<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Great Books for Children &#187; Action/Adventure</title>
	<atom:link href="http://greatbooksforchildren.com/category/actionadventure/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://greatbooksforchildren.com</link>
	<description></description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:37:29 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1</generator>
		<item>
		<title>Nonstop Action/Adventure  &#8211;  Kingdom Keepers: Shell Game by Ridley Pearson</title>
		<link>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/923/nonstop-actionadventure-kingdom-keepers-shell-game-by-ridley-pearson?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=nonstop-actionadventure-kingdom-keepers-shell-game-by-ridley-pearson</link>
		<comments>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/923/nonstop-actionadventure-kingdom-keepers-shell-game-by-ridley-pearson#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:18:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Smoore</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Action/Adventure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle Grade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[YA (Young Adult)]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[adventure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Disney World]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kindgom Keepers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[middle grade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle Grade fiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ridley Pearson]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://greatbooksforchildren.com/?p=923</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Prolific author for both children and adults, Ridley Pearson has written another edge-of-your-seat, action/adventure book in his Kingdom Keepers series. Book V of the series, The Shell Game, takes the five Kingdom Keepers&#8211;Finn, Maybeck, Charlene, Willa, and Philby&#8211;on a Disney cruise infiltrated by Disney villains.  Disney World is under seige and it&#8217;s up to the Kingdom Keepers to save the day. I&#8217;m not quite finished reading the book, but true to form, Ridley Pearson takes you on a roller coaster ride of a story full of suspense and action.  If you like the Alex Rider series, then Kingdom Keepers is for you! And if you need another plug for Ridley Pearson, I&#8217;ve heard him speak several times at book signings and author events, and he always impresses with his &#8220;never give up, you can do it&#8221; advice to writers.  Sometimes authors at book signings are too tired and grumpy to even smile (even children&#8217;s authors), but not Ridley.  He and Dave Barry even took the time to sign my son&#8217;s cast.  Fantastic.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/923/nonstop-actionadventure-kingdom-keepers-shell-game-by-ridley-pearson/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Apothecary by Maile Meloy &#8211; Harry Potter with a Cold War Twist</title>
		<link>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/891/the-apothecary-by-maile-meloy-harry-potter-with-a-cold-war-twist?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-apothecary-by-maile-meloy-harry-potter-with-a-cold-war-twist</link>
		<comments>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/891/the-apothecary-by-maile-meloy-harry-potter-with-a-cold-war-twist#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 24 Mar 2012 06:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Smoore</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Action/Adventure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Friendship Stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle Grade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Science Fiction/Fantasy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Add new tag]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cold War]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fantasy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Harry Potter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle Grade fiction]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://greatbooksforchildren.com/?p=891</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Maile Meloy&#8217;s (pronounced MY-lee like Miley Cyrus) middle-grade novel The Apothecary is a bit like Harry Potter meets the pharmacy meets the Cold War.  Instead of wizards and spells you have apothecaries and magical elixirs, and instead of evil Voldemort you have governments bent on nuclear domination. The year is 1952.  The place is London.  Janie Scott has been forced to move from Los Angeles with her screenwriter parents who have been blacklisted.  Soon she meets and makes friend with the daring and adventurous Benjamin Burrows, a classmate who is practicing his espionage skills in the hopes of one-day being a spy for Great Britain.  Heaven knows, he&#8217;d never like to be like his dull apothecary father who runs a boring pharmacy that has been in the family for generations. But boring old dad isn&#8217;t just a pharmacist&#8211;he&#8217;s a chemist, a scientist with an ancient book called the Pharmacopoeia that is full of directions for elixirs, potions, and chemical reactions.   Benjamin&#8217;s father is also involved in a plot to save the world from the devastating effects of the atom bomb.  Soon Janie and Benjamin are running from Russian spies, double-agents, and truancy officers as they race to save Benjamin&#8217;s father and prevent nuclear disaster.  The Apothecary is [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/891/the-apothecary-by-maile-meloy-harry-potter-with-a-cold-war-twist/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Abby Carnelia&#8217;s One &amp; Only Magical Power</title>
		<link>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/755/abby-carnelias-one-only-magical-power?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=abby-carnelias-one-only-magical-power</link>
		<comments>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/755/abby-carnelias-one-only-magical-power#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:12:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Smoore</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Action/Adventure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Friendship Stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle Grade]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://greatbooksforchildren.com/?p=755</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Wouldn’t it be awesome to discover you had magical powers?  Like Harry Potter—one day living a completely normal, nothing special kind of life, and the next day—poof!  Off to Hogwarts. That’s exactly what happens to eleven-year old Abby Carnelia in Abby Carnelia’s One and Only Magical Power, a middle-grade novel by David Pogue (Roaring Brook Press, 2010).  It’s another regular old evening helping mom make chef salad for dinner. Abby happens to pull her earlobes at the exact second she looks at a hard-boiled egg, and—poof!  She discovers she has a magical power. What is it?  Super-strength?  Super-speed?  Invisibility?  Not eggs-actly.  Abby Carnelia’s one and only magical power is . . . she can make an egg spin.  Yep, that’s it. That’s her magical power.  She can make an egg spin. Only if it’s hard-boiled.  Only if she’s looking at it.  Only if she’s tugging on her earlobes at the same time.  Huh?!  What kind of a super power is that?   Ok, so Abby thinks it’s pretty weird too.  “Confused and just a little bit freaked out,” Abby says nothing to her family.  They think she’s learned some really cool magic trick, and Abby’s not about to let them in on [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/755/abby-carnelias-one-only-magical-power/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Soaring with Violet the Pilot</title>
		<link>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/709/soaring-with-violet-the-pilot?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=soaring-with-violet-the-pilot</link>
		<comments>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/709/soaring-with-violet-the-pilot#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:15:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Smoore</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Action/Adventure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Picture Books]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://greatbooksforchildren.com/?p=709</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What kid hasn’t taken a pile of junk (aka treasures), combined it with a heavy dose of imagination, and then spent untold hours making something wondrous?  Violet Van Winkle does just that in Violet the Pilot.  Written and illustrated by Steve Breen (Dial 2008), this picture book captures the imaginative spirit that all kids seem to possess.  While other girls her age play with dolls and tea sets, Violet plays “with monkey wrenches and needle-nose pliers.&#8221;  Violet also has the amazing good fortune of living next to a junkyard (how cool is that?), and thus has access to all kinds of amazing stuff (can you believe someone threw this away?)  By the time she’s eight, Violet is creating &#8220;elaborate&#8221; flying machines.  Machines like the Bicycopter (think bicycle-powered helicopter), the Pogo Plane, and the Wing-a-ma-jig.  Naturally, kids at school don’t understand Violet, and they tease her.  Perhaps if Violet wins the airshow, she can win some friends too . . .  But what if Violet can&#8217;t make it to the airshow at all? This cliffhanger and others such as “What exactly is a Tub-bubbler?” are explored in Violet the Pilot.  Let your imagination soar with this fun picture book that encourages kids to dream big.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/709/soaring-with-violet-the-pilot/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Nancy Drew for the Younger Set: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew</title>
		<link>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/697/nancy-drew-for-the-younger-set-nancy-drew-and-the-clue-crew?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=nancy-drew-for-the-younger-set-nancy-drew-and-the-clue-crew</link>
		<comments>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/697/nancy-drew-for-the-younger-set-nancy-drew-and-the-clue-crew#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 May 2010 01:10:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Smoore</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Action/Adventure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Friendship Stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[School Stories]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://greatbooksforchildren.com/?p=697</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As a girl, I read every Nancy Drew mystery written.  A few years later, I graduated to Agatha Christie.  Recently I ran across the book Nancy Drew and Clue Crew #1:  Sleepover Sleuths (Simon and Schuster, 2006).  I was surprised to see the author as Carolyn Keene since the original Carolyn Keene (a pseudonym for Mildred Wert Benson) died in 2002.   A google search led me to this Fantastic Fiction link by a UK bookstore that shows just how many Nancy Drew spin-offs there are.  I don&#8217;t know if their list is exhaustive, but it blew me away.  Graphic novels, early chapter books, teen romances, Nancy teaming up with the Hardy Boys&#8211;Nancy really gets around.  According to the BBC, &#8220;When [the author] attended the first Nancy Drew convention in 1993, she was reported to have told a friend: &#8216;I&#8217;m so sick of Nancy Drew I could vomit.&#8217;&#8221;  After seeing all the Nancy books on the Fantastic Fiction website, I can see why. Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew is a series for the same set that reads the A to Z Mystery or Magic Tree House series.  In Book #1, Sleepover Sleuths, eight-year old Nancy and her two chums solve the mystery of &#8220;Who took Deirdre&#8217;s [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/697/nancy-drew-for-the-younger-set-nancy-drew-and-the-clue-crew/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>G.P. Taylor&#8217;s Graphic Novel:   The Doppleganger Chronicles</title>
		<link>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/680/g-p-taylors-graphic-novel-the-doppleganger-chronicles?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=g-p-taylors-graphic-novel-the-doppleganger-chronicles</link>
		<comments>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/680/g-p-taylors-graphic-novel-the-doppleganger-chronicles#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Apr 2010 14:57:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Smoore</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Action/Adventure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Friendship Stories]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://greatbooksforchildren.com/?p=680</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ll be honest.  I got this book exclusively based on the teaser quotes on the back cover:  &#8220;The new C.S. Lewis&#8221; and &#8220;Hotter than Potter.&#8221;  Wow! I thought.  The first book in The Doppleganger Chronicles, The First Escape (Tyndale Press, 2008) introduces us to the Dopple twins, Saskia and Sadie, who have been abandoned at Isambard Dunstan&#8217;s School for Wayward Children.  Although their mother said she would return, the twins are now fourteen and she hasn&#8217;t returned.  Still they have each other to rely on.  That is, until the wealthy writer Muzz Elliott adopts Saskia . . . but not Sadie.   As Sadie joins forces with Erik Morissey Ganger (janitor and former orphan himself) in a scheme to reunite with her sister, twin Saskie unwittingly becomes embroiled in a dangerous conspiracy plot.  Soon all three are running for their lives.  The tone of this book has a retro-Victorian feel akin to Lemony Snicket&#8217;s A Series of Unfortunate Events.  However, this book is quite different in that it is illustrated like a graphic novel with Asian-inspired manga-style art.  Tyndale Press  calls these books &#8220;illustra-novellas&#8211;a new kind of book designed to enhance the reading experience for a visually oriented generation of kids, especially reluctant readers.&#8221;  [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/680/g-p-taylors-graphic-novel-the-doppleganger-chronicles/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Steampunk Fiction for Middle Schoolers:  Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld</title>
		<link>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/660/steampunk-fiction-for-middle-schoolers-leviathan-by-scott-westerfeld?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=steampunk-fiction-for-middle-schoolers-leviathan-by-scott-westerfeld</link>
		<comments>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/660/steampunk-fiction-for-middle-schoolers-leviathan-by-scott-westerfeld#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Apr 2010 01:09:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Smoore</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Action/Adventure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Historical Fiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Science Fiction/Fantasy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://greatbooksforchildren.com/?p=660</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Special thanks to my son, co-writer of this blog entry. Steampunk fiction is a sub-genre of sci-fi &#8220;set in an era or world where steam power is widely used&#8221; (wikipedia).  Think 19th century Victorian England with a fantasy/sci-fi twist.  Scott Westerfeld&#8217;s steampunk novel Leviathan  (Simon &#38; Schuster, 2009) is set during the beginning of World War I, and follows many of the historical events of World War I.  A big part of what makes this novel so interesting is that it mirrors familiar events yet turns them on their head with imaginative techno-creativity.  Young Prince Aleks, son of Archduke Ferdinand, must flee for his life after his parents are assassinated.   He makes his escape to Switzerland in a steam-powered &#8220;Stormwalker,&#8221; a vehicle similar to a Star War&#8217;s AT-ST:                                                                    Deryn, the female protagonist, lives in England, a &#8220;Darwinist Power&#8221; which uses genetically altered animals to double as weapons.  For example, they have genetically altered whales so they can be used as giant airships&#8211;hence the name Leviathan.  Deryn wants to join the Air Corps which is barred to females so he disguises herself as a boy, gets accepted, and proves to be a top notch flyer.  Deryn is soon entrusted with a secret mission, which grinds to [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/660/steampunk-fiction-for-middle-schoolers-leviathan-by-scott-westerfeld/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Companion to Life as We Knew It:  the dead &amp; the gone</title>
		<link>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/644/companion-to-life-as-we-knew-it-the-dead-the-gone?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=companion-to-life-as-we-knew-it-the-dead-the-gone</link>
		<comments>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/644/companion-to-life-as-we-knew-it-the-dead-the-gone#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:34:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Smoore</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Action/Adventure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[YA (Young Adult)]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://greatbooksforchildren.com/?p=644</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Susan Beth Pfeffer&#8217;s the dead &#38; the gone (Harcourt 2008) is a companion story to her previous YA novel Life as We Knew (Harcourt 2006).  The novel takes the same cataclysmic disaster, but this time tells the story from the perspective of Alex Morales, a seventeen-year-old boy living in New York City. When a meteor hits the moon and pushes it closer to the Earth, the change in gravitational pull causes massive worldwide destruction.  Tides rise, magma surfaces, tectonic plates shift, and soon the earth is enveloped by natural is &#8211;tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes.  Volcanic ash darkens the sky, temperatures plummet, crops fail.  There are evacuations, power outages, food and fuel shortages, deadly epidemics.  Lines of communication shut down&#8211;no radio, internet, cell phones, tv.   Thousands of people are dead, and most of Alex&#8217;s family are among &#8220;the gone,&#8221; as Alex refers to them.  These include Alex&#8217;s older brother Carlos who is deployed with the Marines, Alex&#8217;s aunt and uncle who evacuate soon after the disaster, Alex&#8217;s mother who has never returned home from her shift at the hospital, and Alex&#8217;s dad who has never returned from a family funeral in Puerto Rico.  They are &#8220;the gone&#8221;&#8211;never confirmed dead but nonetheless absent.  Just like Alex&#8217;s aunt and uncle who evacuate NYC soon [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/644/companion-to-life-as-we-knew-it-the-dead-the-gone/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Twins and Time Travel:  The Magic Half by Annie Barrows</title>
		<link>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/618/twins-and-time-travel-the-magic-half-by-annie-barrows?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=twins-and-time-travel-the-magic-half-by-annie-barrows</link>
		<comments>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/618/twins-and-time-travel-the-magic-half-by-annie-barrows#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:41:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Smoore</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Action/Adventure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Friendship Stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Science Fiction/Fantasy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://greatbooksforchildren.com/?p=618</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When you&#8217;re a sister sandwiched between two sets of twins, you pretty much get ignored.  It&#8217;s the twins everyone finds interesting, they&#8217;re the novelty&#8211;you&#8217;re just an extra.  At least that&#8217;s how Miri feels in The Magic Half (Bloomsbury, 2008).  This middle grade novel by Annie Barrows weaves a story of family and friendship with a unique time travel twist (and a surprise ending to boot).   When Miri&#8217;s family moves to a new house, Miri has no one to hang out with.  Older brothers Ray and Robbie, and younger sisters Nell and Nora, all have built-in friends, their twin.  Mom and dad are swamped with work and unpacking.  So Miri, a girl with &#8221;a dazzling imaginative capacity&#8221;  is on her own.    Soon Miri finds herself in trouble.  She hits her brother with a shovel and gets sent to her room.  Miri&#8217;s old, quirky bedroom with its ugly orange and purple wallpaper was once part of the attic.  Miri explores the room and discovers a small piece of pinkish glass. As Miri looks through the glass, the room seems &#8220;to bend and collapse in the middle, as though the center of the house were being sucked into a whirlpool.&#8221;  Miri has been transported to 1935.  She&#8217;s in the same bedroom, but it looks completely [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/618/twins-and-time-travel-the-magic-half-by-annie-barrows/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>National Treasure Goes to Rome: Ring of Fire by P.D. Baccalario</title>
		<link>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/550/national-treasure-goes-to-rome-ring-of-fire-by-p-d-baccalario?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=national-treasure-goes-to-rome-ring-of-fire-by-p-d-baccalario</link>
		<comments>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/550/national-treasure-goes-to-rome-ring-of-fire-by-p-d-baccalario#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 09 Jan 2010 03:31:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Smoore</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Action/Adventure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[YA (Young Adult)]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://greatbooksforchildren.com/?p=550</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Seems like everyone likes a treasure hunt.  Add to that a web of historical artifacts, ancient symbols, and mythic beliefs, and you&#8217;ve got such stuff as The DaVinci Code and National Treasure are made of (to paraphrase Shakespeare).  You&#8217;ve also got the stuff of the YA Novel Ring of Fire: Century Quartet #1by Pierdomenico Baccalario and translated by Leah D. Janeczko (Random House, 2006) has mystery, action, and seemingly endless clues that make you think everything is an ingeniously interconnected web of cosmic importance.   The novel takes place on Rome on December 29 as four teenagers from across the globe&#8211;all born on February 29&#8211;meet by chance at the hotel Domus Quintilia.  A mysterious blackout leads them outside, a stranger fleeing for his life thrusts a briefcase into their hands, and they find themselves searching a trail of ancient clues and stalked by a deadly international assassin.   That&#8217;s all I&#8217;m giving away.  But be prepared:  the book ends on a cliff-hanger.  You won&#8217;t be satisified at the end of this book because you&#8217;ll be wishing for the next one.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://greatbooksforchildren.com/550/national-treasure-goes-to-rome-ring-of-fire-by-p-d-baccalario/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

