What Are You Looking For?

The cat treats the household’s lack of consideration as a grievance, while its own actions leave it covered in rubbish. A bath resolves the mess, but the cat makes clear it is not entirely welcome.

On a psychiatric ward, McMurphy’s challenges to Nurse Ratched’s rules prompt conflict among patients and staff. Bromden’s first-person narration filters events through vivid metaphors and perceptions that may be unreliable.

A Christian Christmas story told through a small star’s experience, with the Nativity and the newborn Jesus at its centre.

Poems and paintings show a child observing his father’s prayers and reflecting on their relationship. Prayer is presented as a recurring part of family life, and the collection centres on Christian faith.

A teenager’s search for a girl who may not be real leads into a story of visions, possible spirit-world encounters and uncertainty about belonging.

Expect a collection of linked student perspectives rather than one continuous account, with relationships and emotional change at its centre.

This is a science-fiction adventure about young aliens in hiding, developing powers and trying to unite against those pursuing them. Marina’s and John’s situations provide distinct strands of the story, with danger and preparation for battle at its centre.

Charlie’s letters follow his friendships and family relationships as he tries to understand his place between adolescence and adulthood. The story combines everyday coming-of-age concerns with difficult experiences that shape his perspective.

This is a tense missing-person mystery: Gabie worries she was the intended target and works with Drew to find Kayla before she is found dead.

This is a school-set murder mystery about the fallout from a violent clash between two students. Its six boy narrators offer different perspectives as friends and enemies face loss, suspicion and racial tensions.

A reflective picture book about the different kinds of places people may find comforting, protective, inspiring or peaceful. Its images draw on both child and adult perspectives.

The essays examine juvenile crime, its possible causes, justice-system responses and prevention. The collection presents differing viewpoints and includes visual features and fact boxes.

A pregnancy follows Ellie and Josh’s sexual encounter. The story traces how they and their friends Caleb and Corinne respond, with each teenager’s perspective contributing to the unfolding situation.

A paranormal story follows Alice between a small Australian town and a dreamscape built from its residents’ nightmares. Her twin’s school shooting and its aftermath shape Alice’s struggle with identity, guilt and belonging.

This character-led story brings together bereavement, adoption and pregnancy through two young women whose hopes and family circumstances differ.

A family-centred story about two teenagers who leave home for London: Jade is impulsive and angry, while shy Honey is unsure about going. The trip challenges their expectations and changes how Jade thinks about home.

Three friends enter paid sex for money and companionship, believing their own rules will keep them safe. The story follows the risks and complications that follow, alongside the girls’ different circumstances.

This is a multi-voiced Tudor court story: each queen has her own account, interspersed with Henry’s, and the women’s hopes and fears are central. The focus is personal experience rather than a broad account of everything happening at court.

Becky is pursuing comedy and a relationship at the same time. As Kip’s behaviour becomes controlling and abusive, she grows more distant from friends and family.

A family’s drought-hit farm forms the backdrop to Dutch’s changing feelings, her cousin’s visit and conflicts among relatives. The story follows a summer of shifting relationships and new perspectives.

The story follows Jacques as he tries to make sense of being Fleur’s imaginary friend and works out what that means for his identity.

Jocelyn and Alex are stranded and lost in the Northwoods after a rafting mishap, facing threats from the elements with only wet bags’ contents. As they try to get home, the former best friends must also confront the strain between them.

The story brings together a serious illness, Melinda’s ballet ambitions and her long friendship with Jesse, whose feelings may be changing.

A supernatural adventure follows Sarah as she inherits a demon-hunting mission after her parents die. Her dreams, developing powers and uncertain trust in a newly arrived cousin shape her attempt to face the threat.

A gentle friendship story about trying to fit in and finding company. Its upside-down illustrations make Batty’s unusual point of view part of the reading experience.

A sibling-centred historical story combining middle-school pressures and family strain with interest in space and the Challenger mission.

A close view of young soldiers’ wartime experience, with an anti-war perspective and attention to comradeship. It may suit readers ready to think about how war affects those sent to fight.

This is a sweeping fantasy about Zélie’s attempt to restore magic, pursued by the crown and complicated by her feelings for an enemy. Its imagined kingdom also carries themes of racial oppression and resistance.

The reader chooses paths through a journey west, making decisions about how the separated narrator will survive and try to reunite with family. A Shoshone girl becomes a companion on the way.

The book contrasts a child’s playful encounter with zoo animals and her parents’ anxious search. Its imaginative events may invite discussion about how differently characters can experience the same situation.

A concise route into early Texas history, centred on changing claims to the land and the conflicts and alliances that accompanied colonisation.

This is a family story about waiting and trying to meet expectations while a parent is away on military duty, told from a child’s point of view.

The body-switch premise puts a bullied student in her tormentor’s circumstances, then follows her attempt to get back. The story also takes her into situations involving exploitation and danger.

A story about María, who has Down syndrome, and her slow progress as she learns to ride a bicycle. It connects her experience with a broader message about understanding difference.

Expect an ensemble story rather than one central storyline: the teenagers’ separate concerns overlap, and the tone is deliberately exaggerated and absurd.

The central fantasy turns a familiar expression—walking in someone else’s shoes—into a literal body switch, amid disagreements over activities and expectations.

A small-scale adventure transforms familiar garden details into hazards and landmarks. The appeal lies in seeing an everyday setting from a pea’s-eye perspective, alongside a chase for survival.

This guide combines drawing practice with comic-making: readers are invited to design characters, choreograph action and create city settings. It also covers dialogue and visual storytelling, with the aim of helping readers find their own style.

This is a family story about land, dignity and independence, seen partly through Cassie's growing understanding of racial injustice. Its emotional range includes warmth and humour as well as frightening events.

This is a time-travel story that uses six children’s visits to different periods to explore England’s past. History is joined to questions about how people are governed and treated.

Three young people with different personal concerns converge around a rare eclipse. The book combines friendship and coming-of-age with an astronomical event, using each character's perspective.

This is a story about a bat’s poems and his effort to share a different way of seeing the world with his fellow bats.

A river adventure with fanciful animal encounters gives the story a gentle, imaginative feel. Its focus is not only exploration: the encounters are framed as part of a larger reflection on growing and choosing a way forward.

This historical adventure combines a young character’s service and training with a national struggle. It may interest readers drawn to stories where a fictional life unfolds alongside real historical figures and events.

The changing viewpoints are central: readers see two young people revise their impressions of one another while also figuring out who they are and want to be.