Adventure

Genre Study:

Adventure novels are stories that are dominated by action and commonly involve danger, risk, excitement, and suspense. The action in adventure texts is fast-paced and keeps the reader engaged with the plot of the story. Generally, the events in an adventure story are more remarkable and extraordinary than the actions that occur in everyday life, yet some stories can have a plot that is more realistic than others. The theme throughout most adventure stories typically revolves around the hero of the story and how the actions in the plot change the hero in some way. The setting of most adventure novels is located in exotic or unfamiliar territories. The central focus and premise of adventure novels is for the reader to engage with the action that occurs to the characters and the authors spend less time on character development to focus on the action development and details. The conflicts of the literary novels are usually defined as one of the following: man versus nature, man versus man, man versus society, and man versus self. Adventure fiction novels generally focus the conflicts of the plot on exciting and thrilling scenes such as man versus nature as seen in Gary Paulsen’s novels about Brian Robeson, and man versus man or man versus society as in novels that involve war or fighting.

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Selected Titles:

Paulsen, G. (1987). Hatchet. New York: Bradbury Press.

            This text is an appropriate reading level for students in grades 5 through 8 and is has a Lexile level of 1020L. The plot of the text keeps readers interested and engaged because of the exciting, dangerous, risky, and adventurous action in the book. This book is good for students to connect with because the main character, Brian, is a thirteen-year-old boy with divorced parents and he finds himself stranded in the woods and has to try to survive. Readers can empathize and visualize themselves in Brian’s situation as he struggles through his conflict with the Canadian woods and a plane crash. The plot of the book will keep students thinking about the situations that Brian has to deal with because they are realistic situations that students might be able to imagine themselves in. Students who read Hatchet will want to continue to read the other stories about Brian’s adventures like The River, Brian’s Winter, Brian’s Return, Brian’s Hunt because Gary Paulsen ends Hatchet with Brian still in the woods but a rescuer has just arrived so they will want to know what happens next to Brian.

Gardiner, J. R., & Sewall, M. (1980). Stone Fox. New York: Crowell.

This text is appropriate for students in grades 3-5 and it has a Lexile level of 550L. Stone Fox is great for students to stay engaged because they will be intrigued to find out what is going to happen next and to find out if the boy can survive and prevail throughout the action and danger of the plot. Students will be able to read through this text smoothly and quickly because of its textual structure and the plot flows very smoothly. Students can relate to this text because the main character is a 10-year old boy who is trying to take responsibility for his grandfather’s debt. Students will enjoy reading about a boy their age that is brave and adventurous. This book can be used to discuss topics in social studies about Native American history and history in the Rocky Mountains.