What Are You Looking For?

This is a wartime family story centred on Ada’s changing sense of identity and the tensions that follow Ruth’s arrival. Its focus is on belonging and moral choices under threat.

This is a school-set story about competition and friendship, with a debate partnership at its centre. Tanner’s family responsibilities add a counterweight to the prestige and opportunity of Bannerman.

Choose this for supernatural intrigue, Korean folklore, a slow-developing romance and emotionally complicated family relationships. It combines action and mystery with characters who struggle with guilt, isolation, attachment and difficult choices.

A glossy, suspense-led story about teenagers pursuing fame through nightlife promotion, alongside a celebrity’s disappearance. Expect shifting ambitions, lies, romantic complications and a series-opening cliffhanger rather than a fully resolved conclusion.

Expect a brisk, gadget-driven adventure in which five teenagers apply specialised skills to missions involving computers, surveillance, buildings and criminal adversaries.

This is a wartime family adventure centred on brothers whose loyalties diverge. Expect suspense, espionage, romance and peril, alongside questions about patriotism, moral choice and how war affects personal relationships.

This is a fast-moving paranormal sequel centred more strongly on Lela than Malachi. It offers action, emotional change, friendship and loyalty, alongside relationship tension and a deliberately unresolved mystery.

This is best understood as supplementary reading: it broadens the Red Queen setting through different viewpoints, aftermath stories and documentary-style material rather than offering a standalone introduction.

This is a politically charged war thriller that gives competing state and federal positions some strength while showing how quickly resistance, loyalty and justice become morally difficult.

Expect a comic supernatural adventure in which an ordinary boy faces an intrusive demon, difficult bargains and dangerous consequences. Beneath the jokes, the book raises questions about good intentions, evil and moral responsibility.

Expect a supernatural mystery with spring-break travel, stranded characters, unexplained cattle deaths, a stalking predator and an increasing body count. The story also follows Maggie’s psychic abilities and her attempts to understand what is happening.

Choose this for a reader who enjoys high-seas adventure, mermaids, treasure hunts, riddles and brisk action. The story also offers a character-led exploration of identity, friendship, prejudice and belonging.

This is an ocean fantasy about two siblings seeking their vanished father while discovering a second world and a changing connection to the sea. Mystery, magic and family feeling drive the adventure.

A brisk historical mystery follows Lily and Tom from their travelling life into a more dangerous search involving a carved treasure, a new friendship and hidden family secrets. Its accessible prose and illustrations may suit readers who enjoy adventure but prefer shorter chapter books.

Choose this for a reader who enjoys fantasy heists, ensemble casts and morally complicated characters, and who can engage with sustained darkness. Its imaginative world supports questions about loyalty, consequence and how people form connection after trauma.

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.

A wartime adventure about loyalty and protection: Ronnie is troubled by his brother’s secret work for dangerous people, while bombs fall on London and the boys face choices about whom to trust.

This is a high-stakes fantasy continuation about Sophie and her allies confronting hidden history, dangerous enemies and choices that may require sacrifice. Friendship, family, courage and romantic uncertainty sit alongside magical peril.

This is a faith-centred sports story about entering unfamiliar surroundings while facing racism, social pressure and difficult choices. Its strongest focus appears to be how Perry understands identity, belonging and responsibility through a Christian lens.

This is a dark, romantic fantasy about survival, dangerous power and difficult choices. Its appeal lies in an immersive faerie world and intense relationships; its most attention-demanding material includes graphic injury, sexual content, coercion and frightening threats.

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.

A surveillance-focused crime adventure centres on teamwork, concealment and a dangerous theft. Its London is dominated by surveillance, while the protagonists’ attempt to remain unseen leads into murder and deceit.

This appears to be a character-led school adventure about Sam’s relationships, family connections and mysteries, with identity and moral choices at its centre. Its journal framing may offer a personal view of her experiences.

A promising discussion choice for a reader interested in fairness and resisting other people's expectations.

A parent-preview choice for a teenager ready to discuss unequal relationships, grief and financial pressure.

Preview this before offering it to a teenager: the decision rests on readiness for pregnancy and failed adult support, not the verse format.

A discussion choice for a reader interested in friendship and unfairness, with care around debt and criminal choices.