Adventure

 READING FOR ADVENTURE

JourneyFamily and Friend Adventures
Byars, Betsy. A Blossom Promise.
Creech, Sharon. Ruby Holler.
Dahl, Roald. Danny, the Champion of the World.
Estes, Eleanor. Ginger Pye, Rufus M. and The Moffats.
Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows.
Horvath, Polly. The Trolls, My One Hundred Adventures and more.
Lindgren, Astrid. Pippi Longstocking.
McCloskey. Robert. Homer Price and Centerburg Tales.
Montgomery, L.M. Anne of Green Gables.
Nesbit. E. Five Children and It and The Railway Chlidren.
Peck, Robert Newton. Soup and Soup and Me.
Robertson, Keith. Henry Reed, Inc.
Rockwell, Thomas. How to Eat Fried Worms.
Scrimger, Richard. Into the Ravine.
Spyri, Johanna. Heidi.
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Wyss, Johann. The Swiss Family Robinson.

Cordell, Matthew. Cornbread and Poppy. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2022.
Best friends – at least in stories – are often unalike. Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel. George and Martha by James Marshall. Snake and Lizard by Joy Cowley. Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake. Cornbread and Poppy are also completely unalike. Cornbread has prepared for winter: food is harvested, preserved, and put away for the coming months. Poppy hasn’t. She has spent her time playing. But now the cold weather has arrived and she is not prepared. What should Cornbread do? Well, help her, of course. So the two little mice set off for Holler Mountain to forage for food for Poppy. And what an adventure! This 80-page little chapter book is perfect for readers ready for longer stories and for teachers ready to introduce literary elements to their students. Happily recommended!

Grk SmellsHoliday adventures
Birdsall, Jeanne. The Penderwicks.
Dahl, Roald. James and the Giant Peach.
Ellis, Sarah. The Several Lives of Orphan Jack.
Enright, Elizabeth. Gone-Away Lake and Return to Gone-Away Lake.
Horvath, Polly. The Vacation.
Montero, Gloria. The Summer the Whales Sang.
Staples, Suzanne Fisher. The Green Dog.
Tullson, Diane. Red Sea.
Verne, Jules. Around the World in Eighty Days.
Whelan, Gloria. That Wild Berries Should Grow.

Mysterious adventures

Avi. Crispin: the Cross of Lead and Crispin: At the Edge of the World.

Avi. The Unexpected Life of Oliver Cromwell Pitts: being an absolutely accurate autobiographical account of my follies, fortune, and fate: written by himself. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin Young Readers, 2017.
In 1724 England, life is perilous. Twelve-year-old Oliver’s mother died when he was born. His older sister moved from their home in Melcombe Regis, Dorset to the big city of London. And now his father has mysteriously disappeared in the middle of the night. Oliver is on the run, escaping the cruel master of the poorhouse. Quickly-paced in an old-fashioned swashbuckling style, this 313-page novel by the inimitable Avi will undoubtedly appeal to adventure lovers 11 years old and up.

Avi. The End of the World and Beyond: Continues The Unexpected Life of Oliver Cromwell Pitts: Being an Absolutely Accurate Autobiographical Account of my Follies, Fortune & Fate Written by Himself. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin Young Readers, 2019.
In this sequel, Oliver suffers the horrors of transport from England to America before being sold into servitude to a violent man How will Oliver escape? Will he ever be reunited with his sister and father? Full of historical details, this equally action-packed novel will appeal to readers whether or not they have read the previous novel.

Corder, Zizou. the Lionboy series

Gidwitz, Adam. The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog. New York: Dutton Children’s Books, 2016.

Do miracles happen?  Can hearts change? Will goodness prevail? Three travellers – a peasant girl with a mysterious greyhound, a Jewish refugee, and a boy raised in a monastery – flee persecution in 13th century France.  Illustrated in medieval style by Hatem Aly and followed by a long author’s note and an annotated bibliography, this 337-page Newbery Medal winning novel will be avidly devoured by competent readers 11 years old and up. [Adventure stories, Faith; France; Medieval life; Quests; Persecution] 

Hahn, Mary Downing. Stepping on the Cracks.
Mah, Adeline Yen. Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society.
Garfield, Leon. Smith.
Horowitz, Anthony. Ark Angel, Eagle Strike, Point Blanc, Scorpia, Snakehead and more.
Morpurgo, Michael. The Butterfly Lion.
Napoli, Jo. North.

Rundell, Katherine. The Good Thieves. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2019.

After Vita’s grandfather is swindled out of his home, she and her mother sail to New York City to take him back to England. But once they arrive, Vita comes up with a new plan: to reclaim the family mansion. With the help of newfound friends – two circus performers and a reluctant pickpocket – she sets out to accomplish her mission. Katherine Rundell accomplishes her usual magic with this latest novel set in the 1920s. Mixing the sadly all-too-real and the impossibly-foolhardy-and-unrealistic, she once again tells a rollicking tale of adventure which will inspire readers 10 to 14 years of age. Highly recommended!

Snicket, Lemony. The Bad Beginning and many more.
Trease, Geoffrey. Word to Caesar.
Wilson, Eric. Disneyland Hostage and Summer of Discovery and many more.

Navigating EarlyOutdoor adventures
Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe.
George, Jean Craighead. My Side of the Mountain.
Hill, Kirkpatrick. Winter Camp.
Hobbs, Will. Ghost Canoe.Houston, James. Frozen Fire.
Jones, David. Baboon.
Kehret, Peg. Escaping the Giant Wave.
Korman, Gordon. Survival.
London, Jack. The Call of the Wild.
Mowat, Farley. Lost in the Barrens.
North, Sterling. Rascal.
O’Dell, Scott. Island of the Blue Dolphins.
Paulson, Gary. Hatchet.
Smith, Roland. Peak.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Treasure Island.
Ullman, James R. Banner in the Sky.

Fantasy and Science Fiction Adventure

DiTerlizzi, Tony. The Spiderwick Chronicles starting with The Field Guide.
McCaffrey, Anne. Dragonsong, Dragonquest and many others.
MacHale, D.J. Black Water, The Pilgrims of Rayne, The Quillan Games, The Reality Bug and more.
Nesbit, E. The Phoenix and the Carpet.
Oppel, Kenneth. Airborn, Skybreaker, Starclimber and the Silverwing Saga.
Patterson, James. The Maximum Ride series starting with The Angel Experiment.

Philbrick, Rodman. The Last Book in the Universe. New York: Blue Sky Press, 2000.

Spaz has heard about a world with books, but he has never seen one.  In his world, people use mindprobes, needles which shoot pictures straight into your mind and let you escape the grey misery of life. But then he meets an old man, Ryter, and learns the power of stories.  For readers who liked The Hunger Games or Fahrenheit 451, this thoughtful but easy-to-read novel. [Science fiction; Fathers and sons; Adventure and adventurers; Epilepsy; Books and reading]

Riordan, Rick. The Percy Jackson series starting with The Lightning Thief.
Rodda, Emily. The Deltora Quest series starting with The Forests of Silence.
Sage, Angie. The Septimus Heap series starting with Magyk.
Stilton, Geronimo. The Geronimo Stilton series with over 30 titles.
Yancy, Rick. Alfred Kropp: the Seal of Solomon and others.

Sharp, Margery. The Rescuers. New York: New York Review Books, [2012], c1987.

Do you have time to enjoy a classic novel of courage and adventure? Do you have the imagination to enjoy a tale of brave and noble mice? This 149-page story will capture your heart with its quietly lovely sentences. And the endearing characters will remind you that at any moment you, too, could be called on a mission to selflessly help others. “Miss Bianca, a white mouse of great beauty and self-confidence, travels with the ambassador’s son to Norway on behalf of the Prisoner’s Aid Society in a perilous mission to rescue a poet imprisoned in the dreadful Black Castle.” – CIP This edition is exquisitely illustrated by Garth Williams, the famed illustrator of countless classic stories.

Sis, Peter. Robinson. New York: Scholastic Press, 2017.
This beautiful picture book combines an experience from the author’s childhood with the story of Robinson Crusoe. The softly detailed illustrations, complemented by the capital-letters font, will enchant readers 7 to 14 years old. Highly recommended!

Find stories of survival

Student and Teacher Reviews

Tintin and the Picaros is a suspenseful story about a boy, Tintin, and his two friends, Captain Haddock and Professor Cuthbert Calculus. The story takes place in a fictional country called Tapiocapolis. These three gentlemen go on a riveting adventure to rescue their acquaintance, Bianca Castafiore, from jail. Bianca was falsely accused of plotting to overthrow the government of Tapiocapolis so she was sentenced to a lifetime in prison. Tintin, Captain Haddock, and the Professor were also accused of assisting Bianca in her plot, but strangely enough, the leader of Tapiocapolis, General Tapioca, invited them to stay in Tapiocapolis, all expenses paid, to exchange views on the conspiracy. Tintin, being a clever young boy, predicted that accepting the invitation would result in a dangerous outcome. Much to Tintin’s dismay, Captain Haddock accepted the invitation, thus accepting the consequences that would follow. It turns out that Colonel Sponsz, General Tapioca’s technical advisor, had planned to kill the three gentlemen because of a mishap, which caused Sponsz to be subjected to humiliation. After many attempts to escape the scandalous scheme of Sponsz, Tintin, Captain Haddock, and Professor Cuthbert, finally rescued the beautiful Bianca, while barely escaping with their lives. All in all, this story grasped me with its powerful vocabulary, and the storyline always kept me on the edge of my seat. – Sarah in grade eight

Chelsea, in grade six, read Cryptid Hunters by Roland Smith. The story takes place in a boarding school in Switzerland and could have happened even this year. In other words, it’s not set in the past or in an imaginary future.  The main characters, Marty and Grace, are siblings; Grace was adopted but neither of them know that until later in the story when they go to live with a person they think is their uncle but is actually Grace’s birth father. In the story, cryptids are creatures for whom there is no scientific evidence of their existence. But cryptid hunters go searching for them, anyway, sort of the way people sometimes search for Sasquatches. The central conflict in the story arises because Marty’s and Grace’s uncle is a cryptid hunter who goes to the Congo, in Africa, to search for these mysterious creatures. When he leaves, the two go with him but then something happens. Read this story to find out!

The Thief Lord, by Cornelia Funke, is the best book I have ever read! This novel is set in Venice, Italy, and the way the author describes it is beautiful: stone statutes of winged lions and sparkling streets of water! The main characters, Prosper and Boniface (Bo), are runaway orphaned brothers who end up in Venice where they join a band of pick-pocketing street children who find shelter in an abandoned movie theatre. Their leader is Scipio, who calls himself the Thief Lord. The two brothers make new friends on their adventure, uncover a shocking secret about their leader, and discover a magical merry-go-round in an extraordinary novel about friendship, magic, and the value of working together. (Darien in gr. eight)

Escape the Mask by Ward keeps a reader wanting more. There are two orphans in a place called Grassland and they’re captured by these people called Spears. They meet two more orphans who join them on their adventure to escape Grassland and reach Outside. This novel reminds me of other novels about future worlds. I liked it. You might, too! (Jordan)

Zach's Lie

I read Zach’s Lie by Roland Smith to my class. It was great. The main character, a boy, gets put into the witness protection once his father gets put into jail because he was transporting drugs for a cartel. The boy must keep his old life a secret from anyone he meets and his family can’t be found by the cartel. So he has to lie about everything and his name is changed from ‘Jack’ to ‘Zach’. This book kept kids interested and guessing. (Mr. Blades)

My favourite book so far this year is a book named Choose Your Own Adventures. It’s a really cool book that gives you choices. You can pick your own adventures but if you pick the wrong one, your character may die or something else not so good may happen. You need to be careful of what you choose! I really like these books. They are really interesting adventures. (Jonathan in gr. 6)

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