What Are You Looking For?

This is a school-and-survival story about two people misreading each other. Its strongest material concerns how assumptions shape behaviour, while Mark’s growing attachment to the outdoors gives the book a reflective strand alongside its danger.

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.

This is a school story about the harm caused by judging people by appearance. It offers two viewpoints on being teased and also includes a child’s difficult home life.

This is a socially engaged coming-of-age story about belonging, prejudice and resistance. Its emotional centre is Zara’s effort to protect her family and future while remaining true to her identity and connected to people who support her.

A lively school-and-family story about handling change, friendship and unfair treatment through humour and imagination. Omar’s Muslim identity is part of everyday life, not a separate lesson.

This is a migration and coming-of-age story about Leonard, who leaves Jamaica for Britain and learns to live with separation, racism and questions of belonging. It also brings the Windrush generation’s history and later injustice into a personal story.

This is a socially concerned crime novel that places a homeless teenager in danger while examining how homelessness, family breakdown and public attitudes affect people living on the streets.

Expect a comic, episodic adventure in which children help gentle yetis seek refuge. The story combines absurd details and rescues with sharper material about captivity, animal cruelty, hunting and threatened communities.

This is a short, poetic remembrance of a childhood home where prominent Black cultural and political figures gathered. Its words are spare, while the paintings make the people, rooms and atmosphere expansive.

This is a historical family story about fitting in, responding to school teasing and deciding whether to challenge unfair blame directed at Japanese-American friends. Its central interest lies in personal choices made amid wider wartime uncertainty.

This is an identity-and-belonging story in which changing place does not resolve Rico’s outsider feelings. It offers a serious exploration of race, friendship, family strain and the search for home.

This is a friendship story about settling into a new home, meeting an exciting neighbour and discovering that fun can become troubling when another person causes damage and blame.

A young protagonist’s attempt to leave his old life behind becomes a journey involving institutional care, companions, family estrangement and the possibility that escape cannot settle what remains unresolved.

A determined young person tackles isolation, hard physical work and uncertainty while trying to make a home. The story also brings friendship, community support and pressure surrounding German ancestry during wartime.