Adventure Books for 10 Year Olds - Nosy Crow Skip to content

Adventure Books for 10 Year Olds

If you are looking for amazing adventure books for 10 year olds, look no further than these book recommendations! This collection of books is full of captivating tales that transport young readers to exciting and mysterious worlds. Whether it’s exploring hidden treasure in a distant land or solving a perplexing mystery in their own neighbourhood, this collection of adventure books for 10 year olds offer a delightful escape into the realms of imagination and discovery! These books make great gifts for young readers too.

Alice Éclair, Spy Extraordinaire!: A Sprinkling of Danger

Written by Sarah Todd Taylor Illustrated by Beatriz Castro
9-12
Alice Éclair, Spy Extraordinaire will whisk you away on a fabulous adventure, full of daring action and delicious cakes! Baker by day, spy by night - Alice Éclair leads an exciting double life! On a glamorous movie set at the Palace of Versailles, someone is leaking national secrets. Is it…
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Friends and Traitors

Written by Helen Peters
9-12
Some secrets are just too dangerous to know... A gripping World War II story about how two girls foil an aristocratic plot to bring down the government and hand the country to the Nazis... When Sidney Dashworth's school is evacuated to a huge stately home in the countryside, she thinks…
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The Horse Who Came Home

Written by Olivia Tuffin
9-12
Heartbreak, betrayal, and a breathtakingly daring rescue: Olivia Tuffin's fresh and thrilling novel about a girl's fight for justice at her family's stables will have 9+ readers gripped. Hannah's dad, a former Olympic show jumper, runs a highly respected stables where they buy, train and sell ponies on for huge…
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Deadlock

Written by Simon Fox
9-12
Perfect for fans of Alex Rider and Artemis Fowl, Simon Fox's latest action-packed thriller is ideal for readers too young for Jack Reacher or Line of Duty. Archie Blake thought his policeman father teaching him how to pick locks and open safes was just a bit of fun. But when…
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The Boy Who Saved a Bear

Written by Nizrana Farook
9-12
A boy and a bear meet, become friends and have the adventure of their lives! From the author of The Girl Who Stole an Elephant comes another brilliant escapade. The fourth thrilling adventure set in a fictional Sri Lanka is jam-packed with peril, thieves and a terrifying bear! Nuwan works…
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The Nowhere Thief

Written by Alice M. Ross
9-12
A mind-bending multiverse adventure about theft, family, and finding your home. Twelve-year-old Elsbeth has an extraordinary power: she can travel to parallel worlds and bring objects back with her. But as freak weather events become more frequent and a strange boy, Idris, starts to turn up everywhere she travels, she…
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Alice Éclair, Spy Extraordinaire! A Spoonful of Spying

Written by Sarah Todd Taylor
9-12
Alice Éclair, Spy Extraordinaire will whisk you away on a fabulous adventure, full of daring action and delicious cakes! Baker by day, spy by night - Alice Éclair leads an exciting double life! Inventors and artists have gathered in Paris for the World Fair. All eyes are on the aeroplane…
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Murder At Snowfall

Written by Fleur Hitchcock
9-12
A gripping thriller for readers who like danger and mystery and chills and spills from the comfort of their sofas... Unputdownable. The Times and Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week. "Much more Junior Line of Duty than Junior Miss Marple" - The Sunday Times "Just the right level of…
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S.T.E.A.L.T.H.: Ice Breaker

Written by Jason Rohan
9-12
Full of thrilling high-octane action, this is the second in an explosive new action-adventure middle grade series. Perfect for fans of Alex Rider, CHERUB and Mission: Impossible. When an armoured train with a top secret cargo is hijacked by terrorists in the Austrian Alps, and an avalanche cuts off all…
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Wren

Written by Lucy Hope
9-12
A dark, gothic adventure set on the island of Anglesey in North Wales and featuring a very fantastical beast... Wren lives in an ancient castle in the mountains near the sea. The wind whistles through it and the walls sing to her. Wren is busy inventing things, and her father…
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Sticky Pines: The Valley of the Strange

Written by Dashe Roberts
9-12
Things are FREAKY and about to get even FREAKIER in the sleepy American town of Sticky Pines. Weirdness mounts upon creepiness to create a riotously funny potion in The Valley of the Strange, the latest explosive instalment of the cult sci-fi series for children. Lucy Sladan has made the biggest,…
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Alice Éclair, Spy Extraordinaire! A Recipe for Trouble

Written by Sarah Todd Taylor
9-12
Alice Éclair, Spy Extraordinaire will whisk you away on a fabulous adventure, full of daring action and delicious cakes! Baker by day, spy by night - Alice Éclair leads an exciting double life! A mysterious message sends Alice on a mission aboard France's most glamorous train, The Sapphire Express. Alice…
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Running out of Time

Written by Simon Fox
9-12
A thrilling, unputdownable debut, with extraordinary twists and incredible action, from an incredible new voice in children's fiction. I can steal time. The most I can take at the moment is fifteen seconds, which is not a lot. Grandmother took almost three minutes once and she told me she's done…
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Mouse Heart

Written by Fleur Hitchcock
9-12
This atmospheric thriller, full of daring stunts and sinister villains, is perfect escapism for 9+ readers. Mouse, a foundling, loves her pieced-together family at the Moth Theatre fiercely. When their leading man, Walter, is wrongly arrested for murder, Mouse swears she'll free him. But another member of the cast has…
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The Mermaid Call

Written by Alex Cotter
9-12
A gripping story of myth and mystery about a legendary mermaid and her dark power. When the truth comes out, will it bring freedom or a terrible retribution? Vivien's never going to win the Mermaid Crown and she knows it. Does she care? Who wants to be rewarded just for…
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Looking for Emily

Written by Fiona Longmuir
9-12
A hugely gripping, fast-paced mystery adventure, with brilliant twists and turns, from a fresh and exciting new voice in children's books. When twelve-year-old Lily moves to the sleepy seaside town of Edge, she's sure that nothing exciting is ever going to happen to her again. But when she stumbles upon…
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S.T.E.A.L.T.H.: Access Denied

Written by Jason Rohan Illustrated by Two Dots
9-12
They're in a race to save his dad ... and the world. When his dad disappears, Arun Lal is amazed to discover that he was secretly working on a classified project and has been kidnapped by people intent on stealing it. Along with his geeky best friend Sam and tough-talking…
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Escape Room

Written by Christopher Edge
9-12
The latest mind-blowing novel from award-winning author Christopher Edge, Escape Room is a thrilling adventure that challenges readers to think about what they've done to save the world today.   When twelve-year-old Ami arrives at The Escape, she thinks it's just a game - the ultimate escape room with puzzles…
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Adam-2

Written by Alastair Chisholm
9-12
With incredible twists and turns and an action-packed story, this is a thrilling, unputdownable adventure. The robot Adam-2 has been locked in the basement of a lost building for over two hundred years - until one day he is discovered by two children, and emerges into a world ruined by…
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Following Frankenstein

Written by Catherine Bruton
9-12
A brilliantly-conceived and hugely imaginative 'sequel' to Mary Shelley's masterpiece, Following Frankenstein is a hugely exciting and beautifully-written historical adventure, perfect for 9-12 year olds. Sometimes I was jealous of the monster of Frankenstein. I grew up believing my father cared more for him than he did for me. And…
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The House on the Edge

Written by Alex Cotter
9-12
A tense thriller that's impossible to put down - perfect for fans of Emma Carroll and Fleur Hitchcock. Where has Faith's dad gone? Why has he left his family living in an old house perched on a crumbling cliff top? A crack has appeared in the cliff and Faith watches…
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The Secret Detectives

Written by Ella Risbridger
9-12
A gripping, beautifully written historical mystery, from an incredible new voice in children's fiction. The body seemed to fall for a long time. There was no splash, or if there was it was lost in the waves. Isobel was frozen to the spot for a moment - and then her…
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Waiting for Murder

Written by Fleur Hitchcock
9-12
The perfect thriller for the long, hot school holidays. It's a long, hot summer. As the water drains away from the reservoir, a car emerges. And there seems to be a body in it, a body that then disappears... Daniel and Florence start to investigate and uncover a long-ago robbery,…
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Otherland

Written by Louie Stowell
9-12
Otherland is a dangerous magical underworld - a place where appearances can be deceiving and anything can happen. A world of gods, vampires, and fairies. It's also... horrible. When life-long friends Myra and Rohan discover that Rohan's baby sister Shilpa has been stolen and taken to Otherland, the only way…
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The Life and Time of Lonny Quicke

Written by Kirsty Applebaum
9-12
Lonny is a lifeling. He has the power to heal any living creature and bring it back from the dead. But he pays a price for this gift - by lengthening the creature's life, he shortens his own. So Lonny has to be careful, has to stay hidden in the…
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The Boy Who Met a Whale

Written by Nizrana Farook
9-12
From the author of The Girl Who Stole an Elephant comes another brilliant escapade. A thrilling adventure set in fictional Sri Lanka, jam-packed with peril and kidnap and a huge blue whale! Razi, a local fisherboy, is watching turtle eggs hatch when he sees a boat bobbing into view. With…
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Another Twist in the Tale

Written by Catherine Bruton
9-12
You have heard, no doubt, the tale of Master Oliver Twist - that rags-to-riches boy; the parish orphan who became heir to the Brownlow fortune. But what few know is that was a second Twist - a girl, brought into this world moments ahead of her brother. This is the…
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Sticky Pines: The Thing At Black Hole Lake

Written by Dashe Roberts
9-12
The sequel to The Bigwoof Conspiracy takes us back to Sticky Pines, a small US town where weird things happen. Milo, loyal to his double-crossing, business-mogul father, has taken a trip to Black Hole Lake, leaving Lucy to continue her search into alien life and the Truth that she knows…
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DustRoad

Written by Tom Huddleston
9-12
The sequel to FloodWorld, this equally cinematic book tells the story of Kara and Joe's adventures in the US, as they travel with a band of ideological outlaws, hell-bent on destroying the Mariners and stealing their world. Can the kids come up with a plan to stop the seemingly inevitable…
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Orion Lost

Written by Alastair Chisholm
9-12
The transport ship Orion is four months out of Earth when catastrophe strikes - leaving the ship and everyone on board stranded in deep space Suddenly it's up to thirteen-year-old Beth and her friends to navigate through treacherous and uncharted territory to reach safety. But a heavily-damaged ship, space pirates,…
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The Girl Who Stole an Elephant

Written by Nizrana Farook
9-12
Chaya, a no-nonsense, outspoken hero, leads her friends and a gorgeous elephant on a noisy, fraught, joyous adventure through the jungle where revolution is stirring and leeches lurk. Will stealing the queen's jewels be the beginning or the end of everything for the intrepid gang? With cover illustration by David…
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FloodWorld

Written by Tom Huddleston
9-12
FloodWorld is a gripping, action-packed story for 10+ readers. Kara and Joe spend their days navigating the perilous waterways of a sunken city, scratching out a living in the ruins. But when they come into possession of a mysterious map, they find themselves in a world of trouble. Suddenly everyone's…
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Rose Campion and the Christmas Mystery

Written by Lyn Gardner
9-12
It's pantomime season at Campions' Palace of Varieties and Wonders - but Rose Campion and her friends have more to worry about than who'll be filling the role of Cinderella. The Duchess - the deadly ruler of the London criminal underworld - has been released from prison, and she has…
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Under Earth

Written by Ellen Renner
9-12
As the island's new Weather witch, Storm must sail with the fleet into dangerous waters. The Drowned Ones are out for revenge and the sea itself is treacherous. But it's Bellum Town that brings Storm her first real test. And where she learns that her magic could save her or…
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The Boy Who Flew

Written by Fleur Hitchcock
9-12
A vivid adventure filled with danger and heroism from the author of Murder in Midwinter. Athan Wilde dreams of flight. When his friend, Mr Chen, is murdered, Athan must rescue the flying machine they were building together and stop it falling into the wrong hands. But keeping the machine safe…
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Indigo Island

Written by Susan Moore Illustrated by Alex Talexi Taini
9-12
**As recommended on Simon Mayo's Books of the Year** The third riveting story about orphan heiress, Nat Walker, and her robot dragon, Fizz. Nat has faithfully followed the clues her father has left her from beyond the grave, and she is closing in on the prize. Soon, all will become…
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Murder At Twilight

Written by Fleur Hitchcock
9-12
Shortlisted for CrimeFest Awards' Best Crime Novel for Children 2019 When Viv has a fight with Noah, she doesn't think it'll be the last time she sees him. But when she gets back from school, he's nowhere to be found and there are police cars everywhere, lights flashing and sirens…
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The Black Crow Conspiracy

Written by Christopher Edge
9-12
Step into the past in this spine-tingling historical adventure from award-winning author Christopher Edge. Penelope Tredwell is the feisty thirteen-year-old orphan heiress of the bestselling magazine, The Penny Dreadful. Her masterly tales of the macabre are gripping Victorian Britain, even if no one knows she's the author. It's 1902. London…
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Dear Scarlett

Written by Fleur Hitchcock
9-12
All this time Scarlett's thought her dad was a thief, but years after his death a strange man turns up at the door and hands her a box, "on her father's instructions". Inside is a baffling series of clues that leads Scarlett and her friend, Ellie, on a wild, scary,…
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The Drowned Ones

Written by Ellen Renner
9-12
The third in a gripping fantasy trilogy "reminiscent of Ursula K Le Guin's Earthsea..." Guardian The Storm Witch trilogy is set in a world of islands, where Elemental spirits rule and pirates known as the Drowned Ones roam the seas. At the heart of the story is thirteen-year-old Storm, who…
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