A Selected Summer Fiction Reading List for Intermediate and Middle School Readers.

Fictional boys and girls, ranging in age from nine to fifteen and living in areas from Arizona to Africa, risk relationships and their own welfare to rescue wild animals.

Subjects:  Endangered Species-Fishing-Hunting-Poaching-Wildlife Rescue.

Casanova, Mary.  Wolf Shadows. Twelve-year old Seth must decide whether his friendship with Matt is worth saving when the latter illegally shoots a wolf.  Setting: Minnesota.

Collins, Yvonne.  The Black Sheep.  At fifteen, New York native Kendra, finds herself living  near Monterey Bay with an activist family devoted to saving sea otters. Setting: California.

Corcoran, Barbara.  Wolf at the Door.  Aspiring actress, twelve-year old Savannah, reluctantly helps her older sister, Lee, save the wolves who live near their home.  Setting:  Montana.

Douglas, Marjory Stoneman.  Alligator Crossing.  Henry escapes bullies, stows away on an alligator poacher’s boat, and takes great risks to protect  the amazing  animal life of Everglades National Park.   Setting: Florida.

George, Jean Craighead.  The Case of the Missing Cutthroats:  An Ecological Mystery.  After Spinner, who would rather dance than fish, catches a huge cutthroat trout in the Snake River, she and her cousin trek into the mountains hoping to discover why this beautiful fish is now so rare.  Setting: Wyoming and Idaho.

____ There’s an Owl in the Shower.  When Borden sneaks an orphaned owl home, he does not realize that it is the hated northern spotted owl which, as an endangered animal, put his lumberman father out of work. Setting: California.

Hobbs, Will.  Bearstone/ Beardance. Fourteen-year-old Cloyd, a Ute Indian who renames himself Lone Bear, will never forget the endangered grizzly which was deliberately shot by a wilderness guide.  In the sequel, Cloyd risks his life to save that grizzly’s cubs. Setting: Colorado.

_____ The Maze.  Rick, 14, escapes from a youth detention center only to become lost in a canyon wilderness where he struggles to save a bird biologist and the endangered condors he is releasing from two mysterious men. Setting:  Utah.

Kehret, Peg.  The Hideout. Newly orphaned Jeremy flees  from a train wreck to a wilderness cabin where he strives to save bears from poachers. Setting: Washington

Kessler, Cristina.  Our Secret, Siri Aang.  Namelok, a twelve-year old Massai girl, fights the traditionalists in her tribe to save a black rhinoceros and her baby from poachers. Setting:  Kenya.

Loizeaux, William. Wings: A Novel. Ten-year old Nick rescues a baby mockingbird and faces loss and family problems as the bird matures. Setting: United States.

McCall-Smith, Alexander.  Akimbo and the Elephants.  Akimbo lives on a nature preserve with his game warden father and makes a dangerous plan to save elephants from poachers. Setting: Africa.

Mikaelsen, Ben.  Stranded.  Twelve-year old Koby, who lost a foot in an accident, wants to prove her independence  by rescuing  two stranded pilot whales. Setting: Florida

Skurzynski, Gloria.  Escape from Fear.  (Mysteries of Our National Parks # 9).  Jack and his younger sister attempt to solve the mystery of endangered hawksbill sea turtles. Setting: Virgin Islands.

Smith, Roland.  Thunder Cave.  When fourteen-year old Jacob visits his father, who is studying elephants, he becomes involved with dangerous poachers. Setting: Kenya.

Spinelli, Jerry.  Wringer.  When Palmer reaches his ninth birthday, he must decide whether he wants to kill the wounded birds during his town’s hunting festival called Annual Pigeon Day.  Setting: Pennsylvania.

Swarthout, Glendon.  Bless the Beasts and Children. Six boys escape from a camp for troubled teenagers and try to save a herd of bison from a canned hunt. Setting: Arizona.

How to find these titles: These books , which are sometimes in audio or electronic form, may be checked out from the  Pima County Public Library, school libraries or found in local book stores. PCPL also owns non-fiction books about these animals.

Although the Humane Society of Southern Arizona’s Resource Library carries many of the same titles and related materials, we are not a lending library and all materials must be used on site for research purposes. For more about our library services, contact us Monday through Friday at (520) 321-3704, Ext. 143 or library@hssaz.org.

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