Adventure
... for grades 5 and 6
Click a title to check the Skokie Public Library catalog for the status of the book in the Youth Services collection. Titles marked with * are also available on audio.
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- Aiken, Joan. Midwinter Nightingale. 2003.
Youth Fiction AIK - The Wolves Chronicles continue! Dido Twite and her friend Simon attempt to protect the ailing King James from his enemies. A crew of nasty characters attempt to thwart Dido and Simon and try to seat the brutish Lothar on the throne. Do they succeed? Read about their perilous adventures and find out!
- Alexander, Lloyd. The Illyrian Adventure. 1986.
Youth Fiction ALE - Follow young Vesper Holly as she sets out to prove the legend of Illyria -- and in the process gets involved in a search for treasure, an attempted revolution, and a conspiracy to murder! When she prevents a war, Vesper ultimately finds an important piece of history.
- Almond, David. Heaven Eyes. 2000. *
Youth Fiction ALM - When they escape from their orphanage on a raft, young Erin, January, and Mouse float into a strange, other-worldly place of abandoned warehouses and factories. There they find Heaven Eyes, a dreamy childlike creature with webbed fingers, who speaks in a strange language that sounds like music. Join the children -- in their surreal existence -- where facts, dreams, memories, and the imagination all blend together to help them construct their own stories in order to survive.
- Avi. Beyond the Western Sea (includes Book One: The Escape
from Home and Book Two: Lord Kirkle's Money). 1996. *
Youth Fiction AVI - It is 1851 and life in Ireland is awful. Twelve-year-old Patrick and his older sister Maura abandon their Irish home to escape poverty, famine, and disease. Fate brings them together with 11-year-old Laurence, who is penniless and confused after running away from his wealthy home in London in a fit of rage. The threesome joins forces to flee the country. Once aboard the Robert Peel on their way to America, they find themselves crowded in wretched shipboard conditions where they come face-to-face with illness and death and conniving and shady characters. Their adventure is not over once they reach land, as they soon find out that their future in America is fraught with danger and crises.
- Creech, Sharon. The Wanderer. 2000. *
Youth Fiction CRE - To cross the ocean on a 45-foot sailboat; what an opportunity! When her three uncles and two male cousins decide to make the trip from Connecticut to England, Sophie begs to go along. Her story chronicles not only her adventures at sea, but also her adventures within -- toward a past too painful to mention.
- Durbin, William. The Broken Blade. 1997.
Youth Fiction DUR - Imagine being 13 years old and going on a 2,400 mile trek from Montreal to Lake Superior in a birch bark canoe! This is what happens to Pierre when his father is injured and someone must work to feed the family. Follow Pierre as he signs on as a voyageur -- for twelve weeks of heavy paddling and high adventure.
- Fleischman, Sid. Bandit’s Moon. 1998. *
Youth Fiction FLE - What do you get when you combine an injured young girl with a bandit who can’t read? When Annyrose Smith is swept off with the bandits (who think she's a boy) during the California Gold Rush, you get an action-packed tale -- complete with thievery, murder, thundering horse hooves, and reading lessons for the bandit!
- Funke, Cornelia. The Thief Lord. 2001. *
Junior High Fiction FUN - When their mother dies, Prosper and Bo can only think of one thing -- escape. They flee to Venice, Italy, and are taken in by a group of children who live in an abandoned theater. Not only must Prosper and Bo avoid the detective their aunt has hired to find them, they must also help the children’s leader -- the Thief Lord -- on a dangerous mission to steal the missing piece to a strange and magical carousel.
- George, Jean Craighead. Julie of the Wolves. 1972. *
Youth Fiction GEO - When Julie becomes lost in the Alaskan tundra, how will she survive? She makes friends with a pack of wolves and comes to depend on them as well as herself for her survival.
- Hobbs, Will. Jason’s Gold. 1999. *
Junior High Fiction HOB - It is 1897. Jason embarks on a 10,000-mile journey to strike it rich in the Klondike -- and never imagines the hardships he will endure. Follow Jason as he meets some real characters on the way (including a young Jack London), rescues a husky dog from a brutal master, and fends off a moose attack. The Yukon never seemed so real!
- Hoobler, Dorothy and Hoobler, Thomas. The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn. 1999.
Youth Fiction HOO - Seikei is the son of a tea merchant -- but he longs to be a samurai. When he travels the Tokaido Road with his father, he becomes embroiled in a series of strange and mysterious adventures, which take him from the Kabuki Theater to the Shogun’s palace -- and beyond.
- Horowitz, Anthony. The Devil and His Boy. 2000.
Youth Fiction HOR - Tom has a miserable life working at The Pig’s Head Inn. When someone appears who changes his life, it seems like a miracle until Tom ends up alone in Elizabethan London. When Tom meets a group of actors and helps them put on a play, does he know that the play has a dangerous purpose? Does Tom know just how much danger he is in?
- Hunt, Laura Jones. The Abernathy Boys. 2004.
Youth Fiction HUN - What if your parents let you and your 5-year-old brother ride from Oklahoma to Santa Fe, New Mexico -- and back -- by yourselves? That's what happens to young Bud Abernathy, age 9, and his brother Temple -- who encounter a boatload of troubles, including rattlesnakes, scorpions, wolves, dust storms, and outlaws as they set out on horseback across the Old West.
- Mikaelsen, Ben. Touching Spirit Bear. 2001. *
Junior High Fiction MIK - Cole Matthews has more problems than you can count -- not the least of which is being in jail for viciously beating a classmate. When Cole decides to be a part of "Circle Justice" instead of going to prison, he is sent to a remote Alaskan island where he will live for one year. Watch as Cole is transformed -- not only by the Alaskan wilderness -- but also through his encounter with the Spirit Bear.
- Myers, Edward. Climb or Die. 1994.
Youth Fiction MYE - A car crash on a snowy Colorado mountain road which injures both of their parents forces Danielle and Jake not only to make choices, but also to overcome the difficulties they have with each other. When they decide to climb to the top of Mount Remington rather than go back the way they came, their survival is at stake.
- Osborne, Mary Pope. Adaline Falling Star. 2000. *
Youth Fiction OSB - Young Adaline is the daughter of the frontier scout Kit Carson and Singing Wind, an Arapaho Indian. When Singing Wind dies, Kit takes Adaline to St. Louis to live with relatives. Adaline is miserable at the home of Cousin Silas, who treats her like a servant. Adaline runs away and almost dies in the wilderness, but along the way she finds a stray dog who gives her courage and company -- all the way back to Colorado.
- Rubalcaba, Jill. The Wadjet Eye. 2000.
Youth Fiction RUB - It is Egypt in the time of the Roman Empire and young Damon, a medical student, weeps for his dead mother. Together with a friend he sets out for Spain to find his father. Along the way, Damon and Artemas have too many adventures to count -- but the horrors of the Circus Maximus, the amputations in the bloody battlefield hospital, and Damon’s mummification of his mother’s body all come gruesomely to life.
- Smith, Roland. Sasquatch. 1998.
Youth Fiction SMI - Is Sasquatch only a legend -- or do they really exist? When Mount St. Helens is about to erupt, Dylan is sure that he’s seen a real Sasquatch. As the mountain rumbles and roars, Dylan goes on a harrowing adventure to save the huge creature.
- Snyder, Zilpha Keatley. Song of the Gargoyle. 1991.
Youth Fiction SNY - When the court jester of Austerneve is kidnapped, his son Tymmon escapes from the castle and hides in the forest. There he meets a living gargoyle, a huge doglike beast, and the two of them embark on a series of adventures leading to the rescue of Tymmon’s father and a long-lost prince.
- Springer, Nancy. Rowan Hood: Outlaw Girl of Sherwood Forest. 2001. *
Youth Fiction SPR - When her mother is murdered, Rosemary searches for her father -- the legendary Robin Hood. Disguised as the boy Rowan, she sets off on a perilous journey to Sherwood Forest, accompanied by Tykell (an animal that is part wolf and part dog) and Ettarde (a princess-on-the-run). Robin Hood is captured by the authorities when he goes to town, and Rowan and her companions must save him.
- Yolen, Jane and Harris, Robert J. Jason and the Gorgon’s Blood. 2004.
Junior High Fiction YOL - In this tale from Greek mythology, young Jason must lead a group of schoolmates on an expedition to recover jugs of Gorgon’s Blood that were stolen from Chiron, their wise mentor. The young boys encounter harpies, a goddess, and brutish centaurs (not to mention a harsh landscape), and in the process Jason is challenged to become a real leader. Does he have the courage to do this job? Is he the one to bring out the best in his companions?