What Are You Looking For?

Kieran wants to fit in at school, but his cousin Bon becomes a target for teasing. Kieran must choose between acceptance by the other children and standing up for Bon. The story also involves jealousy, family secrets and unexpected kindness; how these strands develop or end is unclear.

Expect a tense wartime adventure centred on a boy whose loyalty is unsettled by family revelations and encounters with Nazi brutality. Its main appeal is the combination of suspense, historical setting and moral awakening rather than light-hearted adventure.

Expect a warm family story with humour and emotional depth. Batty’s efforts to earn money, her singing talent and the changing relationships around her provide several strands beyond the central grief.

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 horse-centred story about returning home, changing relationships and deciding whether to remain with a familiar life or pursue an uncertain new opportunity.

A heartfelt time-travel adventure about a boy trying to understand and help his grandfather, with humour alongside grief, family upheaval and the unsettling effects of Alzheimer’s.

This is a historical adventure about choosing how to help someone in trouble when friendship, family loyalty and political loyalties pull in different directions. Its plantation setting also opens onto slavery, though enslaved people remain in the background of Felicity’s experience.

This is a character-led story about a teenager’s self-image and changing relationships, set alongside Cassie’s disability and her family’s circumstances. Its several viewpoints invite readers to consider how people’s inner lives may differ from what others can see.

Expect a brisk, creepy fantasy balancing frightening school imagery with jokes and determined sibling teamwork. Its emotional pressure comes from abandonment, captivity and mind control rather than realistic school life.

This is a suspenseful historical fantasy combining Victorian London, faerie politics, street survival and a contested magical object. It offers a determined heroine, an improvised family and frequent crises, though some readers may find events implausible or the plot difficult to follow.

This is a wartime story about a child trying to understand occupation, separation and moral choice. Its strongest thread is Marit’s changing view of courage, loyalty and compassion amid danger.

A tea-centred fantasy of competition, palace intrigue and family devotion. Ning’s search for a cure gives the plot emotional urgency, while brewing, tasting and reading ingredients become ways to investigate danger and negotiate power.

A warm football adventure uses Pickles’s humorous viewpoint to explore a family trying to stay together while money problems and housing insecurity affect everyday life.

A tense survival adventure pairs a fast-moving journey with vivid Australian landscapes, environmental collapse and a close sibling relationship. The dogs are important companions, while family separation and uncertainty keep the emotional stakes high.

A tense story about girls seeking safety and belonging under Sol’s control. As new relationships and demands unsettle the cabin, the book follows questions of loyalty, selfhood, survival and whether protection can become coercion.

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.

A thoughtful friendship story with a suspenseful edge, this novel explores how exclusion, secrets and personal circumstances can affect relationships. Its three narrators encourage empathy, though bullying and isolation may merit preparation or discussion.

This is a spooky rescue adventure centred on a frightened boy trying to protect his brother. Expect cemetery and crypt imagery, supernatural games, riddles and sustained suspense, alongside friendship and compassion.

Expect an ambitious illustrated adventure in which two sibling seeds face separation, danger and uncertainty while learning about Earth’s history and living systems. Its emotional centre is family loyalty, alongside a sustained interest in survival, connection and the natural world.

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 suspenseful story about a teenager carrying adult responsibilities while secret activities and threatening communications pull her into another person’s scheme. Expect twists, uncertainty and a morally complicated power dynamic rather than a straightforward adventure.

This offers an atmospheric supernatural mystery centred on mortality, family loyalty and a young woman questioning restrictive social expectations. Its emotional appeal lies in Gothic tension, romance and Signa’s developing self-understanding.

A poetic supernatural romance centred on desire, identity and difficult choices. Immy’s love for Claudia is intertwined with blood hunger, recurring lives, past mistakes and the sustaining bonds among three vampires.

Choose this for a reader who enjoys atmospheric mysteries, eccentric characters, supernatural adventure and comic wordplay. Its central appeal is following clues through an unusual seaside world while Herbie and Violet face escalating danger.

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.

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 an emotionally intense fantasy finale combining romance, family grief, supernatural politics and dangerous missions. Its appeal lies in interconnected relationships and high-stakes choices, but it expects familiarity with a wider fictional world.

Marya and Georgi set out alone after their parents are arrested and separated. Their route towards Siberia brings danger, uncertainty and encounters with people who may help, while Marya’s narration follows the strain of caring for her younger brother.

This is a wartime coming-of-age story about a young girl who forms a significant connection with a German prisoner who has escaped. It brings personal empathy, divided loyalties and family pain into a dangerous historical setting.

This is a family-and-belonging story with adventure elements: Thunder’s life is shaped by rejection, care and a divided community, while a forest fire creates a serious test. Its central choice concerns whether long-built loyalty can outweigh blood ties.