What Are You Looking For?

A fantasy quest centres on a girl whose unusual ability to understand dragons may help her find a way to aid someone she loves.

A warm-hearted adventure balances the sisters’ humour and imaginative games with their efforts to endure unjust treatment and help others.

This is a quest fantasy in which music has unusual power and animals’ inner voices matter. Its imaginative conflict is paired with emotionally weighty separations, giving the adventure a tender as well as threatening atmosphere.

This is a brisk child-centred mystery in which Benjie’s enthusiasm for spying and Pete’s protective actions help uncover burglaries. Suspense comes from the family’s vulnerability and Benjie’s capture, while humour and animal loyalty soften the danger.

This is a determined sibling-rescue adventure rooted in a little-known historical episode. It combines family loyalty and questions about adoption with travel, danger and prejudice, while inviting readers to notice how institutions and communities treat vulnerable children.

A rescue story about a racer who can no longer race and takes on firefighting instead. Its central premise is the shift from racing to helping protect a national park during a wildfire emergency.

A fast-moving fantasy adventure combines an unusual underground world with a serious rescue mission. Its strongest appeal is likely the combination of sibling care, loyal alliances, prophecy and difficult choices during conflict.

A caring grandmother confronts a strong storm while trying to protect animals and her grandchildren. The story’s appeal appears to lie in determined action, family care and a challenge presented through weather.

A reassuring story about losing a treasured comfort object, nighttime fears and becoming more understanding towards a younger sibling. Bella’s growing bravery is shown through a concrete family problem rather than through a lecture.

This offers an accessible introduction to a pioneering doctor and inventor, combining a poetic life story with scientific and historical detail. Its strongest appeal is the connection between personal ambition, medical discovery and wider questions of equality.

A tense frontier survival adventure in which three children evade outlaws, endure severe hardship and discover treasure. It offers resourcefulness, loyalty and historical setting alongside frightening danger, bereavement and family separation.

A fast-moving mystery-adventure about children building a home together while uncovering secrets around a missing billionaire, a threatening uncle and a possibly real sword-wielding protector.

The Ocean Fairies are described as keeping sea creatures safe and happy, while the quest aims to restore peace and safety to the oceans.

Expect a warm, humorous story built around Lottie's plan to grow a giant pumpkin with her grandfather. Its comic elements sit alongside school bullying, family strain, bereavement, illness and Lottie's responsibilities at home.

This is a speculative survival thriller about a teenager separated from her familiar world and confronted by a society that rejects medicine. Expect danger, mystery, pursuit and questions about how authority controls knowledge.

A visually imaginative story about fear, self-soothing and growing independence. Toby’s rescue of Henry shifts bravery from something supplied by an object to something he begins to practise himself.

Choose this for a child who enjoys eerie folktales, unusual friendships and stories that leave some things to imagine. The visual mood is shadowy, but the skull is presented as polite and friendly rather than simply frightening.

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.

Expect a warm adventure built around protecting a vulnerable creature. Charlie’s school troubles and family uncertainty sit alongside magical danger, while friendship and practical ingenuity help move the story forward.

This offers a warm, satisfying fairy tale with magical transformations, unusual characters and artwork rich in small visual details that create an intimate, familiar feel.

A lively, illustrated football biography follows Salah from childhood in Egypt through youth football, setbacks and European success. Quizzes, facts, jokes and commentary add activity alongside the biographical storytelling.

This is a visually led story about forced movement, family resilience and the search for safety. It may help children consider refugees as people with fears, relationships and hopes, rather than as an abstract issue.

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.

This is a war novel centred on a young woman’s divided loyalties: caring for the wounded, protecting family and considering escape. It offers an emotionally intense perspective on civilian danger, responsibility and hope.

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 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 refugee journey told through Sami’s changing circumstances: a familiar life in Damascus gives way to displacement, danger and attempts to rebuild in England. Family bonds, guilt, anxiety, kindness and discrimination shape the experience.

This is a child-centred detective adventure in which solving a mystery becomes a way to learn about Gran’s life, memory and the importance of understanding people as individuals.

This appears to offer an adventurous, imaginative tale centred on a frightening-sounding mystery and concern for a living creature. Its strongest known appeal is the contrast between alarming stories and Erin’s protective purpose.

This offers a poetic, character-led account of a young person facing anorexia and other mental-health difficulties, with attention to treatment, relationships, bullying and the possibility of accepting help.

This is a character-led school story about a young person who is often judged by her behaviour but wants to belong, make friends and change direction. Its central appeal is the possibility of second chances.

A whimsical, suspenseful fantasy about escaping ordinary life and confronting danger, with a bittersweet focus on childhood and growing up. Its imaginative appeal sits alongside language and attitudes that require historical distance.

A brisk environmental adventure about a reluctant visit becoming a relationship with a grandad, a local stream and its wildlife. Kyle’s growing responsibility gives the story an encouraging focus on courage, care and standing up for a place.

A fast-moving dark fantasy about vigilance, ingenuity and family loyalty, with comic grotesquerie alongside genuine suspense. Its imaginative premise may appeal to confident readers who enjoy frightening stories with a strong emotional centre.

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.

This is a family-centred coming-of-age story: Katy’s energetic adventures give way to pain, dependence and gradual change. Its strongest appeal lies in a vivid household, an imperfect heroine and a sustained focus on how relationships respond when ordinary life is disrupted.

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 a historical novel about friendship under Nazi persecution, combining Felix’s optimism and humour with fear, loss and moral danger. Its child’s-eye viewpoint may make a vast history feel immediate, while keeping the human cost in view.

This is a fast-moving historical adventure about two young people and an elephant travelling towards safety while others pursue them. Expect suspense, changing loyalties, grief, humour and questions about who has the right to claim an animal.

This is an imaginative fantasy adventure about a child pursuing answers about her family in a magical plant world. It offers lively action, inventive world-building and clear conservation themes, while also introducing peril, hostility and loss.

A quiet, visually led story about children restoring a neglected pond, following the place through changing seasons. Its appeal lies in close observation, shared effort and the gradual transformation of a familiar outdoor space.

This is a dual-timeline adventure about a girl’s search for a lost family object and her discovery of an older generation’s wartime story. Its focus falls on loyalty, memory, courage and helping others in crisis.

This is an animal-centred survival and friendship story, balancing Ratchet’s dangers with Mike’s patient attempt to understand her. It also brings animal behaviour and overlooked urban nature into the foreground.

This is a war story centred on women’s practical support: feeding, nursing-related work and driving ambulances. Midge’s changing understanding of courage moves the narrative from imagined adventure towards demanding service and confronting wartime consequences.

A high-stakes fantasy conclusion about siblings and allies confronting invasion, separation and frightening creatures. Its strongest apparent draws are courage, family bonds and a large, quest-like conflict.