The 7 Best Fiction Adventure Books for Your Reading Corner

 

What makes a good adventure story?

Adventure stories often include something exciting and extraordinary, a quest or a mission. Follow a brave hero through twists and turns that you never expected. From escaping some danger to going on a quest to discover something mystic and magical. With endless books and stories to choose from, what makes a good adventure story to share with your little ones this year?

  • A conquering hero: We all remember our favorite heroes and protagonists from our most memorable adventure tales. From Bilbo Baggins, Katniss Everdeen, Harry Potter, and Lyra Belaqua to Matilda Wormwood and Percy Jackson. This heroic main character will often be introduced to readers as an ordinary and relatable young person that your little readers can relate to, helping them feel like the hero in their adventure.
  • A swash-buckling adventure: Whether you open the pages and set sail on a pirate ship, join a daring adventure through mountain ranges, or a high-stakes mission to retrieve a long-lost treasure, adventure is the game’s name. Most adventure stories begin by issuing a fantastical challenge or task. This quest continues to ignite the story’s plot with a series of daring events that create an exciting storyline.
  • Strange and foreign lands: Whether the story launches us into a far-off and mythical land or rockets us centuries through time, adventure stories commonly take us from our familiar, everyday surroundings to a new and unfamiliar environment.
  • A villainous villain: No swash-buckling hero is complete without a brilliantly offensive counterpart. So, what makes these fictional villains so popular? The most memorable villains of these stories are highly motivated, charismatic, and developed with a mixture of positive and evil traits.
  • A daring escape from danger: What is it about fictional adventure stories that we love so much? All of the best adventure stories we can find on our shelves face some threat or risk they must escape reaching their potential or goal. These risky situations and daring escapes keep the readers on their toes and keep those pages turning again and again!

Why should you read fiction adventure stories?

Do you like reading stories that can pound your heart and keep you on your toes? Are your kids a fan of fast-paced plots full of action and surprises? If the answer is yes, fiction adventure stories are undoubtedly the right kind of book for you and your class!

Reading adventure stories in the classroom and at home is a fantastic way to encourage your students to get lost in a good book. A good adventure story can draw your children into a world or time they would have never been able to explore. Because adventure stories are so immersive, they will not know they are learning as they go! Their vocabulary, spelling, and reading comprehension will skyrocket. At the same time, they explore fantasy worlds and meet fearless and heroic characters that they will keep with them long after the last page is turned.

Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell

A shipwreck, a young heroine, and a mysterious history, what more could your young readers ask for in their fictional adventure stories? Check out Katherine Rundell’s adventurous ‘Rooftoppers’ in paperback or e-book for your classroom reading corner. With adventure that will have your readers on the edge of their seats and a magical and heart-warming story following our young protagonists, this is a fantastic example of adrenaline-filled fiction.

Everyone tells Sophie that she was orphaned in a shipwreck – found floating in a cello case on the English Channel on her first birthday. But Sophie is convinced her mother also survived. When the Welfare Agency threatens to separate her from her guardian and send her to an orphanage, Sophie takes matters into her own hands, starting with the only clue she has – the address of a cello maker in Paris. On the run from the authorities, Sophie finds Matteo and his network of roof toppers – urchins who walk tightropes and live in the sky. In a race across Paris’s rooftops, will they find her mother before it’s too late? Hopeful, inspiring, and thrilling in equal measure, this is a classic adventure story about pursuing your dreams and never ignoring a possibility.

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

Siobhan Dowd is the fantastic author of the mysterious, adventurous story of ‘The London Eye Mystery’ story. Your readers can join our young detectives, Ted and Kat, on their adventures to solve the mystery of their mystery cousin in a thrilling series of twists, turns, and clues. Can you solve the mystery before time runs out?

11.32 am. – Ted and his sister Kat watch their cousin Salim get on board the London Eye. The pod rises from the ground, high above the city. 12.02 am. – The pod lands, and the doors open. Everyone exits – everyone but Salim. Has he spontaneously combusted? Has he been kidnapped? Is he even still alive? Even the police are baffled – so it’s up to Ted, whose brain runs on its unique operating system, to solve this mystery and find Salim. Teaming up with Kat, Ted follows a trail of clues across London – while time ticks dangerously.

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

‘Stormbreaker’ is a fabulous story that crackles with suspense and daring and shows that a bit of cheek will take you a long way. This adventure series is the ultimate mixture of anticipation, thrilling missions, and nail-biting discoveries. So, what are you waiting for? ‘Stormbreaker’ is the first in the Alex Rider series, followed by 12 more thrill-seeking adventure stories to discover.

They told him his uncle had died in an accident. He wasn’t wearing his seatbelt, they said. But when fourteen-year-old Alex finds his uncle’s windshield riddled with bullet holes, he knows it is no accident. He doesn’t know that his uncle was killed while on a top-secret mission. But he is about to, and once he does, there is no turning back. Finding himself in the middle of terrorists, Alex must outsmart the people who want him dead. The government has given him the technology, but only he can provide the courage.

Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson

Eva Ibbotson’s fiction adventure novel, ‘Journey to the River, is an excellent choice for your adventure-seeking little ones as they bring the Amazon rainforest alive with their imaginations. This amazing story launches young readers into exotic and foreign lands as they join Maia along her journey and adventure. The world they will encounter along the way is just as exotic as they had predicted, complete with new experiences and characters they would never have met back home. So, if you are looking for a new beautifully written and adventure-filled fiction book to add to your reading corner collection – check out ‘Journey to the River Sea’ by Eva Ibbotson to whisk your students away at reading time.

Maia feels at home in the boarding school where she lived in London in 1910. It is the only home she has known since her parents died two years earlier. However, when distant cousins are discovered 4,000 miles away, Maia must travel to Manaus’s exotic Amazon River town to live with them. She is accompanied on her journey by a governess, the imposing Miss Minton, who has her reasons for accepting a post so far from home.  With the help of her clever governess, Maia finds a brief escape from their oppressive home and makes friends with a strange Indian boy named Finn and a homesick child actor called Clovis. As she helps her new friends follow their dreams and desires, Maia learns what is most important to her and where her future will lie.

Skellig by David Almond

While most of our favorite picks pull your readers from the classroom too far off lands, if you are ready to shift gears for an adventure closer to home, try ‘Skellig’ by David Almond, a relatively short novel at 170 pages that encompasses a lot of important themes and images. This emotional and adventurous story brings together a young protagonist’s life with elements of magical realism and great humor. This book will immediately pull your little ones in as a great book for kids aged 10+ years.

‘When a move to a new house coincides with his baby sister’s illness, Michael’s world seems suddenly lonely and uncertain. Then, one Sunday afternoon, he stumbles into the old ramshackle garage of his new home and finds something magical. A strange creature – part owl, part angel, a being who needs Michael’s help to survive. Michael nourishes Skellig back to health with his new friend Mina while his baby sister languishes in the hospital. But Skellig is far more than he first appears, and as he helps Michael breathe life into his tiny sister, Michael’s world changes forever.’

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

If you are looking for fun and adventurous characters and genius fantasy plot twists, then the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer is the perfect addition to your classroom library this term! Eoin Colfer’s novel brings us along with Artemis Fowl’s story, who is the most ingenious criminal mastermind in history.  This adventure-filled book brings together the greatest minds from two completely different worlds. Both sides have tricks up their sleeves, are not afraid to play dirty, and have plenty of humor added for good measure. If you think you know fairies? Oh, how wrong you are. The adventure is calling with this series full of mythical creatures and charismatic and thrill-seeking characters.

‘At just 12 Years old, Artemis Fowl is already a criminal genius.  No scheme is too dastardly, and no plot is too devious. And he’s just discovered that fairies are real. But these are not the cuddly creatures of bedtime stories. They are armed. They are dangerous. And when Artemis captures Captain Holly Short for her fairy gold, he messes with the wrong elf. Holly isn’t armed, but she’s incredibly dangerous and pretty annoyed with all the kidnappings. Artemis Fowl is about to find out that fairies fight back….’

 Who Let the Gods Out! by Maz Evans 

Lots of children love to learn about the legends and mysteries of Greek Mythology, and ‘Who Let the Gods Out!’ by Maz Evans is the perfect combination of modern society and the long-lost stories of Greek Mythology. This great adventure story is based on Greek and Roman mythology, set in modern-day England. Full of excitement, humor, and adventure – what more could you want, right? Your students will laugh out loud and leave on the edge of their seats with every page of Maz Evan’s book.

When Eliot’s home is under threat, and his mum is ill, suddenly, nothing is going right for him. Eliot needs a hero, but he might be about to get more than he bargained for. When a shooting star crashes to earth, it lands Eliot smack bang in the path of Virgo – a young Zodiac goddess on a mission. But when the pair accidentally release Thanatos, a wicked death daemon imprisoned beneath Stonehenge, they’ve nowhere to turn for help but the old Olympian gods. Unfortunately, these gods are used to getting their way and are more than capable of creating chaos themselves. After centuries of cushy retirement on earth, are Zeus and his crew up to saving the world – and solving Elliot’s problems too?

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