Ready for an adventure that’s the darling of children’s book world? Well, an adventure with animals. A neighbor tells her: “Don’t go through the door.” Of course, Coraline goes through the door — only to find a world that she could never have imagined. Luckily, he’s saved from certain death by Portuguese fishermen. When Hazel, Fiver, and company escape their warren and struggle their way to Watership Down in this classic book of valor, you’ll find yourself rooting hard for this brave, resourceful group of hoppy adventurers. Inspired by the launch of Apollo 17, Tom Wolfe wrote this book to explore the courage that propels an astronaut to take to the air. One island. Acclaimed as one of the greatest books of the sea that’s ever been written, Moby-Dick relates the timeless story of a voyage to hunt and kill the great white whale that rules the ocean and haunts cruel captain Ahab’s mind. Rabbits? Terabithia is the imaginary sanctuary of their minds, but the consequences of building it might be more tragic than they anticipated in this children’s book. You’ll find yourself coming for the adventure, but staying for the vindication. That single sentence launched this beloved children’s story about one unwilling hobbit who is dragged there (and back again) onto an adventure to the Misty Mountains. Set against the backdrop of the Indian independence movement, this is a formative text that deals not only with adventure but also with postcolonial discourse. In the 1990s, Bryson takes up the challenge of hiking the entire Appalachian Trail with his friend Stephen Katz. Another adventure story by Jules Vernes, The Mysterious Island is actually a crossover sequel to Verne’s famous Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and In Search of the Castaways. One thing’s for certain: it’s a long way back to the surface. But life can get hard for china rabbits, as Edward falls into the sea and spends 297 days on the bottom of the ocean. But there’s a twist in this fun travelogue: he’s in search of the perfect meal. But what a thrilling adventure it is, as we follow the life of a young stowaway on a whaling ship who encounters shipwreck, cannibalism, and the South Pole along the way. Sometimes the best adventures are the ones that originate from our heads — and these fantasy adventure novels certainly bring us worlds that we couldn’t have begun to imagine for ourselves. In 1983, a group of three friends embark on an expedition to the center of Borneo. Young Tristan Thorn grows up in the village of Wall, not once stepping foot into the magical land of Faerie that lies just beyond the border. Regarded by many as one of the most influential series in fantasy, Earthsea is also an adventure that takes readers across the mountains and plains of — where else? Another shining adventure story that Jules Verne (him again!) This book won the 1987 Newberry Award and has since gone on to spawn four sequels. If you only have 30 minutes on hand, the below short stories will be able to whet your appetite. Limited resources. We have 100 of the best adventure books for you in this post, ranging from rollicking journeys over land to tales of high-stakes survival on the sea. The world is 71% sea, which might explain why so many adventure novels take place on these thrashing, unknown waters. The 1974 book that inspired Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster movie — which then made beach attendance drop dramatically in 1975. From boa constrictors to alligators, there’s danger lurking behind every tree in these classics. Adela Quested and Mrs. Moore travel to India in the 1920s, where Adela is to be engaged to Ronny Moore in Chandrapore. Set in Canada during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, this story recounts the adventures of a dog named Buck, who must survive other dogs, nature, and man’s cruelty, to answer the call of the wild. There’s more to the jungle than just The Jungle Book. Is there an adventure that’s more iconic than that of King Arthur and his Round Table? But what happens when hunters from neighboring comets — and humans on starships — appear on the scene? In this 2006 novel by Cormac McCarthy, an unnamed father and his son walk through a bleak and desolate post-apocalyptic landscape. Luckily, we’ve made the act of finding action easy for you! Rudyard Kipling published this book in 1894 as a collection of stories about a “man-cub” Mowgli who grows up with wolves in the forest. Now he must survive — with nothing but a hatchet. The £20,000 wager helps, of course — but so does the adventure that lies ahead of them. Camelot was the birthplace for many of the most famous adventures, from Gawain and the Green Knight to the eternal hunt for the Holy Grail. Written with wit and sincerity, writer Redmond O’Hanlon brings the jungles and wilds of Borneo alive in this treasure of a book. But their plans reach a snag when they encounter their greatest foe: the Pacific Northwest coast. Sir Thomas Malory’s rendition of Camelot is perhaps the best compilation of this beloved tale, from the birth of Arthur to his ultimate death in Avalon. If you’re bored of the traditional historical adventures, we have an answer for you: vampires. Published in 1938, The Road to Oxiana is one of the premiere examples of travel writing. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C. O’Brien The classic story of a widowed mouse, Mrs. Frisby is desperate to keep her children safe from Mr. Fitzgibbons’ plow. Here are some of the most classic novels that render King Arthur’s adventures faithfully. In it, a kidnapped boy grows up as the son of a Swedish chieftain before setting out on a long adventure to find promised treasure. You might not want to miss out on Robert Byron’s account of his ten-month travels in the Middle East, credited by writer Paul Fussell as being to poetry what Ulysses was to the novel. Douglas Mawson faced disease, snow, Herculean winds, the death of his dogs and only companions, starvation, and thirst — and still somehow survived while managing to map nearly 1,500 miles of the Antarctic coastline. In the far future, a small community resides in space and harvests frozen air to make a living. But, of course, it’s the journey and not the destination that counts. That is, until he almost drowns in the Atlantic Sea. The entire party to the Pole died on the journey. Read it if you like your adventure stories with a dose of family values and moral lessons. An adventure novel that functions in the guise of spy fiction, The Riddle of the Sands is a fantastic example of how a regular yachting trip might quickly become a madcap investigation of the German’s plan to invade Britain. But, as a sidenote, it’s good to mention that this might perhaps be the first English work of realistic fiction ever written. This is the dramatic story of the expedition. Featuring Bollywood, the Mumbai underworld, and trips to Afghanistan, this book is so realistically well-drawn that many questioned whether or not it was an autobiography when it was first published. A romantic adventure against the backdrop of the French Revolution. Though Redwall is the first book that Brian Jacques published in the celebrated Redwall series Martin the Warrior is one of the first books chronologically — and it’s one of the more adventurous installments overall. Trust real people, not robots, to give you book recommendations. Features a murder trial, cruel captains, and a brave young girl who has to use all of her wits and resources if she wants to survive. With the winter winds howling and the fire crackling, there’s no better season to just curl up and read the day away. When Earth is destroyed, only one man survives: Arthur Dent. You might think the title is an exaggeration, but let us be the first to assure you it’s not. Meet scorpions, nomadic tribes, and golden sands in the below books that feature desert adventures. But the history of the Roman Empire, and the Republic it supplanted, is more than just a toga-clad, If there’s one exciting thing about the changing seasons — besides the dwindling population of mosquitoes — it’s the approach of Halloween. Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn might be a cutting satire of society and racism, but at its heart, it is just that: a young boy’s adventure along the Mississippi River. An autobiographical work, Desert Solitaire is American writer Edward Abbey’s account of his experiences in the southwestern United States — a region that remains largely swathed in desert. His famous short story, “To Build a Fire,” deals with one man’s struggle against the arctic winter in the Yukon Territory. That’s because of all the land they can cover with one stride — and you get an even better view if you’re sitting on their shoulders as they do so,. But is Pi telling the whole truth? In the year 2035, a surprise dust storm traps botanist Mark Watney alone on the planet of Mars. You’ve probably never met a hero like Despereaux Tilling: a young but noble mouse. 18 Classic Adventure Books for Kids For toddlers and teens and everyone in between, these stories will ignite a sense of adventure You want an armchair adventure … Anthony Bourdain’s exuberant, witty voice is as alive as ever in this bestselling book. Set on the fictional planet of Baldur, it’s about a playboy named Simon Kress who doubles as an exotic animal collector and one day comes across a terrarium filled with creatures called sandkings… and what happens next becomes the kind of dark adventure that only GRRM can write. Martin wrote this fantastically dark novelette that won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Locus Award in 1980. In this classic by Dumas, a young man named d’Artagnan joins the Musketeers of the Guard. Immortalized by the Disney adaptation, Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs launched the legend of an orphaned boy who is adopted by apes in the African jungle. Follow Sophie and the BFG as they go into a world of frobscottles and snozzcumbers to battle the Fleshlumpeater. Then you can dive into the story to follow Clay Jannon’s sojourn as a worker for Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore — which is not, as you might expect, all that it may seem. If one standalone book isn’t enough to sustain your thirst for adventure, check out these acclaimed adventure series. Humorist Jonathan Swift chronicles the travels of Lemuel Gulliver in this satirical masterpiece of 1726. — the Trans-Siberian Railway. But then he must journey across the land to build an army that will be able to defeat Badrang once and for all. When fifth grader Jesse Aarons befriends his new neighbor, Leslie Burke, a beautiful friendship — and kingdom — is born. An expedition to an Amazon basin in South America to find prehistoric dinosaurs goes awry in this 1912 novel by Sir Arthur Doyle. The US book cover of Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore glows in the dark.