What Are You Looking For?

Tina sees the Ohio River as peaceful and worries about railway safety; Charles values the railway’s power and speed. Their family’s views on slavery and a possible move to Kansas bring the period’s conflicts into family life.

Nora investigates a family mystery while trying to work out whether she can rely on Patch.

Claire’s arrival in Paris brings new sights, people and language, alongside the pleasure of exploring with Camille. Her curiosity about why she was sent there drives the mystery.

A fantasy adventure combines monster battles and a perilous rescue with Cameron’s struggle against anxiety. Friendship, danger and the consequences of loss drive the journey.

This is a supernatural coming-of-age story about Adam’s difficult family life and his collision with a hidden world between life and death.

This is a story of grief, adjustment and friendship, set against risky bike stunts and activism. Grey and his friends use online attention to challenge prejudice and police pressure, while their choices raise questions about the costs of becoming more visible.

This is a richly situated fairy-tale retelling centred on Charlotte’s determined efforts to keep the mill. It combines family relationships, village lore and a supernatural mystery.

Poems and paintings show a child observing his father’s prayers and reflecting on their relationship. Prayer is presented as a recurring part of family life, and the collection centres on Christian faith.

A shy girl’s confidence is tested by wedding preparations, modelling, and a public challenge. Her friend supports her as she gains poise and helps bring about a Dream Wedding for her mother.

A rainy walk turns into a close-up encounter with migrating toads and people helping them cross a road towards ponds. The book joins a family story with information about migration and human-made roads.

Jemmy has been made to take the prince’s beatings; when Prince Brat runs away, Jemmy is forced to go with him. Their flight turns into a ransom plot involving two highwaymen, and the boys have to cooperate.

This is a shared-reading introduction to reproduction and sexuality, combining explanations of pregnancy and birth with a Christian account of the body and family.

Bod’s life among the graveyard’s ghosts and other supernatural residents gives him an unusual upbringing, while he faces dangers from both the living and the dead.

Penny’s plan to steal a basketball playbook is tied to both a sorority initiation and her wish to impress Brandon. Her growing feelings for Woody complicate the betrayal she has agreed to carry out.

Follow Erich as ordinary concerns give way to exclusion and hardship under Nazi rule. Alongside the discrimination, the story includes friends and neighbours who remain loyal despite the risk.

This is a cycling road-trip story about three schoolmates whose public journey brings friendship and national attention. Its plot combines social-media fame with self-acceptance and humour.

Katy and Daemon’s relationship grows closer amid a dangerous effort to free loved ones. Katy also confronts her changing abilities and the threat posed by an organisation targeting hybrids.

Maggie’s prized Shopkin disappears during a camping trip with her friends. Her suspicion falls on Ava, who has been admiring it; Maggie follows clues while the group’s friendships are under strain.

Hannah faces disappointment over basketball selection alongside a friendship that is becoming more distant. Her effort to improve her game and confidence gives the story a sporting goal as well as a relationship question.

Faith’s story centres on loss, difficult care at home, leaving, and seeking help through prayer. Her Christian faith is central to the way the story presents her hardship.

This illustrated book pairs practical potty-training advice with playful scenarios: children might use props, imagine a princess or gymnast approach, or try an outdoor option.

The story centres on Daniel’s guilt and bereavement after a hunting accident kills his uncle. At home, his father’s drinking and temper add strain, while Daniel tries to find a way forward.

Three friends enter paid sex for money and companionship, believing their own rules will keep them safe. The story follows the risks and complications that follow, alongside the girls’ different circumstances.

A first-person account of growing up as a Maasai cattle herder in Kenya, this memoir follows Lekuton through schooling, soccer and eventual study in America. Personal episodes also introduce Maasai community life and practices.

A light fantasy mystery sends two friends looking for a missing baby goat amid comic animal mix-ups. The adventure centres on helping at a farm and working together to put things right.

Jocelyn and Alex are stranded and lost in the Northwoods after a rafting mishap, facing threats from the elements with only wet bags’ contents. As they try to get home, the former best friends must also confront the strain between them.

The story follows three girls whose friendship grows through music and through what D reveals about lives beyond their Queens neighbourhood.

Tally’s pursuit of a musician tied to her family past leads her to Maddy and a love that unsettles her assumptions. Family secrets and questions of identity sit alongside friendship and supernatural elements.

A horse-centred story about a foster teenager offered another home and a chance to build trust, alongside Christian themes and practical horse-related back matter.

A dystopian survival adventure about Jen and Father, an AI who has cared for her since she was a baby. Their search for a new home brings danger, new connections and a difficult secret.

A festive teen romance pairs a breakup with a family-run sequence of blind dates. Sophie’s returned ex complicates the matchmaking, while her large family supplies the holiday bustle.

A gentle Christian adventure combines a woodland search with a story about angels, prayer and friendship. Antrew’s separation from the others brings some suspense, while the search is supported by faith.

The appeal is in a lively, wayward hero whose choices propel a string of comic and perilous adventures. The book also offers a clear thread of advice about behaviour and responsibility.

A magical search story links flowers in the human world with fairies’ petals. Rachel and Kirsty help Danielle and the other Petal Fairies look for what has been scattered.

The chain-letter mystery sits alongside a family complication: Livvie does not want Peter’s father to date her mother. Her work with Peter on a school project makes keeping the families apart difficult.

This is an intimate poetry collection about love, growing up and difficult feelings, including loneliness and depression. It may suit a reader drawn to personal, emotionally direct poems.

Expect a topical collection rather than one continuous account: articles present contrasting claims about television’s effects, industry practices and possible regulation.

A gentle picture-book quest about waiting to be imagined, finding a friend and feeling more at home in an unfamiliar world.

At its centre is Pattyn’s search for where she belongs, as family ties, faith and her feelings about being loved come into question.

This is a Christian story about kindness and love, including loving people who are hard to like. Grampa explains these ideas through Little Cub’s questions and relationships.

This story combines an imaginative out-of-body premise with a child’s experience of bereavement. Its central appeal may be the way supernatural events and the longing for a lost friend sit alongside one another.

This is a faith-focused book for children, framed as an invitation to pursue God for themselves.

A school story about balancing newspaper work with a crush, friendship disagreements and a wish to try gymnastics.

This combines zombie attacks and an evolving undead threat with school, work, college plans and friendships. Courtney’s attempt to fund her future by selling a zombie-derived drug gives the survival plot a morally complicated starting point.

This is a coming-of-age fantasy about belonging and ambition, shaped by a martial-arts contest, a prophecy and a web of linked destinies.

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 outdoor adventure about a child investigating her grandmother’s disappearance, helping eagles in difficulty and discovering a stronger sense of belonging in the mountain community.