“The Navigator Trilogy” series by Eoin McNamee

1. The Navigator
2. City of Time
3. The Frost Child

A good, involved, and very unusual story about time and time travel.

Recommended age: 12 – 14; 14 – 16; 16 – 18.   It might be a little intense for a 12 year old.

Owen lives in our world.   In a sort of dimension that is in our world, but not in it at the same time, the Resisters fight the Harsh.  The Resisters are trying to protect Time and the World.   The Harsh are trying to destroy time and, along with it, our world.   Owen joins forces with the Resisters to fight the Harsh and save the world.

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“The Grassland Trilogy” by David Ward

1. Escape the Mask
2. Beneath the Mask
3. Beyond the Mask

A story of escape and war and cunning.

Recommended age: 10 – 12; 12 – 14; 14 – 16.

Corki and Pippa are leading a small group of children who have fled slavery and oppression, and were looking for a home.   They find a home, but perhaps bring more trouble, as violent raiders pursue them seeking money and vengeance.

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“Zach’s Lie” Series by Roland Smith

1. Zach’s Lie
2. Jack’s Run

Exciting story of danger in the Witness Protection Program

Recommended age: 12 – 14; 14 – 16 for first book;  14 – 16 for second book due to sexual references.  Intended ages for both books: 12 – 14; 14 – 16.

Jack’s dad made some bad choices, and his kids are dealing with the result. Jack Osborne isn’t Jack Osborne anymore. Now he’s Zach Granger, trapped in the Witness Protection Program. At first he feels completely lost, but it finally seems as if Zach is becoming a real person. But his dad’s enemies want revenge, and they’ll stop at nothing to get at ‘Zach’ and his family.   In the second book, the drug lord is about to go on trial, and he has found the family and kidnapped Jack and his sister.

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“Books of Ember” series by Jeanne DuPrau

1. The City of Ember
2. The People of Sparks
3. The Prophet of Yonwood
4. The Diamond of Darkhold

Interesting stories about people who grew up underground.   Prophet is not recommended.

Recommended age: 10 – 12; 12 – 14; 14 – 16

Lina and Doon have grown up in the city of Ember where the only light is from electricity supplied by their generator.   However, the generator is dying.   But Lina and Doon wonder if there is, perhaps, a way out of the city and into someplace where they don’t need to live in fear of the generator dying and the city running out of light and food.    Then one day, Lina finds an ancient document that might lead them out.   In Sparks, they have managed to get out and they found a town.   But the town is poor, and the townspeople are afraid that they will not have enough to feed them and the people from Ember.  Some people with bad attitudes fan the anger, and soon there is a crowd ready to fight.   But Doon and Lina have other ideas.  In Prophet, a girl named Nicky finds herself in a small town where a woman who is in an almost-coma mutters in her sleep and is called a prophet.   Her friend “interprets” the muttering and passes the “rules” onto the people in the town, resulting in a sort of reign of fear.   At the end, you find out that there is a strained relationship to the city of Ember.   In Diamond, Doon finds something that was left for the people of Ember.   He and Lina set off on a trip back to Ember to find out more about this mysterious present.   But in Ember, they find unanticipated danger.

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“The Applewhites” by Stephanie S. Tolan

1. Surviving the Applewhites
2. The Applewhites at Wit’s End

An entertaining story of creativity and mishap.

Recommended age: 12 – 14; 14 – 16; 16 – 18.

Jake is a juvenile delinquent that none of the local schools will dare to take — except the Creative Academy, the homeschool created by the eccentric and creative family, the Applewhites. Jake is at first reluctant, but in the end he is drawn into their wild world.

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“The Copernicus Legacy” series by Tony Abbott

1. The Forbidden Stone
2. The Serpent’s Curse

Companion Series Title: “The Copernicus Archives”

Book Titles:

1. Wade and the Scorpion’s Claw

An exciting and intriguing round-the-world race against dangerous bad guys.

Recommended age: 12 – 14; 14 – 16.

The great scientist Copernicus had possibly developed a time machine.   Due to some threatened danger from the Knights Templar Order, he took the twelve main components and entrusted them to Guardians who hid them in a variety of places, possibly around the world.   In modern times, the Knights Templar have risen again and are pressing to find the twelve components, apparently to create a time machine.   Unknown to himself, Wade’s father is a Guardian.   Wade’s “uncle” Henry sends Wade’s father a mysterious clue that sends them on a race against time, seeking to rescue the components from the very deadly Knights Templar.   The second book builds on the first, only with more excitement and action.  Note: there is a gap between the first and second books, and Book 1 of the “Copernicus Archives” Companion Series fills in that gap.

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