Action & Adventure Stories

If pirates, jousting and horseback chases no longer appeal to you, you're too old or too boring. Adventure stories fell out of vogue among 20th century literary types who thought serious fiction had to be boring and depressing, but to those born with fire in their bones, adventure stories are deeply serious.

Not serious like existentialism or keeping a stiff upper lip, but serious like Robin Hood—devoted to protecting the downtrodden, committed to Maid Marian, sworn to fight injustice as long as a soul is in his body, always laughing and ready for a fight or a feast.

G. K. Chesterton wrote adventure stories because they best expressed the eternal joy that supported his generous frame. For those raised on Modern Adventure Stories, joy may seem an inappropriate word for an increasingly dark genre, but the fault lies with those who think adventures are forays into evil rather than romps with Gilbert Keith.

There's nothing evil about a good adventure. There may be bad guys (there ought to be), but if the Good Guy does his job there'll be more of his exploits to talk about than theirs. Because, should he be doing his job, the Hero will be sword-fighting, being clever, wooing, chasing and laughing to the detriment of his enemies on every page.

Average people don't have the adventures Heroes in Books have—they have the adventures of Modern Men in Books. But the way through the prosaic troubles of life isn't to immerse yourself in them, it's to let the Good Guys show The Way Out of Problems, and do your best to imitate them when you meet the less dramatic, but no less real, dangers of everyday existence.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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Action & Adventure Stories
41 Items found Print
Active Filters: Realistic Fiction, Trade Paperback
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2 Paperback
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Donald McKay
1987 Printing from Grosset & Dunlap
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Al Capone Does My Shirts
by Gennifer Choldenko
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 7th-10th grade
2005 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99
Bert Breen's Barn
by Walter D. Edmonds
from Little, Brown & Company
for 6th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Brethren
by H. Rider Haggard
from Christian Liberty Press
Historical Fiction for 8th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.75 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Computer Nut
by Betsy Cromer Byars
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Dipper of Copper Creek
by Jean Craighead George, John George
from Puffin Books
for 4th-7th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Door to the North
by Elizabeth Coatsworth
from Bethlehem Books
for 6th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Dutch Color
by Doug Jones
from Canon Press
Historical Fiction for 4th-7th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$12.00
Edward Eager's Tales of Magic
by Edward M. Eager
from Harcourt
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
El Guero
by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño
from Hampton-Brown
Historical Fiction for 3rd-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Fiddler's Gun
by A. S. Peterson
1st edition from Rabbit Room Press
for 7th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.99
Flint's Island
by Leonard Wibberley
from Bethlehem Books
Nautical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$11.95
Gaudenzia, Pride of the Palio
by Marguerite Henry; illustrated by Lynd Ward
Reissue from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$8.99
Girl Named Disaster
by Nancy Farmer
First Printing Dec.2011 from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
Newbery Honor Book
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$7.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Gone Crazy in Alabama
by Rita Williams-Garcia
Reprint from Amistad Press
for 4th-7th grade
Coretta Scott King Award
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Guns of Navarone
by Alastair MacLean
Reprint from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 10th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Harriet the Spy, Double Agent
by Maya Gold (based on Louise Fitzhugh)
Reprint from Yearling
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.99
Hitch
by Jeanette Ingold
from Harcourt
Realistic Fiction for 10th-12th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Hold Fast
by Blue Balliett
Reprint from Scholastic Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$7.99
Hoot
by Carl Hiaasen
from Ember
for 4th-6th grade
2003 Newbery Honor Book
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$8.99
I Am David
by Anne Holm
from Harcourt
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99
Ice Drift
by Theodore Taylor
1st edition from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 5th-7th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Long Secret
Harriet the Spy
by Louise Fitzhugh
Reprint from Yearling
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.99
Long Walk to Water
by Linda Sue Park
from Sandpiper Books
for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99 $5.00 (3 in stock)
One Crazy Summer
by Rita Williams-Garcia
Reprint from Amistad Press
for 4th-7th grade
2011 Newbery Honor Book, National Book Award, Coretta Scott King Award, Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
P.S. Be Eleven
by Rita Williams-Garcia
Reprint from Amistad Press
for 4th-7th grade
Coretta Scott King Award
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Peter Duck
Swallows and Amazons #3
by Arthur Ransome
from David R. Godine
for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$15.95
Red Sails to Capri
by Ann Weil
from Puffin Books
for 4th-8th grade
1953 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.99
Rising Tide
by Jeff Shaara
from Ballantine Books
Historical Non-fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Swallowdale
Swallows and Amazons #2
by Arthur Ransome
from David R. Godine
for 5th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$15.95
Swallows and Amazons
by Arthur Ransome
from David R. Godine
Family stories/boating for 7th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$16.95
Swallows and Amazons
Swallows and Amazons #1
by Arthur Ransome
from Overlook Press
Family stories/boating for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Swift Rivers
by Cornelia Meigs
from Bloomsbury Publishing
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
1933 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$9.99 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Swift Rivers
by Cornelia Meigs
from Walker and Company
Historical Fiction for 3rd-7th grade
1933 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Swiss Family Robinson
by Johann Wyss
New edition from Yearling
for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$8.99
Swiss Family Robinson
by Johann Wyss, translated by Mary Godwin, introduction and notes by John Seelye
from Penguin Classics
for 5th-9th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$15.00
Swiss Family Robinson
by Johann Wyss
New edition from Signet Classics
for 5th-9th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.99
Wanderer
by Sharon Creech
First Scholastic Printing from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Whipping Boy
by Sid Fleischman
First Scholastic Printing from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-5th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Wild Trek
by Jim Kjelgaard
from Bantam Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Willoughbys
by Lois Lowry
from Yearling
for 4th-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$7.99