If you like… Adventure Stories

If you like stories about kids who have gone wrong and are trying to straighten themselves out …

Starseeker by Tim Bowler: Luke has good hands good for climbing trees, and good for playing the piano - but he is tempted by Skin and his gang.
The blue feather by Gary Crew: Simon gets caught up in a search for a mythical giant bird.
A new kind of dreaming by Anthony Eaton: Sentenced to isolated care in remote Port Barren, Jamie uncovers secrets about the town long buried …
The maze by Will Hobbs: Rick escapes from a juvenile detention centre and finds his way to a sanctuary for condors.
Remote man by Elizabeth Honey: Email, reptile smuggling, frying-pans and TVs.
Holes by Louis Sachar: A stolen pair of basketball shoes sends Stanley Yelnats to Camp Green Lake to dig holes.

If you like stories full of unbelievable adventure and inexplicable coincidences …

The Xanadu adventure by Lloyd Alexander: Vesper Holly and her companions travel to the newly-discovered site of troy but fall foul of their old enemy, Dr Helvetius.
The giant rat of Sumatra by Sid Fleischman: Swashbuckling pirates, secret pasts, abandoned orphans, death-defying duels and hidden jewels.
Piratica by Tanith Lee: Artemisia runs away from school to follow her memories of her mother’s life of piracy on the high seas.
Cairo Jim and the chaos from Crete by Geoffrey McSkimming: Toxic gases, a mysterious man in a mask and rubber suit, and a secret hidden beneath the ancient Cretan palace at Knossos.
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel: Pirates, shipwreck and chaperones threaten to upset Kate and Matt’s search for the mysterious cloud cats.
Mortal engines by Philip Reeves: Imagine a future where all the great cities move across the countryside on huge caterpillar tracks, hunting and devouring the smaller towns.

If you like adventure stories about gangs of kids who take on the world …

Reservoir pups by Colin Bateman: A new boy, a kidnapping scheme, and babies lots of babies.
Agent Z meets the masked crusader by Mark Haddon: Ben and his mates liven up school with a series of practical jokes until the Masked Crusader challenges them.
The dare club by Vince Ford: Adam’s gang takes on the toughest gang in town, even though it wasn’t quite part of the plan.
Dead man’s head by Jack Lasenby: The Seddon Street gang lead a charmed life in their war of attrition against the town’s adults.
Bootleg by Alex Shearer: Smudger and Huntly discover a secret supply of chocolate-making ingredients, and embark on a bootleg operation to make the illegal confectionery.
Jammy Dodgers on the run by Bowring Sivers: To survive in the streets of London, three brothers have to learn every dodge, scam, con and trick.