What Are You Looking For?

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

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 lively circus setting frames a story about a penguin choosing a different role. Poppy’s change from performer to organiser offers a reassuring alternative to following a family tradition.

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.

This is a familiar supernatural romance viewed through Edward’s inner conflict. Readers receive another perspective on the same story, with loyalty and self-sacrifice set beside danger, controlling behaviour and repeated moral hesitation.

Tug of War is a work of juvenile fiction about mothers and daughters, evacuation of civilians and decision-making.

This is an imaginative animal adventure with two contrasting protagonists: a calf escaping slaughter and a rejected boy pursuing him. The journey opens questions about compassion, human treatment of animals and how relationships can change thinking.

This is a richly dramatic fantasy romance about two former lovers confronting inherited power, wartime injustice and dangerous secrets. It may appeal to readers who enjoy high-stakes adventure woven through emotional reconciliation.

A high-stakes fantasy about two sisters whose loyalty is tested by liberation, empire, dragons and divine power. Expect complex political and family tensions alongside action, sacrifice and questions about who deserves protection.

This is a reflective Arctic adventure about environmental change, cultural knowledge and responsibility. Its striking setting, illustrations and theatrical qualities may appeal to readers who enjoy atmospheric stories that unfold patiently.

This is an imaginative adventure combining friendship, mystery and a robot with a society changed by water scarcity. It also gives sustained attention to Auden’s experience of achromatopsia and his changing relationship with that difference.

Expect a large-scale space adventure with mythic elements, unusual worlds and questions about identity. The illustrations are an important part of the experience, adding atmosphere rather than simply depicting events.

A brief, visually striking fable about how judging groups by appearance can escalate into war. Its simple storytelling carries difficult ideas, while the final uneasy glance leaves the future unresolved.

This is a wartime survival adventure combining danger, horses and displaced children. Its central appeal is resourceful young protagonists protecting vulnerable beings, while the historical setting brings serious questions about war, loss and responsibility.

This is a fast-moving wartime escape story centred on protecting horses and people. Its strongest features are peril, courage and companionship, while the historical setting gives the adventure serious emotional weight.

Expect an energetic fantasy quest combining Caribbean-inspired folklore, spirits, gemstones and magical battles with a warm friendship story. The central characters face fear, grief, abandonment and morally difficult decisions while trying to protect their island.

This is a brisk gateway to interconnected Greek myths rather than a single narrowly focused war story. Its sweep includes the war’s background, the conflict itself and the difficult returns of several heroes.

This is a lively university romance built around an advice column: Mary-Elizabeth gives relationship guidance while navigating attraction, questionable choices, shaken confidence and changing views of the people around her.

This is an adventurous wartime mystery centred on Mary’s language work, secret assignments and shifting loyalties. Its suspense comes from the uncertainty surrounding her operation.

This is a serious, emotionally focused novel about returning home, confronting painful memories and imagining a future beyond harmful family dynamics. Flooding and climate danger provide an urgent backdrop, while romantic love adds another strand.

This is a story about displacement, responsibility and belonging, with ballet providing a meaningful connection between Aya’s past and her emerging life in England. Friendship and practical kindness sit alongside worry about family, paperwork and whether home can be rebuilt.

A mysterious island adventure where friendship, fear and compassion matter. Children encounter local suspicion, a bullying family relationship, a stranded narwhal and the disruptive shadow of war.

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.

A lively Thames-set fantasy about three friends whose mudlarking leads to an underwater adventure. Expect imaginative world-building, comic eccentricity and an active quest rather than a quiet, realistic story.

A mythic quest about identity and responsibility, with ominous forces, magical objects and a demanding struggle between Light and Dark. Its strongest appeal may be atmosphere and symbolism; its shifting treatment of time can require patience.

Expect a historical mystery built around code-breaking, hidden intentions and a friendship under pressure. The central appeal is the combination of wartime stakes, puzzles, trust and a small amount of romance.

Choose this for a reader who wants intense speculative fiction that tests responsibility, loyalty and power rather than offering easy reassurance. Its multiple viewpoints and sustained war narrative make it an ethically demanding trilogy finale.

This is a bleak, idea-led science-fiction pursuit that gradually becomes psychologically unsettling. Expect a deliberately strange society, moral uncertainty and twists that may leave some questions unresolved rather than neatly explained.

This is a psychologically focused school novel about a friendship altered by envy and a damaging act. War forms the wider pressure, while Gene’s later reflection gives the story a serious, morally questioning tone.

This is a dark coming-of-age story about grief and susceptibility to extremist hatred. Its emotional centre includes a mother-son relationship and two best friends who need to reunite, alongside thriller-like tension and some blood.

This is a politically charged coming-of-age story about how fear, belonging and resentment can draw someone into racist violence. Its force comes with disturbing material rather than a reassuring or uncomplicated journey.

Expect an action-led fantasy about divine power, war and loyalty, balanced by a central love story. The setting appears richly developed, with palace, library, temple and seafaring elements supporting a broad conflict.

Expect a lively quest shaped by comic reversals: a gullible scarecrow and clever Jack search for home while facing legal pursuit and a plan to industrialise Spring Valley. Kindness and ingenuity help them resist the threat.

This is a child-centred war story about Ayesha’s attempt to obtain help for her grandmother, set amid divided communities, danger, bereavement and family separation.

A tense historical adventure about separated siblings and Jan, a young thief who joins them. Its strongest qualities are resourcefulness, loyalty and compassion, alongside a serious portrayal of children navigating war’s aftermath.

This is an action-led wartime story in which children acquire dangerous military power and try to control events around them. Its strongest interest lies in adventure complicated by fear, loyalty and responsibility.

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 wartime story about a child whose ordinary village life is disrupted by evacuation, military preparations and a missing cat. It combines danger, friendship and a later family connection across generations.

Expect a playful search-and-spot read in which hidden dinosaurs cause supermarket chaos. The illustrations carry much of the fun, while rhyme, dinosaur names and the final reveal support lively shared reading.

A gentle magical adventure carries a serious environmental problem: the children must respond as trees are threatened, extreme weather worsens and their village floods. Friendship and changing viewpoints help drive the response.

A warm sibling-centred collection in which a very young girl’s curiosity and mischief drive comic family episodes. It offers recognisable domestic situations, while some incidents may invite discussion about consequences and other people’s boundaries.

A tense wartime adventure about a young Muslim protagonist whose family and community face Nazi occupation. Safiyyah undertakes dangerous errands, while the mosque becomes a place of sanctuary for persecuted Jewish people.