Animal Teen Fiction

They call him the Weirdo. No one knows much about the 17-year-old bear tracker with the horribly scarred face - except that he lives in the eerie swamp where Samantha Sanders found a dead body. But one night Samantha wanders into the dark swamp and meets the Weirdo. She listens to his shocking story, looks into his gentle soul, and becomes his friend. And when she stumbles across another body, Samantha knows that the Weirdo is the only one who can help her.

Last week, 12-year-old Sky found a cryptic message from her dad, who mysteriously fled the safety of their underground compound five years ago. The note said the fate of the world depended on her going topside, to a lost world that's ruled by dinosaurs. Today, after a treacherous journey through the wilderness, Sky and her friends have made it to their destination: Lake Michigan.

When Sophie has to visit her mother at her sanctuary for bonobos, she's not thrilled to be there. Then Otto, an infant bonobo, comes into her life, and for the first time, she feels responsible for another creature. But peace does not last long for Sophie and Otto. When an armed revolution breaks out in the country, the sanctuary is attacked, and the two of them must escape unprepared into the jungle. Caught in the crosshairs of a lethal conflict, they must struggle to keep safe.

Rex Dexter is itching to have a dog. His parents surprise him with a box. A box with holes. A box with holes and adorable scratchy noises coming from inside. Could it be? Yes! It has to be! A...a...chicken? One hour and 14 minutes later, the chicken is dead (by a steamroller), Rex is cursed (by the Grim Reaper), and wild animals are haunting Rex's room (hounding him for answers). Even his best friend, Darvish, is not going to believe this, and that kid believes everything.

When Prince Leo’s devious cousin seizes control of Singara, Leo is forced to escape into enemy territory until he can return and claim the throne. Trapped among his enemies, Leo discovers they know a lot more about him than he knows about himself. With some guidance from unlikely allies, Leo is poised to fulfill a destiny greater than he ever imagined. Can Leo harness his power, stop a war, and prevent a monstrous demon from escaping and destroying the world?

In Flyaway, Christopher crafts a touching novel about hope, friendship, and family. When her father collapses from heart problems and is taken to the hospital, 13-year-old Isla is racked with guilt and fear. She was the one who insisted her father take her out that morning to look at the wild swans, and now she could lose him forever. But then she meets Harry, a boy with leukemia, who seems to understand her like no one else. Together, Isla and Harry embark on a quest to save a swan that cannot fly - and discover that perhaps miracles really can happen.

Grace Delaney and her fellow dance students are en route to perform on a South Pacific cruise ship when a freak storm hits and they find themselves stranded on a seemingly deserted island. With the tropical heat rising, passions and tensions swell to breaking point. And the island itself is quietly steaming with a terrible secret....

Emily the Strange: 13 years old. Able to leap tall buildings, probably, if she felt like it. More likely to be napping with her four black cats; or cobbling together a particle accelerator out of lint, lentils, and safety pins; or rocking out on drums/ guitar/ saxophone/ zither; or painting a swirling feral sewer mural; or forcing someone to say "swirling feral sewer mural" 13 times fast.... and pointing and laughing.

Smoky knows only one way of life: freedom. Living on the open range, he is free to go where he wants to and do what he wants to. And he knows what he has to do to survive. Smoky can beat any enemy, whether it be a rattlesnake or a hungry wolf. He is as much a part of the Wild West as it is of him, and Smoky can’t imagine anything else. Then he comes across a new enemy, one that walks on two legs and makes funny sounds. Smoky can’t beat this enemy the way he has all the others. But does he really want to?

A great evil has risen. A murderer now leads the animals of the plains. As the elephant Sky leads her herd in a desperate search for Bravelands’ rightful leader, the baboon Thorn is forced to flee his old troop, and the lion Fearless, once their friend, is led astray by a tyrant. The balance of Bravelands is about to shatter - unless predator, prey, and scavenger unite as one.

Hockey is Conor's life. His whole life. He'll say it himself, he's a hockey beast. It's his dad's whole life too - and Conor is sure that's why his stepmom, Jenny, left. There are very few things Conor and his dad love more than the game, and one of those things is their Doberman, Sinbad. When Sinbad is diagnosed with cancer, Conor chooses to put his hockey lessons and practices on hold so they can pay for Sinbad's chemotherapy. But without hockey to distract him, Conor begins to notice more. Like his dad's crying bouts, and his friend's difficult family life.

Twelve-year-old Koby isn't like the other kids in her class. She lost her right foot in an accident four years ago, and she is keenly aware that her classmates don't know how to act around her. The only place she feels at home is in her small boat, where she can watch whales play in the ocean. When Koby discovers a stranded mother whale and her baby, she realizes that their survival depends on her ability to keep them breathing through the night. But she is alone, and help is nowhere in sight.

Max “the Wolf” is a top-notch Boy Scout, an expert at orienteering, and a master of being prepared. So it is a little odd that he suddenly finds himself, with no recollection of his immediate past, lost in an unfamiliar wood. Even odder still, he encounters a badger named Banderbrock, a black bear named Walden, and McTavish the Monster (who might also be an old barn cat) - all of whom talk - and who are as clueless as Max.

When Willa's upside-down magic rains, it pours. Clouds form under ceilings. Classrooms get flooded. Umbrellas must always be nearby, just in case Willa has an outburst. Willa hates being the source of such sogginess. Even worse, the more she rains, the worse she feels.... and the worse she feels, the more she rains. All the storminess is threatening to drown her good grades and flood all her friendships. Is there any way to use magic to make the clouds disappear? Or is the storm of the century on its way?

It's 1863, and dinosaurs roam the streets of New York as the Civil War rages between raptor-mounted armies down South. Magdalys Roca and her friends from the Colored Orphan Asylum are on a field trip when the Draft Riots break out, and a number of their fellow orphans are kidnapped by an evil magistrate, Richard Riker. Magdalys and her friends flee to Brooklyn and settle in the Dactyl Hill neighborhood. Together with the Vigilance Committee, they train to fly on dactylback, discover new friends and amazing dinosaurs, and plot to take down Riker.

Cracker is one of the U.S. Army's most valuable weapons: a German shepherd trained to sniff out bombs, traps, and the enemy. Rick is headed to Vietnam to prove to everyone who didn't think he was cut out for war that they were wrong. When Cracker is paired with Rick, she isn't so sure about this new owner. He's going to have to prove himself to her before she's going to prove herself to him. They need to be friends before they can be a team, and they have to be a team if they want to get home alive.

The haunted season has arrived in the Antler Wood. No fox kit is safe. When Mia and Uly are separated from their litters, they discover a dangerous world full of monsters. In order to find a den to call home, they must venture through field and forest, facing unspeakable things that dwell in the darkness: a zombie who hungers for their flesh, a witch who tries to steal their skins, a ghost who hunts them through the snow...and other things too scary to mention.

Socks is one happy cat. He lives the good life with his affectionate owners, Mr. and Mrs. Bricker. Ever since the day they saved him from a life spent in a mailbox drop slot, Socks has been the center of their world. And he always has everything he needs - tasty kitty treats and all the lap room he could want!

The last time Rachel and her friends entered the giant Yeerk pool beneath their town things went very bad. This time they plan to be careful, and sneak in as roaches, just to spy. Once they're inside, though, the team gets caught. But right as things are looking their most dire, everything stops. Everything. Then Rachel and the Animorphs hear a voice. It belongs to a very old, very powerful being, and it says it can save them. But if it does, the Earth will be defenseless.

Isla and her brother are two young foxes living just outside the lands of the furless - humans. The life of a fox is filled with dangers, but Isla has begun to learn mysterious skills meant to help her survive. Then the unthinkable happens. Returning to her den, Isla finds it set ablaze and surrounded by strange foxes, and her family is nowhere in sight. Forced to flee, she escapes into the cold, gray world of the furless. Now Isla must navigate this bewildering and deadly terrain, all while being hunted by a ruthless enemy.