Zita the Spacegirl

By Ben Hatke

A graphic novel that is based around Zita the Spacegirl who saves her best friend after they are kidnapped by aliens. While she’s at it, she might as well save the galaxy, too!

Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor

By Jon Scieszka

Frank is an inventor, and he makes things that work (most of the time). One day, Frank decides to make a robot out of old scraps and spare parts. What he didn’t know was the robot was going to build himself!

Killer Species: Menace from the Deep

By Michael P. Spradlin

This is a fast-paced adventure series about a mad scientist who creates a hybrid crocodile-dinosaur-bird-creature to stop people from visiting the Everglades. A boy and his wildlife-biologist-father decide to investigate but things go out of control when the father gets kidnapped. This is a great who-done-it adventure for reluctant readers!

Trapped in a Video Game

By Dustin Brady

Gamers and non-gamers will love this book about Jesse and his friend who are obsessing over an early release of a video game. Things aren’t what they seem because they become trapped (literally) inside the game itself! What’s worse is that they meet a classmate who had been missing from the outside world for weeks. And then: a grown-up man finds himself trapped, too! How are they going to find their way out?

Diary of an 8-Bit Warrior

By Cube Kid

Twelve-year-old Runt has real problems. He doesn’t want to be a typical villager: he wants to be a warrior like Steve. He gets really excited when his school finally agrees that more warriors are needed to fight against the nightly attacks. When Steve ends up moving in with Runt’s family, he has high hopes that he will finally be trained to be a warrior. Will Runt’s dream ever come true?

The Last Kids on Earth

By Max Brallier

Meet the last kids on Earth trying to make it through the zombie apocalypse. In this book, this zombie apocalypse is fun. At least, that’s how Jack approaches life currently. Jack and Quint, best friends for life, live in an upgraded, well-defended tree house where they plan to rescue June (who is quite capable) and fight zombies.

Minrs

By Kevin Sylvester

Christopher’s space colony home is attacked by pirates. He and other children escape into the underground mines, where he is determined to help the others find food, water, and the emergency beacon. They’ll have to work together and confront a terrible truth about the Melming Mining company.

Fuzzy Mud

By Louis Sachar

Tamaya and Marshall are not supposed to be in the woods, but where else were they going to go to get away from Chad the bully? While in the woods, Tamaya finds a weird looking “fuzzy mud” and throws it at Chad’s face. And then Chad goes missing. Tamaya’s hand gets a bloody rash… and now you’ll have to read the book to find out the rest.

Greystone Secrets #1: The Strangers

By Margaret Peterson Haddix

Why would the Greystone kids’ loving, wonderful mother leave the three of them after hearing about a bizarre kidnapping involving a family with their exact same names and birthdays? Why is there a secret room in their basement that leads to another house? So many questions, so little answers. Which is why the kids—along with their friend, Natalie—go on a dangerous adventure to figure it all out.

Sanity & Tallulah

By Molly Brooks

A graphic novel about two good friends who live in a space station. One is a brilliant inventor with an illegal creation (a three-headed kitten) who ends up missing. The friends look for their kitten but find a big problem that will destroy their home instead.

Dark Life

By Kat Falls

When the oceans swallowed up the earth, humans moved either to stacked cities or the ocean floor. Ty lives in the ocean, but his life is now threatened by murderous outlaws who steal and kill. He befriends a Topside girl who is looking for her brother undersea. They learn that her brother is, in fact, the leader of the outlaws!

Red Rising

By Pierce Brown

Darrow is a low-caste Red who infiltrates the ruling Gold caste’s special training school. His training is to kill or be killed, lead an army or be enslaved. Think Hunger Games but for a younger audience.

Cog

By Greg Van Eekhout

Five robots go on a mission to rescue their inventor from the corporation that controls them all. What does fate have in store for them and their creator?

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe

By Carlos Hernandez

In order to heal after his mother’s death, thirteen-year-old Sal learns to reach into time and space to retrieve things—and people—from other universes.

The Lion of Mars

By Jennifer Holm

Bell has spent his whole life—all eleven years of it— on Mars. But he’s still just a regular kid. He loves cats, any kind of cake, and is curious about the secrets the adults in the U.S. colony are keeping.

The Secret Deep

By Lindsay Galvin

After Aster and Poppy’s mother dies of cancer, they travel to New Zealand to live with their aunt. Poppy sneaks a phone into their aunt’s eco-village and that’s how she can send their new friend from the plane ride, Sam, a message about their whereabouts. However, Sam arrives to the village to find nothing but ashes.

Cats Vs. Robots: This is War

By Kay Peterson

An intergalactic war between the Feline Empire and the Robot Federation is underway! Twins Max and Min, their parents, and Javi, all know the stakes are higher than ever as the fate of their planet rests on their meow-tastic shoulders.

The Ghost Network: Activate

By I.I. Davidson

Jack and his friends are hackers who get taken to a top-secret tech school. The kids here are all in danger; there seems to be a computer implanted inside their brains! Pick up this fast-paced, action packed book now!