Kids and Families

Looking for Adventure? Adventurous Books for Teens

Baby-sitting Is a Dangerous Job by Willo Davis Roberts
When Darcy agreed to baby-sit the Fosters' kids, she thought the worst thing she'd have to face was three spoiled children, but soon she learned that baby-sitting children of wealthy parents is risky business. Darcy and the children are kidnapped and it's up to Darcy to find a way to escape.

Cart & Cwidder by Diana Wynne Jones
Moril's father is Clennen, the famous singer and storyteller. Moril and his family drive their colorful cart around divided Dalemark, performing in towns along the way. When Clennen is murdered, Moril learns that Clennen was a spy, the songs he sang carried secret messages, and the instrument he played, the cwidder, carries powers of its own.

Earthquake at Dawn by Kristiana Gregory
Photographer Edith Irvine is aboard an ocean liner on her way to Europe to exhibit some of her photographs. When the ship approaches San Francisco to board additional passengers, Edith becomes witness to one of the greatest disasters in the United States, the Great San Fransisco Earthquake of 1906.

The Fear Place by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
The ridge terrified him and Doug swore he'd never go up there again no matter how much his brother Gordon teased him. Then Doug and Gordon are left to camp alone because of a family emergency that calls their parents away and an accident at camp forces Doug to find courage he didn't know he had.

Flight #116 is Down by Caroline Cooney
For Heidi Landseth, this was going to be another boring Saturday night at home, taking care of the family dogs. At 5:30 that evening she took one of the dogs for a walk. At 5:41 a passenger plane crashed in the woods behind her house. Heidi spent the next six hours helping to rescue the 100 survivors of flight #116.

The Haymeadow by Gary Paulsen
Cawley paused before leaving John alone in the haymeadow with four dogs, two horses and six thousand sheep. "Any questions?," he asked. John wanted to say a hundred things. I don't know anything. I don't think I can do this. I can't, I can't...

The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford
Bodger, Tao and Luath journey 250 miles through the Canadian wilderness to return home. Together they battle starvation, exposure, wild animals and humans who try to stop them.

Interstellar Pig by William Slator
Sixteen-year-old Barney gets swept into a deadly board game with his strange new neighbors, unaware that the fate of Earth hangs in the balance.

Invitation to the Game by Monica Hughes
Now that Lisse and her friends have graduated from school, they must join the ranks of the unemployed because in their future world most jobs are done by machines. Their lives look very bleak until they get an invitation to the game, a virtual reality game run by the government, then their lives really take off!

The Silent Storm by Sherry Garland
When Hurricane Berta hits, Alyssa is trapped on a shrimp boat, trying desperately to get home to her grandfather. By the time she reaches the house, her grandfather has been badly injured and is near death and Hurricane Berta is ravaging the island around them.

So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
Eleven-year-old Yoko and her family were Japanese. But they were living in Korea in 1945--a bad time to be living in Korea if you were Japanese, a time when Korean soldiers were "eliminating" the Japanese from Korea. This is the story of Yoko, her mother, and her older sister's escape from North Korea back to their homeland of Japan.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
When Charlotte Doyle boards the Seahawk in England to set sail to America to meet her family, she is worried about being the only passenger on board. However, by the time she is being held in the Seahawk's brigg waiting to be hanged for murder, Charlotte is beyond worry.

The Voyage of the Frog by Gary Paulsen
When David's favorite uncle is dying of cancer, he asks David for one last wish-to take the Frog out on the ocean, where there's no land in sight and spread his ashes there. To David the ocean is a marvel of beauty. But it also shows a mountain of strength when a storm sweeps him and the Frog so far south off the California coast, he is lost at sea.