promise is that following one’s own path does not cancel the security of a loving family relationship.

Expect a trope-rich teen romance centred on an online fake relationship, a Korean café, fandom and belonging. Its stated interests also include multicultural identity, friendship heartbreak and representation of queer characters.

This offers atmospheric supernatural suspense, a mystery to unravel and a protagonist forced to face personal and communal secrets. It may suit readers who enjoy eerie settings, countdowns, twists and psychologically unsettling dilemmas.

This is an urgent science-fiction adventure with horror elements: invasive plants threaten communities, while three young people investigate why they are unaffected. Alongside survival, the opening gives attention to illness, self-image, friendship and family relationships.

A brisk school-football story turns one costly mistake into a problem about friendship and blame.

A tense historical survival story centred on two sisters, with vivid attention to language, place and the aftermath of political collapse. It combines danger and emotional uncertainty with questions about belonging and self-determination.

A gripping wartime adventure built around an unlikely friendship. Robert and David’s shared displacement creates empathy and emotional depth, while espionage, pursuit and cliffhangers provide momentum.

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 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 tense friendship story about pressure, risky bravado and the consequences of hiding the truth. Its central movement is towards honesty, vulnerability and more considered ideas of strength.

A gentle, direct introduction to anxiety, depression and loneliness, centred on the beginning of a supportive friendship. It makes talking, seeking help and finding suitable support networks part of the story.

A brisk supernatural football mystery with three friends, secret overnight exploration and mounting suspense. Its short chapters and cliff-hangers may suit readers who want an exciting story without a long, slow build.

A fast-moving survival adventure where four children must depend on one another in an unfamiliar rainforest. Alongside practical dangers, it explores courage, trust, fear, friendship and the difficult choices needed to keep going.

A tense, twist-led survival mystery for readers who enjoy competing viewpoints, dangerous games and uncertainty about whom to trust. Its strongest pull is the combination of personal desperation and escalating threat.

A lively, idea-rich fantasy adventure about a girl searching for her sister inside a wish-granting game controlled by powerful corporations. Expect rapid world-building, friendship, mystery and a playful surface alongside serious social questions.

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.

A friendship-focused YA fantasy in which a varied group of young characters face dangerous, action-packed moments. Its emotional emphasis falls on empathy, trust and choosing to stand by one another rather than on graphic or gruesome detail.

A lively mystery about belonging somewhere new: Poppy’s unusual circus upbringing meets boarding-school traditions, while friendship and investigation draw her into a dangerous case involving an Egyptian ruby.

This is a warm, mystery-led story about wanting to belong while pursuing an unusual ambition. Its seaside setting, humour, family secrets and theme of self-acceptance may particularly suit readers drawn to determined protagonists and magical possibilities.

This is a mystery about belonging, family secrets and the search for truth, shaped by shifting timelines and repeated discoveries. It offers suspense through Pearl’s growing uncertainty about her identity and relationships.

Expect a fast-moving, twisty mystery shaped by creepy folklore, family conflict and uncertainty about what Ava can trust. Its strongest features are atmosphere, suspense and clues that invite readers to solve the case alongside her.

This offers a suspenseful teen mystery centred on secrets, fear and investigation, alongside questions about popularity, friendship and family history. The central situation involves twins, unresolved crimes and threatening messages.

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 fast-paced adventure follows Ollie into The Haven, a child-run refuge and investigation network. The story combines criminal danger, missing children, bereavement and a threat to London, with friendship developing between Ollie and Dodge.

A tense mystery centred on a missing teenager, changing friendships and a return intended to bring closure. Readers piece together clues alongside Millie through a layered account of secrets and uncertainty.

A suspenseful friendship mystery centres on a past plan to poison an allegedly abusive stepmother, a later death, and Belladonna’s arrest. Secrets, divided loyalties and betrayal drive the investigation.

This is a contained survival mystery built around seven teenagers, hidden culpability and an escalating moral game. Its central appeal is likely the pressure of deciding whom to trust while the group’s secrets gradually shape the danger.

Expect a darkly funny, morally complicated fantasy heist: Elle rebuilds her crew to pursue a seemingly impossible rescue from the Afterlife while translating a mysterious manuscript and avoiding powerful syndicates.

This is a dark, twist-led mystery about a young woman living under the shadow of a notorious parent. Its main appeal is likely the unfolding investigation and uncertainty about Ryan’s identity and knowledge.

This is a historical mystery about a child navigating wartime separation, an unwelcoming household and unanswered questions. Gardens, hothouses and a Suffolk estate provide a vivid setting for secrets, suspicion and friendship.

A dramatic fantasy romance about survival and self-determination, this book offers a Cinderella framework reshaped by court politics, deception, magic and peril. Yining’s search for her past and future sits alongside questions about whom to trust.

This offers court intrigue, magic, desert adventure and a relationship shaped by unequal power, betrayal and difficult choices. Its central appeal is the girls’ developing bond and their resistance to a brutal system.

Expect an atmospheric faery adventure in which a desperate bargain leads to three tasks, deception and shifting loyalties. Alongside the danger, Nettle faces romantic uncertainty and the question of where she belongs.

A relationship story becomes a way to examine how inherited political, religious and family divisions shape young people’s choices. The book presents reconciliation as fragile, requiring listening, risk and engagement rather than simple agreement.

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.

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.

A lively coming-of-age adventure where friendship, family banter and entrepreneurial schemes meet questions about words, responsibility and belonging. Humour and musical energy sit alongside more serious experiences involving prejudice, peer pressure and policing.