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A tense finale about people living under relentless observation, where popularity becomes a form of currency and failing to report regularly can have deadly consequences. Personal freedom, loyalty and resistance drive the situation.

A Gothic boarding-school mystery follows an angry, unsettled teenager into secrets, danger and shifting loyalties.

This is a fast-moving speculative story about freedom, conformity and resistance, with tension built around a community controlled through music. Its romantic storyline is deliberately significant but may be unsettling in how Oscar treats Nia.

This is a thoughtful coming-of-age novel about an unusually intense friendship. Imagination and shared play offer escape, while family conflict and changing expectations bring loneliness, loss and a more complicated view of adulthood.

A challenging dystopian story about censorship, conformity and media distraction, with strong literary ideas alongside deaths, suicide attempts, substance misuse and frightening pursuit. Its central value lies in inviting readers to question how information and independence are protected.

A gentle magical story about hiding a distinctive part of yourself, losing joy through concealment, and finding encouragement to be seen. Its emotional message is carried strongly by changing colour and expressive illustrations.

Expect an imaginative fantasy built around a dangerous darkness, paired roles and a developing relationship. Its strongest focus appears to be how people resist restrictive expectations while learning to trust someone very different from themselves.

This is an identity-and-belonging fantasy in which girls marked as impure are drawn into military training and conflict. It combines a supportive friendship group with questions about power, gender and social judgement.

This is a school-set novel about how a group experiment changes relationships, authority and public debate. Its central interest is the tension between belonging and independent judgement, with the school newspaper representing a challenge to growing conformity.

This is an adventurous, suspenseful environmental dystopia about siblings resisting control and learning what the wider world contains. It combines survival challenges with wonder, family loyalty and questions about freedom.

A lively monster-school adventure combines comic rule-breaking, inventive creatures and investigation. Eddie’s friendships become central as she learns more about herself and tries to protect others from danger.

A warm but potentially emotionally charged story about a neurodivergent teenager responding to unfairness, protecting her sister and challenging a culture in which bullying can be enabled by silence.

An imaginative rescue adventure that places family devotion and personal difference at the centre of a struggle against mental control. It may particularly suit readers drawn to big moral questions alongside suspense and other-worldly travel.

This is a socially focused school story about resisting pressure, finding connection and retaining self-respect when cruelty becomes public and difficult to escape.

A fast-moving school thriller that turns familiar rules, routines and adult authority into a mechanism of control. Its central tension is whether individuality and independent judgement can survive pressure to comply.

This is a suspenseful historical story about family separation and friendship under political pressure. The documentary-style sections let readers see events through children’s eyes while gradually revealing the risks surrounding their attempts to stay connected.

This is a tense dystopian adventure about siblings responding differently to authoritarian rule, exploring surveillance, freedom of speech, personal identity and resistance.

This is comic fantasy adventure about an underestimated boy whose intelligence, courage and loyalty matter more than physical strength. Its lively illustrations, eccentric names and slapstick tone may make the story especially inviting.

Expect a gently comic adventure in which a boy, a dragon and St George confront expectations about what dragons and heroes should be. The story makes room for poetry, friendship and a staged solution rather than presenting fighting as the only answer.

This is an imaginative story about making a world that reflects one person’s ideas. Its main appeal is the inventive detail: Wesley turns a plant into resources, culture and communication, then sees others respond.

This is a character-led YA romance about grief, outsider identity and a transformative friendship. Its emotional centre is Maggie and Dahlia’s growing love, alongside music, unconventional behaviour and difficult social responses.

This is a thoughtful coming-of-age science-fiction novel about questioning imposed categories and finding connection. Expect emotionally charged relationships, an atmosphere of suspicion, and language that may take time to settle into.

A speculative story about a society that has traded having children for extremely long lives. Anna’s Surplus status places her inside a conflict between law, personal choice and the value attached to longevity.

A school friendship story about belonging, social status and the pressure to conform. Lane’s cousin Mint unsettles the existing social order, leaving Lane caught between protecting someone, preserving friendship and wanting life restored.

A tense story about a teenager subjected to coercive discipline, humiliation and violence, with resistance and escape driving the narrative. Its central concern is what happens when authority removes a young person’s ability to refuse.

A light, quick-moving school story about peer acceptance, personal style and the pressure to change presentation in order to fit in.