Action and Adventure

Grades 6 and 7

Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle by Christina Uss

Left at the Mostly Silent Monastery as a toddler and home-schooled by a retired nun, twelve-year-old Bicycle rides cross-country to meet a famous cyclist who she hopes will be her first friend.

Charlie Thorn and the Last Equation by Stuart Gibbs

The CIA forces twelve-year-old Charlotte "Charlie" Thorne, a rebellious genius, to use her code-breaking skills on an epic global chase to locate Einstein's last equation before dangerous agents discover it and unlock the solution to harnessing energy.

Pax by Sarah Pennypacker

Pax and Peter have been inseparable ever since Peter rescued him as a kit. But one day, the unimaginable happens: Peter's dad enlists in the military and makes him return the fox to the wild. At his grandfather's house, three hundred miles away from home, Peter knows he isn't where he should be—with Pax. He strikes out on his own despite the encroaching war, spurred by love, loyalty, and grief, to be reunited with his fox. Meanwhile Pax, steadfastly waiting for his boy, embarks on adventures and discoveries of his own. . .

High Score by Destiney Howell 

We do this my way. No one gets hurt. And if I call it off, it's off. Got it? My name's Darius James--but everyone calls me DJ. At my old school, I was the go-to guy for all kinds of tricky problems that needed creative solutions. But at my new school, Ella Fitzgerald Middle, I'm just trying to blend in. Well, I was, anyway, until my best friend, Conor, got himself transferred to the Fitz too. Now Conor owes 100,000 arcade tickets to the biggest bully around--and he only has two weeks to make it happen. Impossible? Not with my head in the game.

Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte

Mary Lambert has always felt safe and protected on her beloved island of Martha's Vineyard, where many people -- including Mary -- are deaf, and nearly everyone can communicate in sign language. But recent events have delivered winds of change, including the arrival of a cunning young scientist hoping to discover the origin of the island's prevalent deafness. 

Shuri by Nic Stone

Shuri is a skilled martial artist, a genius, and a master of science and technology. But, she's also a teenager. And a princess. This story follows Shuri as she sets out on a quest to save her homeland of Wakanda. For centuries, the Chieftain of Wakanda (the Black Panther) has gained his powers through the juices of the Heart-Shaped Herb. Much like Vibranium, the Heart-Shaped Herb is essential to the survival and prosperity of Wakanda. But something is wrong. The plants are dying. No matter what the people of Wakanda do, they can't save them. And their supply is running short. It's up to Shuri to travel from Wakanda in order to discover what is killing the Herb, and how she can save it, in the first volume of this all-new, original adventure.

Two Degrees by Alan Gratz

Fire. Ice. Flood. Three climate disasters. Four kids fighting for their lives. Akira is riding her horse in the California woods when a wildfire sparks--and grows scarily fast. How can she make it to safety when there are flames everywhere? Owen and his best friend, George, like spotting polar bears on the snowy Canadian tundra. But when one bear gets way too close for comfort, do the boys have any chance of surviving? Natalie hunkers down at home as a massive hurricane barrels toward Miami. When the floodwaters crash into her house, Natalie is dragged out into the storm--with nowhere to hide. Akira, Owen, George, and Natalie are all swept up in the devastating effects of climate change. They are also connected in ways that will shock them--and could alter their destinies forever.

Grades 7 and 8

One for All by Lillie Lainoff

In 1655 sixteen-year-old Tania is the daughter of a retired musketeer, but she is afflicted with extreme vertigo and subject to frequent falls; when her father is murdered she finds that he has arranged for her to attend Madame de Treville's newly formed Acad‚emie des Mari‚ees in Paris, which, it turns out, is less a school for would-be wives, than a fencing academy for girls--and so Tania begins her training to be a new kind of musketeer, and to get revenge for her father.

Traveler's Along the Way by Aminah Mae Safi

In this reimagination of the legend of Robin Hood, Rahma al-Hud and her older sister Zeena travel to Jerusalem for a final mission, and on their way they assemble a ragtag band of misfits and get swept up in Holy Land politics.

Year of the Reaper by Makiia Lucier

Before an ambush by enemy soldiers, Lord Cassia was an engineer's apprentice on a mission entrusted by the king. When a plague sweeps over the land, devastating the kingdom, even Cas's title cannot save him from a rotting prison cell and a merciless sickness. Three years later he wants only to return to his home in the mountains and forget past horrors. But his castle has become a refuge for the royal court... and they have brought their enemies with them. When an assassin targets those closest to the queen, Cas forms an unexpected bond with a young historian named Lena. Searching for the "why" of the attacks, they discover a secret that could plunge the kingdom it back into war. -- adapted from jacket.