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This is a compassionate but tense animal-welfare story. Marty’s actions create a sustained conflict between telling the truth, respecting ownership and protecting Shiloh, inviting discussion rather than offering an uncomplicated moral lesson.

This is a tense, unsettling story about a child in care who expects rejection and tests new homes. Its reverse structure and uncertain supernatural threat make Olivia’s emotional experience central.

Expect pony-centred children’s fiction with friendship, riding and horse care at its heart. Depending on which Pony Tails volume is intended, the story may focus on training a new pony or on concerns about a pony behaving unusually.

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.

Choose this for a child who enjoys eerie folktales, unusual friendships and stories that leave some things to imagine. The visual mood is shadowy, but the skull is presented as polite and friendly rather than simply frightening.

Choose this for a participatory story: children can help search for Patch, follow verbal prompts and enjoy rhyme, clues and playful pirate imagery. It combines an unfolding quest with a wind-down-to-bedtime framing.

This is a gentle beach adventure about a character whose plans repeatedly go wrong, then improve through friendship and a calming activity. Its central interest is recognising strong feelings and responding with compassion.

This offers a straightforward survival thriller built around a countdown, extremist beliefs and attacks in a familiar city. Its strongest appeal is likely suspense and danger rather than deeply developed character exploration.

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.

Expect an eerie, imaginative timeslip story in which Minty investigates a mysterious garden and tries to help two children from different historical periods. Its suspense is closely connected with family distress and compassion.

A tense, emotionally serious survival story follows Ade through a collapsing city while his mother withdraws and neighbours become an unexpected support network. Its strongest offering is a child-centred exploration of vulnerability, responsibility and collective care.

Expect a fast, twist-filled fantasy adventure that treats a frightening grandmother as an exaggerated comic villain. Joe’s difficult family life sits alongside grotesque peril and suspense, so the tone is more unsettling than an ordinary family story.

This is a socially focused YA novel about a young person navigating foster and group-home life, exclusion and threatened displacement, with suspense from arson and a developing romance.