Page-turning adventure books kids won't be able to put down

Freya and her mum are taking a holiday in a small cabin, trying to recover from Freya's dad passing away. Freya is unsure about going sledging, but when she meets a magic fox out in the snow, she follows him into the forest and an exciting adventure ensues. Inspired by the Finnish Saami legend of the revontulet – fox fires – which are sparks that fly from a mythic fox to become the Northern Lights, The Fire Fox is gorgeously illustrated and beautifully written. A story about hope and the light of love, it is sure to enthral young readers.

This is a fairytale with a distinctive twist: in Once Upon a Fairytale the reader gets to decide where the adventure leads. The choices are endless – would you like to live in a tree, dine with the fairies or jump on a unicorn and ride through the sky? And which character would you choose? You can be a smart princess, a gingerbread man or a kindly knight . . . This sparkling story encourages the reader to embrace creativity and weave their own tale.

This is a story about a little boy with a big imagination who learns that you can't know anyone just by looking at them, from the award-winning and New York Times bestselling picture book duo Matt de la Pena and Christian Robinson. On a train journey with his sister, Milo draws pictures of the lives he imagines for the other passengers. He imagines a little boy with bright white trainers lives in a castle with a moat and butler, but when he gets off the train and realises the boy is heading to the same destination as him, he realises we're all more alike than different: both boys are visiting their mothers in prison. 

Once upon a golden day, beside a silver brook
Alice and her older sister sat and read a book...

A retelling of the classic tale of Alice, told in bouncing verse and splashed with lively illustrations. When a talking rabbit shoots past Alice, she follows him down a hole to Wonderland, where she encounters a host of eccentric and perplexing characters. There's the ever-smiling Cheshire Cat, the Hatter and the Queen of Hearts, and a tea party the like of which Alice has never seen. 

The fourth title in this young magic adventure series by Lola Morayo, Aziza's Secret Fairy Door and the Mermaid's Treasure takes inspiration from world mythology, and is beautifully illustrated in black and white throughout. Aziza is packing to go on holiday when she sees sand and shells from the fairy door scattered all over her room. She steps through the door to  Shimmerton’s beach, where mischievous fairies the Gigglers are causing havoc by waking up the ancient shell-walker. The Gigglers need to be stopped, so Aziza calls on her new mermaid friend to help.

The first book in Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton's quirky treehouse adventures, The 13-Storey Treehouse is narrated in a combination of text and fantastical cartoons. Andy and Terry live in the best treehouse ever, with an underground lab, a catapult and a marshmallow machine. Just be careful when it comes to the man-eating sharks though, and the mutant sea monsters . . . Not to mention the burp-gas-filled bubble!

Bestselling, multi-award-winning writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce wants us to know that being the smallest in the room doesn't mean you don't have the biggest ideas. Eleven-year old Noah has snuck onto his big sister's geography field trip. But nothing goes to plan! The teacher disappears and six hungry kids are marooned on an uninhabited island. Their phones aren't working and Noah has broken the internet . . .  But then he discovers a mysterious treasure map, and the gang begin a hunt for hidden gold.

Esha Verma, along with her snooty apprentice Broccoli and his clever pet tortoise, have a plan. The gang are determined to win the famous Brain Trophy for genius inventors. Their entry is the RoarEasy – a machine that lets people speak to animals. But rival inventor Ernie steps in and the RoarEasy goes haywire, turning Monsieur Crépeau into a pigeon. So Esha, Broccoli, Archibald and Monsieur Crépeau take a trip to the Central Research Laboratories – with Ernie on their tail –  to try to solve the problem, encountering huge robots, killer plants, mechanical spiders and shrinking machines along the way.

Weaving together the well-known stories of Rapunzel, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, this modern retelling offers a fresh new perspective on three classic fairytales. Locked away in a tower for her whole life by an evil witch, Rumaysa has no idea what lies outside, until one day, she lowers her hijab out of the window and escapes to freedom. As funny as it is escapist, this debut novel will be loved by fans of young adult fiction as well as readers who enjoy retellings of classic stories. 

Star footballer and food-poverty campaigner Marcus Rashford brings you his first work of fiction, written with Alex Falase-Koya. The third book in the Marcus Rashford Book Club, it is dense with illustrations by Marta Kissi, and is an ideal title for children aged 8–11. When young Marcus kicks his football over the fence, he knows he won't be getting it back. But then a mysterious note arrives from the Breakfast Club Investigators, and soon Marcus finds himself on an adventure with some new pals, trying to figure out the mystery and claim his football back. 

For Peanut Jones, drawing is like magic. But art can't solve all her issues: her dad has disappeared and she is in a dull new school. But one day Peanut finds a pencil turbo charged with super powers. And all of a sudden she is in a new world of colour, thrills and perils, where she just might find out what happened to her dad. Aptly illustrated with beautiful black and white illustrations, this is an engaging title for girls and boys aged 8–11.

Comic Lenny Henry has written a suitably laugh-out-loud adventure story for readers of 6 to 8 years, with dazzling illustrations throughout by Keenon Ferrell. Tunde has some problems with the school bully, but when he sprouts wings and realises his true mission is to save the Earth, school becomes the least of his problems. Flying high in the face of danger, Tunde is the boy with wings.

Hal and Uncle Nat step on board the Solar Express for its maiden voyage, at the invitation of billionaire train enthusiast August Reza. They are set for an exciting trip across the Australian Outback, but it turns out to be a journey with more thrills and spills than foreseen: the train has been sabotaged and is hurtling on its journey at breakneck speed. Sabotage on the Solar Express can be a stand alone read, or enjoy it alongside other Adventures on Trains novels by award-winning duo M. G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman.

Beautiful and full of adventure, Escape to the River Sea is Emma Carroll's compelling novel inspired by Eva Ibbotson's classic masterpiece, Journey to the River Sea.

Featuring places and characters known and loved by fans of Journey to the River Sea (including, among others, Maia, Finn, Miss Minton and Clovis) this spectacular new chapter in the story tells of the next generation and the growing threats to the Amazon rainforest that continue to this day.