CAR |
Stealing Freedom
(age 10+) by Elisa Carbone bigotry ... adventure ... voyages/journeys ... historical Publisher comments: The moment Ann Maria Weems was born, her freedom was stolen from her. Like her family and the other slaves on the farm, Ann works from sunup to sundown and obeys the orders of her master. Then one day, Ann's family -- the only joy she knows -- is gone. Just 12 years old, Ann is overcome by grief, struggling to get through each day. And her only hope of stealing back her freedom and finding her family lies in a perilous journey: the Underground Railroad. |
ALE |
The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian; Grand Extravaganza, Including a Performance by the Entire Cast of the Gallimaufry-Theatricus
(age 10+) by Lloyd Alexander adventure ... voyages/journeys ... humor ... the arts When he loses his place as fourth fiddler in a noble household, Sebastian sets out into the world to seek his fortune. |
ALE |
The Iron Ring
(age 10+) by Lloyd Alexander action ... voyages/journeys ... humor ... magic ... adventure ... fantasy Driven by his sense of "dharma," or honor, young King Tamar sets off on a perilous journey, with a significance greater than he can imagine, during which he meets talking animals, villainous and noble kings, demons, and the love of his life. |
AYR |
Stealing South: a Story of the Underground Railroad
(age 10+) by Katherine Ayres historical ... adventure ... voyages/journeys Will Spencer's family has always helped slaves passing through on the Underground Railroad. Now, as Will prepares to leave town and seek his fortune as a peddler, he promises a runaway slave that he will steal his older brother out of the South ... an adventure that will take him into the heart of slavery's evil. |
COO |
Victory
(age 10+) by Susan Cooper voyages/journeys ... adventure ... historical Publisher comments: Sam Robbins is a farm boy, kidnapped to serve on HMS Victory, the ship on which Lord Nelson will die a hero's death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Molly Jennings is a twenty-first-century English girl transplanted to the United States by her stepfather's job, who's fighting her own battle against loss and loneliness. Two lives that couldn't be more different, two hundred years apart, are linked by a tiny scrap of fraying cloth, tucked into an old book. It draws Molly into Sam's world, to a moment in time that changed history, a frightening shared moment that holds the key to secrets from the past and hope for the future. |
HAY |
The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme (age 10+) by Elizabeth Haydon voyages/journeys ... adventure ... fantasy Publisher comments: Charles Magnus Ven Polypheme, known as Ven, is the youngest son of a long line of famous shipwrights. He dreams not of building ships, but of sailing them to far-off lands where magic thrives. Ven gets his chance when he is chosen to direct the Inspection of his family’s latest ship, and sets sail on the journey of a lifetime. Attacked by fire pirates, lost at sea and near death, Ven is rescued by a passing ship on its way to the Island of Serendair. Thankful to be alive, little does Ven know that the pirate attack, and his subsequent rescue, may not have been an accident. Shadowy figures are hunting for the famed Floating Island, the only source of the mystical Water of Life. They think Ven can lead them to this treasure and will stop at nothing to get it, even murder. title: The Floating Island: the Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme title: The Thief Queen's Daughter title: The Dragon's Lair |
CHR |
A Dusk of Demons
(age 10+) by John Christopher adventure ... action ... voyages/journeys ... science fiction Ben, like many others, has heard the stories of the Demons--those being summoned by the Dark One. But they exist only in his nightmares until his father, the Master, dies mysteriously and Ben is told the Demons are responsible. Then the Demons set fire to Ben's home on Old Isle and he and his stepsister must flee their homeland to find their family. Along the way, they face imprisonment, gypies, and terrified countrymen who are seeking a sacrifice to save themselves from the Dark One. |
TOL |
The Lord of the Rings Series (age 10+) by J. R. R. Tolkien voyages/journeys ... fantasy ... adventure Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power except one ... the One Ring that rules them all ... which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. Young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task when Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose. title: The Fellowship of the Ring, Being the First Part of the Lord of the Rings title: The Two Towers, Being the Second Part of the Lord of the Rings title: The Return of the King, Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings |
LAT |
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
(age 10+) by Jean Lee Latham brilliant protagonist ... voyages/journeys ... math/science/technology ... historical Readers today are still fascinated by "Nat," an eighteenth-century nautical wonder and mathematical wizard. Nathaniel Bowditch grew up in a sailor's world ... Salem in the early days, when tall-masted ships from foreign ports crowded the wharves. But Nat didn't promise to have the makings of a sailor; he was too physically small. Nat may have been slight of build, but no one guessed that he had the persistence and determination to master sea navigation in the days when men sailed only by "log, lead, and lookout." Nat's long hours of study and observation, collected in his famous work, The American Practical Navigator (also known as the "Sailors' Bible"), stunned the sailing community and made him a New England hero. |
COO |
Seaward
(age 10+) by Susan Cooper folklore ... fantasy ... voyages/journeys ... survival His name is West. Her name is Cally. They speak different languages and come from different countries thousands of miles apart, but they do not know that. What they do know are the tragedies that took their parents, then wrenched the two of them out of reality, into a strange and perilous world through which they must travel together, knowing only that they must reach the sea. Together West and Cally embark upon a strange and sometimes terrifying quest, learning to survive and to love and, at last, the real secret of their journey. |
TEM |
Tonight, By Sea: a Novel
(age 10+) by Frances Temple survival ... voyages/journeys As governmental brutality and poverty become unbearable, Paulie joins with others in her small Haitian village to help her uncle secretly build a boat they will use to try to escape to the United States. |
TEM |
Grab Hands and Run
(age 10+) by Frances Temple survival ... voyages/journeys After his father disappears, twelve-year-old Felipe, his mother, and his younger sister set out on a difficult and dangerous journey, trying to make their way from their home in El Salvador to Canada. |
STE |
Treasure Island
(age 10+) by Robert Louis Stevenson voyages/journeys ... adventure While going through the possessions of a deceased guest who owed them money, the mistress of the inn and her son find a treasure map that leads them to a pirate's fortune. |
HEN |
Wish Me Luck
(age 10+) by James Heneghan war ... voyages/journeys ... historical ... adventure ... survival While on an ocean voyage to Canada during World War II, to escape the air raids in his Liverpool home, twelve-year-old Jaimie Monaghan faces another kind of life-threatening situation. |
FLE |
Shadow Spinner
(age 10+) by Susan Fletcher folklore ... adventure ... voyages/journeys ... authorship Every night, Shahrazad begins a story. And every morning, the Sultan lets her live another day, providing the story is interesting enough to capture his attention. After almost one thousand nights, Shahrazad is running out of tales. And that is how Marjan's story begins.... It falls to Marjan to help Shahrazad find new stories, ones the Sultan has never heard before. To do that, the girl is forced to undertake a dangerous and forbidden mission: sneak from the harem and travel the city, pulling tales from strangers and bringing them back to Shahrazad. But as she searches the city, a wonderful thing happens. From a quiet spinner of tales, Marjan suddenly becomes the center of a more surprising story than she ever could have imagined. |
HES |
Stowaway
(age 10+) by Karen Hesse adventure ... voyages/journeys ... historical ... letters/journal It is known that in the summer of 1768, Captain James Cook sailed from England on H.M.S Endeavour, beginning a three-year voyage around the world on a secret mission to discover an unknown continent at the bottom of the globe. What is less known is that a boy by the name of Nicholas Young was a stowaway on that ship. Newbery winner Karen Hesse re-creates Cook's momentous voyage through the eyes of this remarkable boy, creating a fictional journal filled with fierce hurricanes, warring natives, and disease, as Nick discovers new lands, incredible creatures, and lifelong friends. |
ALE |
The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen
(age 10+) by Lloyd Alexander voyages/journeys ... fantasy ... adventure When Prince Jen volunteers to search for the legendary court of T'ien-kuo, a mysterious old man chooses six gifts for him to bear in homage: a saddle, a sword, a paint box, a bowl, a kite, and a flute. Puzzled by the humbleness of the gifts but full of high spirits and pride, Jen sets off ... but stumbles almost immediately into a series of misfortunes. Only with the help of his faithful servant Mafoo and valiant flute-girl Voyaging moon, and only after a breathtakingly exciting string of adventures, can Jen discover the real meaning of the gifts and face his true destiny. |
PAR |
A Single Shard
(age 10+) by Linda Sue Park the arts ... voyages/journeys ... historical ... enterprise Tree-ear is an orphan boy in a 12th-century Korean potters' village. For a long time he is content living with Crane-man under a bridge barely surviving on scraps of food. All that changes when he sees master potter Min making his beautiful pottery. Tree-ear sneaks back to Min's workplace and dreams of creating his own pots someday. When he accidentally breaks a pot, he must work for the master to pay for the damage. Though the work is long and hard, Tree-ear is eager to learn. Then he is sent to the King's Court to show the master's pottery. Little does Tree-ear know that this difficult and dangerous journey will change his life forever. |
TAY |
The Cay
(age 10+) by Theodore Taylor voyages/journeys ... friendship ... bigotry ... adventure ... historical When the freighter on which they are traveling is torpedoed by a German submarine during World War II, an adolescent white boy, blinded by a blow on the head, and an old black man are stranded on a tiny Caribbean island where the boy acquires a new kind of vision, courage, and love from his old companion. sequel: Timothy of the Cay |
HUG |
Jack Black and the Ship of Thieves
(age 10+) by Carol Hughes voyages/journeys ... fantasy ... adventure Jack Black is thrilled when his father, the captain of the largest airship in the world, invites him on the ship's maiden voyage. Once aloft, Jack overhears a plot to sabotage the ship. But before he can tell his father, Jack falls, plummeting through the air to be caught in the sails of a pirate ship. Now Jack must try to convince a crew of thieves to rescue his father. |
CRE |
Walk Two Moons
(age 10+) by Sharon Creech illness/loss ... identity ... growing up ... friendship ... voyages/journeys ... family As Salamanca travels cross-country with her eccentric grandparents, she tells the story of Phoebe Winterbottom, who received mysterious messages, who met a ``potential lunatic,'' and whose mother disappeared--just like Sal's. |
AVI |
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
(age 10+) by Avi adventure ... historical ... voyages/journeys Thirteen-year-old Charlotte Doyle, the only passenger aboard a seedy ship on a transatlantic voyage from England to America in 1832, becomes caught up in a feud between the murderous captain and his mutinous crew. |