What Are You Looking For?

This is a story of an unlikely intergenerational bond, with Jan’s changing outlook alongside Al’s terminal illness. Its focus is on relationships and the possibility of imagining a different future.

This is a comic adventure about the pull of promised happiness and the consequences of trying to change one’s life according to another person’s teachings.

A speculative adventure pairs an overgrown, abandoned city with a fable-like story of a princess imprisoned in time. Sigrun and her friends try to connect the tale to the crisis around them.

This is a story about uncertainty, disclosure and the consequences of a church scandal, centred on a teenager trying to make sense of an adult’s confusing attention.

This is a comic school adventure built around role-playing, a video game and a scheme to outsmart another pupil. Its central appeal appears to be the mismatch between the game’s fantasy and school life.

This is a humorous Minecraft fantasy built around a looming threat, friendship and action. It may suit a child seeking a familiar game world, silly situations and a fast-moving battle rather than realism.

A lively fantasy adventure combines school settings, friendship, humour, magic and imaginative creatures. Felix and Betony must use their wits across conflicts involving Rhino, a djinn and the Japegrins, while the story builds towards a threat affecting two worlds.

This is an adventure about enterprise, public disagreement and personal consequences. Jacky’s attempt to reshape the Pig and Whistle Inn into a musical-theatre venue brings her into conflict with temperance campaigners, local tensions and the law.

A lively superhero adventure centres on Harley’s schemes, performances and investigation of a carnival that seems wrong. Her distinctive humour and abilities are treated as assets, while friendship and teamwork remain important.

A playful Halloween adventure follows Blanche’s attempt to balance fun with responsibility. Magic, friendship, trick-or-treating and a time-sensitive flight meeting shape the story, with a period setting reflected in its treats and Halloween customs.

A dark, intense revenge fantasy about a teenager confronting sexual violence, seeking to save someone important to her and using magic that comes at a stated price. Expect horror, suspense and graphic imagery.

A fast-moving detective adventure set around an extreme theme park, combining sabotage, undercover investigation, skateboarding and danger. The central mystery may appeal to readers who enjoy action, clues and continuing series storylines.

This is a comic school adventure built around a winter charity contest, a child’s wish to impress others, and conspicuous bodily humour. Illness changes George’s plans and gives his friend Alex an important part in the event.

A fast-moving supernatural mystery about a lamp, an underground tomb and a struggle against unleashed evil. Expect occult imagery, threatening forces and adventure, alongside a style that may feel familiar and a plot judged predictable.

This is an imaginative fantasy sequel centred on magic, competing loyalties and conflict between magical and anti-magical groups. It offers friendship, compassion, courage and teamwork, but its adventure includes disturbing death imagery and broad comic material.

A warm, episodic family story in which each child encounters a different mishap or opportunity. It combines humour and adventure with working life, financial constraint and the affection holding a large family together.

This is a magical rescue adventure centred on friendship, fairy royalty and sweet treats. Its appeal lies in a clear mission: recover the stolen tiaras before their missing magic spoils a celebration.

Expect an atmospheric fantasy involving puppetry, magic, poverty, bereavement and dangerous power. Its story is eventful but unfolds slowly, with multiple characters and viewpoints that may reward patient reading.

This offers a supernatural murder mystery rooted in Prohibition-era New York, alongside folklore, occult ideas, jazz-club life and vivid secondary storylines. Its horror is central rather than incidental.

This is a school-and-community adventure about a child trying to behave, campaign for student council and manage attention-grabbing mistakes during a Capitol trip. Its appeal centres on Keena’s lively perspective and determined efforts.

This offers a magical rescue adventure built around a stolen spell book, a poisonous flower and a threatened island.

This is an imaginative fantasy adventure centred on three siblings navigating a strange house, shifting time and dangerous or uncertain encounters. It offers a large-scale quest alongside sibling conflict, loyalty and comic touches.

A comic adventure about an underestimated child confronting a frightening threat, while the adults and children around him face the consequences of past choices. Its imaginative monster story also explores belonging, courage and changing relationships.

A lively mystery about art, friendship and the consequences of a secret becoming much larger than expected. It offers suspenseful investigation alongside attention to shame, anxiety, money worries and pressure to perform.

Expect a cosy magical adventure centred on romance, enchanted baking and a spell that goes wrong.

This is a warm, richly observed set of island stories about a child whose moods, wishes and adventures feel changeable and recognisable. Family routines, community life and humorous mishaps provide the setting, while the illustrations add substantial detail to explore together.

Choose this for a reader who enjoys horses, richly imagined landscapes, folklore and a slowly tightening mystery. Its emotional centre is a complicated family whose love and resilience coexist with absence, suspicion and uncertainty.

This is a comic, art-centred adventure in which a boy’s curiosity opens up a struggling Welsh community. It offers family relationships, local change and many real paintings.

A morally serious Gothic novel about creation, abandonment, responsibility and revenge, with opportunities to discuss scientific power and the treatment of outsiders alongside unsettling violence.

Expect a fast-moving, imaginative adventure in which time travel connects family relationships, grief and responsibility. The story also makes room for humour, friendship and emotional growth, with Al facing both practical dangers and difficult choices.

This is a comic political adventure about an ordinary boy whose public speech propels him into national leadership. Its appeal comes from absurd ideas, fast-changing circumstances and the contrast between childhood imagination and adult political power.

A playful fantasy adventure combines a damaged family business, an apologetic young ogre and a kingdom facing an attempted takeover. Its pleasures include imaginative names, chocolate-cake humour and characters working together to repair harm and restore stability.

This is a historical school story combining basketball, friendship and a risky practical joke. Manny’s wish to stay connected to his friends leads to invented sports reporting, while wartime uncertainty affects family conversations and everyday choices.

Expect a playful quest presented through a very cheerful setting, with five heroes facing frozen lands, dungeons and frightening creatures while searching for stolen crystals.

This is a school-centred relationship story about Gemma balancing an important journalism opportunity with her wish to help classmates romantically through her Jessica Jupiter persona. Expect overlapping social and romantic complications.

This is an adventure about trying to save a den by recovering lost title deeds through time travel. Its mystery unfolds alongside friendship, disappearing companions and the approach of World War One.

This is a lush fantasy adventure about two opposing royals navigating a wish-granting contest. Its pleasures lie in mythic world-building, clever trials, banter and a developing relationship, while unfamiliar folklore terms may require patience.

A colourful, imaginative fantasy finale about connection, courage and upheaval. It offers an intricate alternate world, escalating danger and emotional relationships, while its unusual language and many plot developments may reward close, patient reading.

Expect a comic underwater setting, familiar characters and self-contained-feeling adventures shaped by SpongeBob’s optimism and unintended chaos. The emphasis appears to be on imaginative situations, friendship and humorous problem-solving rather than a single clearly described storyline.

A dark detective adventure centred on a family trying to understand a father’s disturbing death. Secrets, a secretive group and a valuable jewel drive the investigation, while strained partnerships and personal losses deepen the stakes.

A concise historical introduction to the Esselen, combining evidence about their life before European arrival with an account of disease, cultural disruption and changing community identity.

A fantasy adventure about four young heroes and their spirit animals, with teamwork tested by a dangerous attempt to force these bonds and give one partner complete control.

A whimsical, mystery-tinged story brings together orphaned children, an enigmatic boy and an older woman whose plans follow emotional deception. Its central promise is that seemingly separate lives may meet through friendship, forgiveness and love.

This is a comic Halloween sequel about six children whose repeated misbehaviour disrupts the whole town. It combines theft, spray-painting and threatened loss of celebration with a reversal in which the disrupted event is presented as unexpectedly successful.

Expect an offbeat adventure centred on a circus boy whose attempt to find interest beyond his unusual home brings an unsettling complication. Its distinctive setting and comic premise may appeal, while the kidnapping introduces genuine suspense.