Adventure Series for Young Readers and Teens

Adventure Series for Young Readers

For young readers who love a good adventure story, there is nothing more exciting than starting a new series. Although there is almost no limit to new series coming out, it can be challenging for both young readers and their parents when it comes to finding a new series. The below series are all series that I feel are appropriate for both middle lever readers and also teenagers, all series mentioned here are high octane adventures without any mention of magic or superpowers, rather they are adventures that revolve around central characters that are facing conflict that must be overcome with intelligence and training.

                                                 The Ascendance Trilogy: By Jennifer Nielsen

This series caught me by surprise, the first in the series was nominated for a Nutmeg Award this year, thus I came to the series knowing that the writing would be top quality, but I was wary, thinking it would be a fantasy series, rather than a epic quest of sorts. This is a series I strongly recommend for its fast paced writing, its clever writing and memorable characters. This series deals with the death of a royal family, and the training of three orphans, one of whom will be chosen to take on the role of the missing prince. Think “The Man in the Iron Mask” meets “Prisoner of Zenda”.

The False Prince

The Runaway King

The Shadow Throne

 

                                      The Knightley Academy: By Violet Haberdasher

This series unfortunately has only two books in it, but both are self containing, and hopefully the author will be writing another one soon. This series focuses on the education of a boy names Henry Grimm, his challenges to get an education in spite of his unusual background. This is not your typical boys school story.

The Knightley Academy

The secret Prince

The Alex Rider Series: By Anthony Horowitz

Think young James Bond, Alex is a fourteen year old boy with an uncanny ability for getting himself into challenging situations and using innovative methods that get him noticed by both good and bad alike. I recommend this series for readers thirteen and up, some of the situations can be a little tense for young readers; I recommend that parents or older readers read the first few books before deciding if their young readers are ready for the escapades of Alex Rider.

Stormbreaker

Point Blank

Skeleton Key

Eagle Strike

Scorpia

Ark Angel

Snakehead

Crocodile Tears

Scorpia Rising

                                                           

 

                                                                      Heist Society: By Ally Carter

 

This is a series more appropriate for girls, still just as clever as the above mentioned series. The protagonist in this series is a young thief names Cat Bishop, a girl no longer satisfied with her life as a thief and professional con artist. This series deals more with mental challenges than physical ones, think Oceans 11 with teenagers.  

Heist Society

Uncommon Criminals

Perfect Scoundrels

 

 

 

 

                                                        Gallagher Girls: By Ally Carter

This is one of the most entertaining teen girls’ series I have found yet. The protagonist is Cammy Morgan, a teen girl who goes to a private girls’ school that is in actuality a school for training spies. Cammy and her friends spend most of the series doing extracurricular activities such as bringing down terrorist groups and uncovering political assassination attempts. I loved this series for its fast paced action sequences, its clever dialogue and its central character, through whom every event is seen. Probably better suited for girls age 14 and up depending on the reading level and parental preference. As always I recommend reading the first few books before deciding if your young reader is ready for this series.

I’d Tell You I Love You but Then I’d Have to Kill You

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

Don’t Judge A Girl by her Cover

Only the Good Spy Young

Out of Sight Out of Time

United We Spy

As always, this is not an exhaustive list, there are new books coming out all the time, and some are better suited than others, but there is an almost endless list of titles coming out every month.  I hope you have found this post both informative and useful.

“A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.”
― William Styron, Conversations with William Styron

Chapter Books Series for Young Readers

Contemporary Series for Young Readers.

With so many series out there, it can often prove difficult for children to find just the right one. Nobody knows the frustration of finishing a wonderful series like me, especially when you realize that you want a new series along the same lines, so for this blog entry I will try to suggest some series for each category (fantasy, younger readers, classics etc…) For the purpose of this blog, this will probably take several entries, since there are so many series out there for so many different interests!

Early Readers Chapter Books

For those not familiar with the chapter books, these are simply books for children going into grades 1-3, they offer new vocabulary words, and help readers become comfortable with concepts like plot and continuing stories.

Magic Tree House:  This series has over 50 books in it, not to mention fact trackers and puzzle and game books. I like this series because you do not necessarily have to read them in order, although it does help if you want to keep track of what your young reader has already read. Parents should be warned that as the name suggests, there is a magical tree house that is their means of transportation, so if you are not comfortable with your children reading books with magic in them, it would probably be best to skip this series.

This series can be best split into three categories, early chapter books, each of which takes Jack and Annie on an adventure to a specific time and place in history, where they must complete a mission and find something or someone significant. The next set is called the Merlin missions, these are the next level up and offer young readers more advanced story line, a little more plot, and a higher level vocabulary. Fact trackers are books which are more non-fiction than fiction. This set help the young reader to learn about the specific time and place talked about in each story, I like to suggest these for young readers who make have very little interest in non-fiction, since it sometimes help to have a favorite character added to the mix. So if for example your young reader has just read the magic tree house book about the Knights, there is a fact tracker dealing with medieval history, with a child appropriate introduction to facts like who wore what, building design, and food.

Disney Fairy Series: This series has only a few books in it, but it was one of the better written chapter books out there, so if parents or guardians out there are doing most of the reading, this will not be as tough to get through as the Candy Fairies or Captain Underpants, both series I find strongly lacking in both plot and appropriate context for children. This series is a good one for girls because if they like fairy stories, this is an excellent way to sneak in an extra lesson in with the story. Each book deals with a specific fairy and a problem they face, with the ending always being about taking responsibility for your actions.

Ivy and Bean: This is a series about two little girls and the adventures they go on. Another series that is probably more appropriate for girls than boys, but unlike the above two series, has not magic at all. There are ten books in the series at this point, and it does make sense to read them in order, however, it is not absolutely necessary since there are no drastic changes between books.

Nate the Great: This is a series better suited towards boys, but both boys and girls can read them if the parent approves. This is an introduction to mystery for young readers, each story finding Nate given a mystery to solve and clues to follow. I found this to be a nice introduction to the mystery genre, not too scary or confusing, and an excellent series if you find your young reader wanting something a little more challenging than My Weird School or Flat Stanly.

There are certainly more series out there, however, this are the few that most libraries and bookstores are going to have in stock at the moment, I found these series to be the most manageable for both parents and young readers, in addition to being series with limited problem areas, like children rebelling against authority or using made up words that case nothing but confusion for young readers. I hope you find something new and exciting for your young readers this week!