Cathie – head of our schools team – shares her top picks for adventurous readers…

Here are our favourite adventure books from the last few years! From time travelling with a hamster to surviving in the jungle, there is sure to be something to catch your imagination. We think these are books that you won’t be able to put down and are perfect holiday reads.

Darwin’s Dragons – Lindsay Galvin
A book with a difference. It’s based on fact: the famous scientist Darwin’s voyage in 1835 to the Galapagos to learn more about animals and evolution – but there is a twist! Cabin boy Syms Covington is on the voyage and is washed overboard in a huge storm. He is stranded on an unexplored island where there are strange creatures with scales and wings. Will he ever be able to show these to Mr Darwin? Will anyone believe him? But first, how will he be rescued? Fact meets fiction in this really unusual adventure story.

Strangeworlds Travel Agency – LD Lapinski
When 12-year-old Flick accidentally ends up in the Strangeworlds Travel Agency, she uncovers a fantastic secret: there are hundreds of other worlds just steps away from ours. All you have to do to visit them is jump into the right suitcase. Flick is invited to join Strangeworlds’ magical travel society and explore other worlds. She is soon involved in the battle to save the city of Five Lights where buildings and even streets are mysteriously disappearing. Suitcases and new worlds appear and disappear: nothing is as it seems. But Flick must still get home and act as though nothing has happened!

Time Travelling with a Hamster – Ross Welford
Al’s engineer father Pye (short for Pythagoras) is dead, but he has left his son a letter inviting him to alter history. He instructs him to use a time machine he has constructed in an old bunker, and voyage back in time to warn the young Pye about an impending go-kart accident which will eventually bring about his death. Al follows his father’s instructions, accompanied by his intrepid hamster, and soon discovers that changing the past is not as straightforward as it might first appear. This is a book which is both funny and fantastic, with adventure, pace, and family at its heart.

Murderer’s Ape – Jakob Wegelius
The remarkable Sally Jones is an engineer, a chess wizard and…..a gorilla. Working aboard a cargo ship with her dear friend Chief, Sally Jones is content and safe, but when a job goes awry, Chief lands in prison for murder and only Sally Jones knows he is innocent. The gorilla is determined to clear his name, and so begins a remarkable adventure of unexpected friendships and terrible dangers. An amazing adventure story with great illustrations.

The Explorer – Katharine Rundell
Winner of the Costa Award, this is a brilliant tale of four children who find themselves stranded in the jungle. It’s a proper adventure: plane crash, jungle, Indiana Jones figure, snakes, piranhas, lost cities… and the all important growing up themes of family, loyalty, belief…and independence. It’s a fairy tale, adventure story, rite of passage – and absolutely beautifully written.

The Last Bear – Hannah Gold
April and her dad are in the Artic Circle where he works at the weather station. He tells her there are no bears left on the island, but she finds out otherwise when she comes across an injured bear. She is determined to save him… A great story of determination set against the background of climate change and the challenges this brings for animals.