Twelve-year-old Birdie is the only one who can hear the Song. She thinks she’s cursed, until the soldiers of the Dark Lord arrive. With her peddler friend Amos McElhenny, Birdie flees to save herself and–eventually–all of Leira.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Taran isn’t content to be Assistant Pigkeeper in peaceful Caer Dalben; he wants to be a hero like the Lord Gwydion. But can he face and overcome the challenges that shape a true hero?
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Lidi learned all the magic tricks she could from her father, but not even he could teach her the Rope Trick. She sets out to find the one man who can teach it to her, accompanied by a band of friends who all have with their own pasts to confront and enemies to face.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

An orphan printer’s apprentice, Theo agrees to print a pamphlet for a stranger and suddenly finds himself embroiled in the struggle to save–or destroy–all of Westmark.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

About to graduate the school of assassins, Jane must decide whether to keep the Code and stay, alive, in the dark of Mortis, or make her own choice and challenge the deadly school that raised her.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

When sixteen-year-old Sadie Larcen learns about her mother’s real job as a bigfoot expert, she’s skeptical–until her parents disappear, leaving behind nothing but traces of what could only be bigfoot himself. Sadie and her siblings leave their safe, homeschooling world behind in order to find their parents in the mysterious Tethered World.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 3.5/5
Clean: 5/5

Fourteen-year-old Will wants more than anything to carry on his father’s legacy and be chosen for Battleschool. But when the mysterious Ranger shows up instead, offering a far different opportunity, Will realizes his abilities could be useful after all–and could even save the kingdom.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 4/5
Clean: 4/5 (smattering of D-words and H-words in books 2-6)

She calls herself Ani, until they no longer call her Crown Princess and send her away to marry a foreign prince. Then she calls herself Isi and becomes the goose girl–and the only person who knows of the threat to Bayern’s crown. (Based on the fairytale The Goose Girl.)
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

When the academy comes to the slopes of Mount Eskel to prepare the prince’s future bride, fourteen-year-old Miri is determined to be the best pupil. If the princes chooses her, she will prove not only her own worth but also the worth of all of Mount Eskel.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Fifteen-year-old Dashti has been locked in a tower with her mistress, the Lady Saren. The days pass, the months pass, and Dashti realizes their survival–and the reunion of true love–relies on her and her alone. (Based on the fairytale Maid Maleen.)
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Set among the trees of Mossflower Forest, Redwall Abbey stands as a haven for all good and a fortress against all evil. Foes arise, friends bond, and someone with both courage and goodness must take up the sword of Martin the Warrior to save all of Mossflower. (My favorite: Taggerung.)
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Young Neb serves as a slave aboard the Flying Dutchman until the captain’s evil becomes so great that the ship and its crew are cursed. But Neb and his dog, Denmark, are spared the curse; instead, they are blessed with long life and a special bond and are sent to save an English village on the brink of destruction.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Fourteen-year-old Bensin is an orphan, a slave, and a natural with the cavvarach, the long, hooked blade of the martial art cavvara shil. His greatest desire, however, is to give his little sister a life without the slave collar. When he’s sold to a new owner, a cavvara shil instructor, Bensin finds himself with a new ally–and new enemies–in the world of the martial art that could win his sister’s freedom.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 4/5
Clean: 5/5

What if Beauty weren’t so beautiful? What if she weren’t an only child? But her father still touches the mysterious castle, the Beast still makes him promise, and Beauty is the one who must fulfill that promise. (A Beauty and the Beast retelling.)
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

When Robin kills a man, he flees into Sherwood Forest to escape the death sentence. There he becomes the rallying point for friends and strangers alike who wish to end the injustice of the tyrannic Sheriff of Nottingham.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Annie and Lee were just children when a brutal revolution changed their world, giving everyone—even the lowborn—a chance to test into the governing class of dragonriders. But everything changes when survivors from the old regime surface, bent on reclaiming the city.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 4/5
Clean: 5/5

Matt Cruse can’t imagine being anywhere else than on an airship and dreams of one day piloting his own. Then he meets Kate de Vries, and his simple life of airship cabin boy falls behind as they learn just how many thrills–and dangers–the skies can hold.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 4/5
Clean: 4/5 (some language)

Fifteen-year-old Eragon never imagined that the strange blue stone he found in the mountains would change his life. Soon all he values is torn away and he must rise to the calling of Dragon Rider if he is to help stop the evil King Galbatorix.
Story: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Clean: 5/5

When Jim Hawkins keeps the dead pirate’s treasure map, he doesn’t know such a simple action will drag him into a series of adventures, thrills, and close calls. If he doesn’t get to the treasure first, Long John Silver will–at any cost.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Bartimaeus is a powerful djinn, summoned often from the underlord to do the bidding of the magician masters that rule Britain. But when he is summoned by a 12-year-old magician-in-training bent on revenge, they both get more than they bargained for.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 4.5/5 (a few d and h words)

In the mythical desert kingdom of Achra, an ancient law forces sixteen-year-old Princess Kateri to fight her suitors in the arena to prove her right to rule. The situation is worsened by the gang of Desert Boys that frequently raids the city wells, forcing the king to ration what little water is left. But when Kateri’s final opponent is announced, she knows she cannot win. In desperation, she turns to the desert and the one person she never thought she’d side with. What Kateri discovers twists her world—and her heart—upside down.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

It’s because of his thieving skills that Eugenides lands in prison, and it’s because of his thieving skills that he’s released–by the king’s magus himself. If he is to keep his head, Gen must put all his creativity to the test and steal from the gods themselves.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 4.5/5 (few D-words)

Thirteen-year-old Rose Campbell only knows life as a single child. Then her parents die and she is sent to live with a family of seven cousins (all boys) and six aunts, and Rose finds herself navigating a new world of challenges–and love.

During the years of the Civil War, the four March sisters–Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy–face wars of their own within and without their quiet New England home.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Johnny Tremain works as an apprentice silversmith in colonial Boston until an accident leaves him maimed. A change of occupation leads to a change of perspective as the colonists prepare for war.

The devastating war between England and Scotland in the 1300s frames the lives of great heroes like William Wallace and Robert the Bruce–and unlikely heroes like the young Archibard Forbes.

Sixteen-year-old Jeff Bussey wants nothing more than to win glory for the North. But when he arrives at the front of the War Between the States, he quickly learns that fighting isn’t such a glorious adventure–and that there can be friends as well as foes on both sides.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Sixteen-year-old Andrea Carter is just stepping from childhood to adulthood when she meets a series of friends–from the rough-and-tumble Macy to the handsome young wrangler, Riley Prescott–who will challenge her to be a young woman of both courage and virtue.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

A slave in Ancient Egypt, Mara will do anything for her freedom–even if it means selling herself as an agent to two opposing sides. But the deeper she falls into her own game, the more she realizes just how much is at stake: her life, her heart, and Egypt’s future.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Jim Keath knows what it’s like to live as a white man–and as an Indian. After six years with the Crow people, he reunites with his siblings with the promise to see them safely to their own land in the West. But their lifestyles fail to meld, and when danger looms Jim must decide who he really is.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Lyddie and her younger brother have been single-handedly maintaining their Vermont farm since their father left and their mother withdrew. When the two siblings are hired out to different establishments, Lyddie hears about the better-paying mills in Lowell, Massachusetts, and sets out on her own to earn enough money to buy back their farm.

War is raging–and lords are changing–between the Lancasters and the Yorks in the War of the Roses when 18-year-old Richard Shelton learns from a vigilante group that the knight who raised him may be the man who murdered his father. Torn between loyalty to his friends and a duty to vengeance, Shelton begins a journey for the truth that leads him to both the most faithful companions and the most devious enemies.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 4/5 (old English used in dialogue)
Clean: 5/5

Young centurion Marcus Flavius Aquila only knows the Britons as the enemy. They’re the ones who injured him in battle, killed his father, and stole the pride and glory of his father’s legion: the golden eagle. With his Briton slave, Esca, Marcus sets out to find the lost eagle and restore the name of his father’s legion.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Growing up in Mississippi during the Great Depression, Cassie Logan faces–and overcomes–the challenges of Jim Crow racism.

Huck Finn is sick and tired of trying to be civilized. So when his new life is threatened by a man from his past, Huck escapes down the Mississippi River with a friend he never would have expected.

Jonas is twelve years old when he is chosen not for a typical job like the other twelve-year-olds but for the unique–and rare–position of Receiver of Memory. As he begins to learn what the world used to be like, he sees for the first time how much his people are missing and determines to make a change, no matter the cost.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

After his father’s death, Arman Lance believes he can only be happy if he finds the girl he once loved. In order to find her, he joins the Embassy Program and trains for space travel. In the program, however, he meets friends and embarks on adventures that show him how much more there really is to life.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 4.5/5
Clean: 5/5

Ten years ago, Calamity came and created the Epics, people with extraordinary powers. But Epics are no friend of man. The Reckoners are the only people who stand up to them, spending their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them. David wants in. He wants to kill Steelheart, the Epic who killed his father and is said to be invincible. He has something they need–he’s seen Steelheart bleed.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Jay Barton doesn’t fit in anywhere–until she meets the discarded gray mare named Manhattan. Determined to prove both her worth and the horse’s, she sets out to fulfill her dreams of being a female jockey–with Manhattan.
Story: 4.5/5
Writing: 4.5/5
Clean: 5/5

Fifteen-year-old Rebekah Cahill can’t imagine anything better–for her, for her family, for her church–when the new assistant pastor arrives with his wife and three teenaged children. But something isn’t right–Pastor Ewen’s youngest son, Judah, has brought with him a tragedy from the past that threatens to undo everything his family has come to build.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

By his senior year of high school, Billy McQueen has learned how to knock down any opponent in his father’s boxing ring, how to mix any drink at his father’s bar, and how to please any whim of his father’s girlfriend. He sees no way out from his father’s abusive control until the arrival of an eight-year-old boy galvanizes him to take action against everything and everyone he’s ever known, including his own father.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Content: sexual themes (abuse and trafficking), scenes of violence, and inferred sexual content

Julie is an Eskimo, but she lives like a white person: she goes to school, bobs her hair, and even has a pen pal in San Francisco. But when her security is threatened, she runs away and finds herself relying on all the “old ways” of the Eskimos for survival.

Sam Gribley is tired of living in New York City with his family. So he runs away to the Catskill Mountains, where he relies on his few belongings, his falcon, and his extensive knowledge of the wilderness to survive.

Ponyboy Curtis is a Greaser–and the bad guys are the Socs. Until a regular gang fight escalates into knives and blood and the death of a Soc, and Ponyboy begins to question if what separates the two gangs could actually unite them.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 4.5/5 (some language)

Seventeen-year-old Danny Picket sees the dog once and knows they were meant to be together: the boy and the beautiful Irish Setter. Red’s owner, Mr. Haggins, wants to show the dog but Danny wants to train him to accompany him into the vast forests of New York, where a danger lurks that threatens them all.

Anne wasn’t supposed to come to Avonlea on Prince Edward Island. But Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert take her in anyway, and soon they can’t imagine Green Gables without the help–and the mishaps–of Anne and her imagination.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Valancy Stirling is 29, unmarried, and has never been in love. Living with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt and pushed into the background by her opinionated family, Valancy realizes she’s never lived her life. But after receiving terrible news from the doctor, Valancy decides to say what she means and seize what is left of her life, embarking on a journey full of love and adventure.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Alone on an island off the coast of California, Karana must learn to depend on the sources around her–as well as her own creativity and bravery–if she is to survive.

Billy Coleman wants nothing more than a pair of coon hounds. After two years of saving, he finally buys his very own dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann, and sets out to make them the best coon hounds in the Ozarks.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

When fourteen-year-old Jay Berry Lee finds a tree full of monkeys in the Ozark mountains, he thinks he’s struck it rich–if he can capture the monkeys and get the circus’s reward money. But capturing a tree full of monkeys turns out to be a bigger challenge–and bring him more adventures–than he expected.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Raised on the islands of Polynesia, young Mafatu fears nothing but the sea. Determined to conquer this fear once and for, Mafatu takes his canoe and begins a journey of survival, resourcefulness, and ultimate bravery.

Sam Westing has died and left an inheritance of $200 million dollars behind. But who will be the lucky heir? That’s what the sixteen players of the Westing Game have to find out as they solve clues, face challenges, and learn about each other.
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Clean: 5/5

Who wrote “Caias is a dumbbell” on the wall of Minerva’s temple? Was it really Caias’s classmate Rufus? The seven students of the Xanthos school must work together to solve the crime and save Rufus before it’s too late.