Middle grade action and adventure books are so exciting to read. If you enjoy fast-paced stories with heart-stopping action on every page, these are the books for you. I’ve compiled 30 of the top tween adventure books, including some with a touch of mystery and sci-fi. What I’ve left out of this list are fantasy and survival novels. I’m currently working on a list of survival middle grade books which will be up next month! But as you know, fantasy isn’t my strong suit.
In the meantime, enjoy this list. if you want a printable version, find out how you can access one at the bottom of this post.
You are reading: Action adventure books for middle school
Best Middle Grade Action and Adventure Books
Here are 30 of the best middle grade action-adventure books:
the eye of ra
Published: February 27, 2021
Exploring a mysterious cave in the mountains behind their house, John and his sister Sarah are surprised to discover that they have traveled back in time to ancient Egypt.
Now they must work together to find their way home from an ancient civilization of golden desert sand and a towering new pyramid, with no parents to save them. adventures abound: cobras, scorpions, a grave robber, and more! the two boys have to trust each other, make friends who can help, and survive whatever challenges come their way. . . or be stuck in ancient egypt forever.
spies of the city
Published: March 10, 2020
sara martinez is a hacker. She recently broke into the New York City foster care system to expose her foster parents as cheats and lawbreakers. Instead of being hailed as a hero, however, Sara faces years in a juvenile detention center and is banned from using computers for the same amount of time. enter mother, a british spy who not only frees sara from jail, but also offers her a chance to make a home for herself within a secret mi6 agency.
Operating from a base in Scotland, the town’s spies are five children from various parts of the world. when they’re not attending the local boarding school, they’re honing their unique skills like sleight of hand, breaking and entering, observation, and explosives. all of this allows them to go places in the espionage world where adults can’t.
Before she knows what she’s doing, Sara heads to Paris for an international youth summit, hacks into a rival school’s computer to prevent them from winning a million euros, hangs ten meters from the side of a building and attempt to stop a villain… all while navigating the complex dynamics of her new team.
nobody said saving the world was easy…
related: 31 middle grade books set in new york city
tristan strong blasts a hole in the sky
Published: October 15, 2019
Seventh grader Tristan Strong has been feeling anything but strong since he couldn’t save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. all that remains of eddie is the diary in which his friend wrote stories. tristan fears the month he will spend on his grandparents’ farm in alabama, where he will be sent to heal from the tragedy. But on his first night there, a gooey creature shows up in his room and steals Eddie’s notebook. Tristan chases after him (is he a doll?) and a tug-of-war ensues between them under a bottle tree. In a last-ditch attempt to wrest the diary from the creature, Tristan knocks into the tree and accidentally opens a chasm in the middle step, a volatile place with a sea of flames, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this place. world. Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that has left African-American folk heroes John Henry and Brer Rabbit exhausted. To return home, Tristan and these new allies must lure the god Anansi, the weaver, out of hiding and seal the hole in the sky. but bartering with cheater anansi always comes at a price.
Can Tristan save this world before he loses more of the things he loves?
assistant detective
Published: April 7, 2015
Eleven-year-old nell warne arrives at her aunt’s doorstep carrying a heavy sack of sorrow. if ella kate’s aunt rejects her, she is the miserable home for the homeless.
Luckily, Canny Nell becomes indispensable to Aunt Kate…and not just helping out around the house. Because Kate Warne is the first female detective employed by the legendary Pinkerton Detective Agency. And Nell has a knack for listening carefully and acting boldly that made the Civil War-era Pinkerton detectives famous. With major events that changed the nation simmering in the background, Nell uses skills new and old to uncover truths about her past and solve mysteries in the present.
boots – kate hannigan
Published: August 3, 2021
When Infinity Trinity learns of a Nazi espionage plot that could bring danger to Chicago, Mae knows they must check on her beloved aunts, daredevil WWII pilots Willa Brown and Janet Harmon.
mae’s granny crumpler isn’t exactly thrilled that her granddaughter and her friends are trying to get involved in something so dangerous, especially when she’s already worried about not hearing from mae’s father, who is serving in europe and fighting for freedom occasionally the battlefield.
But when Aunt Willa and Aunt Janet go missing, Mae knows the sinister espionage plan gets personal. They discover that the evil Metal Falcon has captured his aunts, and he is determined to thwart the Infinite Trinity’s final quest to bring Zenobia and all the missing superheroes back to safety.
With the help of female air force service pilots (wasps) and room twelve, mae, josie and akiko must use all their powers and intelligence to crack codes in a challenge that will take them around a circuit of soaring from chicago to sweetwater, texas, to a final showdown in paris. Will the trinity of infinity be able to soar to new heights and complete the greatest mission of all?
holes
Published: June 26, 2018
Stanley Yelnats’ family has a history of bad luck, so he’s not too surprised when a miscarriage of justice lands him in a juvenile detention center for boys, Camp Green Lake. but there is no lake—it has been dry for over a hundred years—and it is hardly a camp: as a punishment the boys must dig a hole every day, five feet deep, five feet wide, in the hard earth of the earth. dry. – lake bed. the warden claims that this mindless work builds character, but that’s a lie. Stanley must try to unearth the truth.
In this captivating and wonderfully inventive novel that is both serious and funny, Louis Sachar weaves a narrative puzzle that tangles and unravels, until it becomes clear that the hand of fate has been at work in the lives of the characters and their ancestors–for generations. is a darkly humorous story about crime, punishment, and redemption.
master minds
Published: February 3, 2015
eli frieden has never left serenity, new mexico… why would she ever want to? Then one day he bikes to the edge of the city limits and something so crazy and unexpected happens that it changes everything.
Eli convinces his friends to help him investigate further, and it soon becomes clear that nothing is what it seems in Serenity. Clues pile up to reveal a shocking discovery, connecting your ideal crime-free community with some of the greatest criminal masterminds ever known.
Children realize they can’t trust anyone, least of all their own parents.
last door of the emperor
Published: May 4, 2021
From Kwame Mbalia and Prince Joel David Makonnen comes an Afro-Futuristic adventure about a mythical Ethiopian empire. sci-fi and fantasy collide in this epic journey to the stars.
yared heywat lives an isolated life in addis prime, a poor city with broken technology, many rules and not much to do. His restless uncle Moti and the bionic lioness Besa are his only family…and his only friends.
Often in trouble for his thrill-seeking antics and clever mouth, those same qualities make Yared a star player in the underground augmented reality game, Kaleb’s Obelisk Quest. But when a game rule change prompts Yared to log in with his real name, a city-shaking attack is unleashed. In the chaos, Uncle Moti disappears.
Suddenly, all the stories yared’s uncle told him as a child come to life, about kingdoms in the sky and monsters rampaging through cities. and somehow yared is at the center of them.
Joined by Besa and the Ibis, an in-game rival turned reluctant ally, Yared must search for his uncle…and answer for his place in a forgotten war that spans the galaxy.
related: kwame mbalia & interview with prince joel makonnen (+ giveaway!)
cleo porter and the electric body
Published: October 6, 2020
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In a future forever changed by a pandemic, a girl survives in total isolation.
a woman is dying. Cleo Porter has her medicine. and there is no way to deliver it.
Like everyone else, twelve-year-old Cleo and her parents are locked in an apartment with no windows or doors. they never go away They never receive visitors. their food is dropped off by drones. so that they are safe. safe from the disease that nearly wiped out humans from the earth. safe from everything compensation?
they are alone. So when they receive a package clearly meant for someone else, a package containing a substance critical to the survival of a stranger, Cleo is stuck. as a surgeon in training, she knows that time is ticking. but people don’t leave the drives from it.
never. so far.
Related: 33 Middle Grade Books to Read in the Second Half of 2020
katie the nanny
Published: January 5, 2021
katie is dreading the boring summer ahead while her best friends are at camp, something that is out of katie and her mom’s budget, unless katie can find a way to earn the camp money for herself. herself. But when Katie lands a babysitting job for her mysterious neighbor upstairs, life gets interesting. first, madeline has 217 cats (!) and they are not exactly . . . normal cats. Also, why does Madeline always show up exactly when the town’s most notorious villain commits crimes? is it possible that katie’s upstairs neighbor is really a super villain? Can Katie fight off a bunch of wayward cats, salvage a best friendship (why is Beth barely responding? and who is this guy she keeps talking about?), and crack the biggest story in town history? some heroes have capes. . . katie has cats!
related: middle grade books on entrepreneurship
gold rush girl
Published: March 10, 2020
Newbery Medalist avi brings us mud-covered, tent-filled San Francisco in 1848 with a headstrong heroine who goes on an unwitting and dangerous adventure to save her brother.
Victoria Blaisdell longs for independence and adventure, and longs to join her father on his journey west in search of real gold! But this is 1848 and Tories aren’t even allowed to go to school, let alone travel from Rhode Island to California. Determined to take control of her own destiny, Tory stowaways on the ship. Although San Francisco is hectic and full of wild and dangerous men, Tory finds freedom and friendship there. Until one day, when her father is in the gold fields, her younger brother, Jacob, is kidnapped. And so Tory is goaded into a treacherous search for him in Rotten Row, a part of San Francisco Bay littered with hundreds of derelict ships. Beloved storyteller Avi is at the top of his form as he takes us back to an extraordinary time of hope and risk, brought to life by a heroine readers will cheer for. precise detail and high suspense make this a vivid and absorbing historical adventure.
espionage school
Published: March 6, 2012
Like many kids, Ben Ripley imagines life as a secret agent would be awesome, so when he learns he’s been recruited for the CIA’s top-secret espionage academy, it sounds too good to be true. forks. From the moment he arrives, and ends up in the middle of an enemy attack, Ben discovers that espionage school is going to be much more difficult, cowardly and dangerous than he expected. Worse yet, he soon finds out that he hasn’t been recruited to become a top agent; instead, they have brought him in as bait to catch a devious double agent. Now Ben needs a crash course in espionage so he can catch the mole, prove himself and get the girl. It won’t be easy, but it will be a very fun and enjoyable ride.
mrs. smith’s school of espionage for girls
Published: July 4, 2017
A girl discovers her boarding school is actually an elite spy training program, and she must learn the skills of the trade to find her mother in this action-packed high school debut. >
After a failed escape plan from her boarding school, Abigail is shocked to discover that the school is actually a front for an elite spy ring called the Center, as well as a training ground for future spies. even more shocking? abigail’s mother is one of the main agents of the center and she has become mine, with valuable information that many people would like to have, at any cost. Along with a former nemesis and a charming boy from her grade, Abigail goes through a crash course in Spy Training 101, often with hilarious and sometimes painful results. But Abigail realizes that she might be a better spy-in-training than she thought, and the answers to her mother’s whereabouts are much closer than she thinks…
unstoppable mission
Published: January 25, 2011
coke mcdonald and his twin sister, pepsi, think their family’s cross-country RV vacation is nothing to get excited about…until they are chased off a cliff, locked in a burning school and they receive mysterious messages in codes and figures. . From california to wisconsin, it’s a race against time to find out who’s looking for coke and pep, who’s leaving the notes…and what it means to be part of the genius files!
Featuring real-child humor that has won Dan Gutman millions of fans around the world, and featuring bizarre but real American tourist destinations, Genius Files is a unique combination of geography and fun.
As Coke and Pep fend off evil villains from the Pez Museum in California to the Infinity Room in Wisconsin, the black-and-white photos and maps put young readers into action.
kingdom of secrets
Published: August 3, 2021
In Oren’s kingdom, Prismena longs to fly hot air balloons, but her father insists she keep her feet on the ground. When he’s arrested for a crime he didn’t commit, and which Prismena did, she must decide between following the rules or following her heart.
Her decision will catapult her on an adventure that challenges everything she knows about her identity, her kingdom, and even her beloved balloons.
related: 91 middle grade books to read in 2021
me against the multiverse: enough of me
Published: August 17, 2021
saving the multiverse starts with another origami note: do it here, soon.
this time meade macon aka average me knows that parallel dimensions are real. he has met dozens of his counterparts from other lands. what he doesn’t know is that they are about to disappear.
On ground zero, a tear in the multiverse is spreading to other realities and causing chaos wherever it appears. And the different versions of meade, the month, get caught in the middle! motor me, resist me, and hollywood i just want to go home to their own lands. the only way to do that is to repair the tear. once again, it’s up to me! but if the average is going to fix the multiverse, he may have to team up with his archenemy. . . meticulous me.
the most nervous girl in the world
Published: August 18, 2020
pearl lives on a ranch where her duties include collecting eggs and feeding cranky ostriches. she has three older brothers, who do not pamper her at all. and she also knows a thing or two about horses.
one day, pearl’s brothers get comfortable jobs doing stunts for this new form of entertainment called “moving pictures”. They are the daredevil Donnelly Brothers, a trio of death-defying cowboys. Before she knows it, Pearl has become a stuntwoman herself and dreams of becoming a star. the only problem is that her mother has no idea what she is doing. And let’s just say she wouldn’t be too happy to learn that Pearl has been jumping out of burning buildings in her spare time.
Related: 76 Best Middle Grade Historical Fiction Books
dog squad
Published: May 11, 2021
when trouble calls. . . It’s the dog squad to the rescue!
duke is not your average dog. Along with his crew, he fights crime and embarks on claw-biting adventures helping dogs in distress in the smash hit dog squad! fred is a pretty normal dog. he is rudimentary. He is cute but he is not as brave as his heroes in Dog Squad.
fred looks a lot like duke from dog squad. In fact, when Duke needs a backup, Fred is the perfect choice. But the dog squad action doesn’t always stop on screen! When there’s danger in real life, can Fred find the courage to step up and save the day?!
See Also: Whitney G – Book Series In Order
It’s all on the line in this action-packed middle-grade adventure series perfect for anyone who loves dogs – and anyone who loves to laugh!
lola benko, treasure hunter
Published: August 31, 2021
After saving her father and the world, twelve-year-old Lola Benko and her new best friends, Jin and Hannah, form a true treasure-hunting team. but after messing up a great job, they seek redemption.
They decide to try their luck at Camp Timberwood, where teams will compete to join the Legendary Task Force, a group that receives plumbing assignments all over the world. When her old nemesis, lipstick, shows up unexpectedly, she makes an offer they can’t refuse: help her find the legendary Helm of Darkness and she’ll help them emerge victorious in the competition and be the first team in line for the workgroup.
All they have to do is go to the mysterious midnight market, where the rudder is rumored to be. But Lola, Jin, and Hannah are still not fully in sync after their recent failure. Can they show the task force, and themselves, that they still have what it takes?
the last last day of summer
Published: April 2, 2019
otto and sheed are the local detectives in their wacky town of virginia, masters at unraveling mischief using their unparalleled powers of deduction. And as summer winds down and the first day of school approaches, kids are craving a little more time to have fun, even as they bicker about what kind of fun they want to have. that is, until a mysterious man shows up with a camera that literally freezes time. Now, with the help of some very strange people and even stranger creatures, Otto and Sheed will have to put their differences aside to save their city – and each other – before time stops forever.
addison cooke and the treasure of the incas
Published: October 11, 2016
Twelve-year-old Addison Cooke just wants something exciting to happen to her. His aunt and his uncle, both world-renowned investigators, travel to the ends of the earth in search of hidden treasures, dodging dangerous thieves along the way, while Addison is stuck at school all day.
luckily for addison, adventure has a way to find the cooks. After his uncle discovers the first ancient Inca clue needed to find a great lost treasure, he is kidnapped by members of a shadowy organization intent on stealing the riches. Addison’s Uncle is the bandits’ key to unlocking the ancient clues and looting the treasure. . . Unless Addison and her friends can outwit the kidnappers and crack the code first. So it’s off to South America, where the excitement, danger, gold, booby traps, and car chases are endless!
led by dogs
Published: December 3, 2019
mckenna barney is trying to hide her worsening eyesight and has been isolating for the past year. but at the request of her little sister, she signs up for a commemorative postal race in the Canadian desert, a race she doesn’t know if she can even see to run. Winning would mean getting his illness, and his sister’s, national media coverage, but it would also pit McKenna and his team of eight sled dogs against runners from around the world during three days of changing lake ice, sudden attacks of owls, snow showers and very cold nights.
storm runners
Published: March 1, 2011
chase masters and his father are “storm runners” and run across the country looking for hurricanes, tornadoes and floods. wherever the weather is bad, they are not far behind. chase is learning more on the go than he would ever learn sitting in a classroom. But when the hurricane of the century arrives, he will be tested in ways he never could have imagined.
extreme ice adventure (jake maddox adventure)
Published: January 1, 2020
nita and sohail are thrilled when they win scholarships to attend the Alaskan Boy Scouts program. both kids could use the prize money to help their families and go out and compete as hard as they can. but things change when they are paired up on an expedition. the two make a misstep while hiking on a glacier and find themselves in dangerous territory. Nita and Sohail will have to depend on each other and learn to work together…if they are to survive in the Alaskan wilderness.
crocodile rescue! (wild survival #1)
Published: February 2, 2021
Twelve-year-old Adriana Villalobos and her older brother, Feye, travel the world with their parents, the hosts of a nature thriller show called “Wild Survival.” The show features daring animal rescues and the work the family does at their animal sanctuary. they recently received an offer to bring the youtube show to a television network, and adriana is thrilled. Until now, she has always been behind the scenes, but now she joins the rest of her family on screen. she is eager to bring her passion for animals to a wide audience.
Your first stop is Cuba’s lush mangroves, where you’re going to help rescue an injured crocodile. But things get off to a rocky start when Feye is injured in an accident caused in part by Adrianna. The show’s status is in jeopardy, and Adrianna’s parents want her back behind the scenes, or maybe even back home.
Adrianna is determined to prove herself and save the show, no matter what it takes. even if it means facing off against Cuba’s legendary mega crocodile that is rumored to inhabit the murky waters around her base camp.
nikki tesla and the ferret proof death ray (genius element #1)
Published: July 9, 2019
“let the official record show that I, nikki tesla, had no intention of destroying the world.”there are a limited number of times a child can invent an instrument of global destruction without being punished. . So when Nikki’s death ray accidentally blows up her room (if you can call a pet ferret with an itchy trigger finger an accident), she’s sent to the only place that can handle her. the genius academy is a school for the greatest brains in history. leo da vinci? charlotte darwin? bert einstein? all extraordinary. Yet even among her fellow prodigies, Nikki feels like an outsider thanks to a terrible secret she can’t let anyone find out. never. But when her death ray is stolen from her, Nikki must stop worrying about fitting in and learn to be nice to her new classmates. Because it doesn’t take a genius to track down a thief around the world, outwit the authorities, and keep a fries-crazy ferret happy. she needs them all.
charlie thorne and the last equation
Published: September 17, 2019
charlie thorne is a genius. Charlie Thorne is a thief. Charlie Thorne isn’t old enough to drive.
and now it’s her turn to save the world…
decades ago, albert einstein devised an equation that could benefit all life on earth, or destroy it. Fearing what would happen if the equation fell into the wrong hands, he hid it.
But now, an evil group known as the Furies is closing in on their location. Desperate, a team of CIA agents drags Charlie on the hunt, needing her brilliance to find him first, even if it means putting his life in grave danger.
In a fast-paced adventure that spans the globe, Charlie must crack a complex code created by Einstein himself, fight to survive in a world where no one can be trusted, and fight to keep the ultimate equation alive. except once and for all.
fire race
Published: August 31, 2010
The President’s Retreat, Camp David, is one of the safest places in the United States. So why can’t the president’s son, luke, and his friends theo and callie stay there without secret service agents constantly watching them, watching his every move? And yet, when an earthquake triggers a raging wildfire that sets off a chain reaction that wreaks havoc on Camp David, they suddenly find themselves alone.
now luke needs a plan:
- override security systems
- to save those who were supposed to save him
- to get through an impassable door
- to escape the camp david
through the desert
Published: October 12, 2021
Twelve-year-old Jolene spends every day she can in the library watching her favorite live stream: The Desert Aviator, where twelve-year-old “Addie Earhart” shares her adventures flying over the desert in a microlight aircraft. . As she watches this daring girl soar through the sky, Jolene can dream of what it would be like to fly with her, away from her own troubled home life, where her mother struggles with an addiction to narcotics. And Addie, grieving the loss of her father, finds solace in her online conversations with Jolene, his biggest and only fan.
Then one day, everything goes wrong: Addie’s engine abruptly stops and Jolene watches in horror and helplessness as the ultralight plummets to the ground and the video blacks out. Jolene knows Addie won’t survive long in the extreme heat of the summer desert. With no one to turn to for help and armed with only a hand-drawn map and a stolen cell phone, Jolene must find a way to save the desert flyer. Full of adventure and heart, Across the Wilderness speaks to the resilience, hope, and strength within each of us.
the emperor’s riddle
Published: May 2, 2017
mia chen is on what her mom calls a big adventure. she’s not sure what to do with this family trip to china and she didn’t want to leave her friends for the summer, but she’s excited about the prospect of exploring with ella lin’s aunt, the only adult she really has. understands it.
Then Aunt Lin disappears, just after her old nemesis, a man named Ying, comes to visit. Mia knows that years ago, when Aunt Lin and Ying were sent to the Fuzhou countryside to work as laborers, the two of them searched together for an ancient treasure, one that has yet to be found. She suspects that the shared history of hers could be related to Aunt Lin’s disappearance.
When Mia discovers an old map full of puzzles in Aunt Lin’s room, she quickly puts together her mission: find the treasure, find her aunt. Now, Mia, along with her older brother, Jake, must solve the clues to rescue the person she knows best in the world, and perhaps uncover a treasure greater than her wildest dreams.
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