Get Wild!: teen fiction about wild animals
compiled 5-06

Secret Heart by David Almond
YA FIC ALMO Living with his mother in a small village on the edge of the suburbs, shy, often inarticulate Joe Maloney frequently dreams of a beautiful, elusive tiger whose significance begins to be clear after he befriends a young trapeze artist who comes to town with a shabby traveling circus.

The Place of Lions by Eric Campbell
YA FIC CAMP
When the airplane flying Chris and his father crashes on the Serengeti Plain, Chris sets out to find help and finds that his journey parallels that of an aging lion.

The Sight by David Clement-Davies
YA FIC CLEM
Sent out of her pack to live in the world alone, Morgra finds a new pack whom she can rule until she Encounters Larka, an old shewolf who has the power to read the minds of all animals and human beings.

The Tale of the Swamp Rat by Carter Crocker
YA FIC CROC
Guided by an ancient alligator, a silent young rat learns to find his own way in the drought-stricken swamp, despite having been orphaned under circumstances that sometimes cause other animals to reject him.

Siberia by Ann Halam
YA SF/FAN HALA
After spending two years at a prison school, thirteen-year-old Sloe sets off on a trek across frozen wastelands, tending to the secret "seeds" of wild animals her mother left in her care, trying to reach a new life for all of them.

Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf by Sonya Hartnett
YA FIC HART
Satchel O'Rye, devoted son of an impoverished couple in a dying rural town, must weigh in balance the life of his most cherished dog and the freedom of a thought-to-be-extinct animal.

The Maze by Will Hobbs
YA FIC HOBB
Rick, a 14-year-old foster child, escapes from a juvenile detention facility near Las Vegas and travels to Canyonlands National Park in Utah, where he meets a bird biologist working on a project to reintroduce condors to the wild.

Into the Wild by Erin Hunter
YA SF/FAN HUNT
For generations, four clans of wild cats have shared the forest. When their warrior code is threatened by mysterious deaths, a house cat named Rusty may turn out to be the bravest warrior of all. First in the The Warriors Series.

A Fast and Brutal Wing by Kathleen Johnson
YA FIC JOHN
A series of journal entries, e-mails, stories and newspaper articles reveals the strange events that led to the disappearance of an author on Halloween night and the involvement of a teenager and his friends—a brother and sister some say can transform into animals and back again.

California Blue by David Klass
YA FIC KLAS
When 17-year-old John Rodgers discovers a new sub-species of butterfly, which may necessitate closing the mill where his dying father works, they find themselves on opposite sides of an environmental conflict.

A Hive for the Honeybee by Soinbhe Lally
YA FIC LALL
When Thora, a young worker bee, befriends some drones, she wonders if they really are lords of the hive or if their pompous posturing merely conceals an appalling fate.

On Different Shores by Jen McVeity
YA FIC MCVE
While participating in the rescue of a beached whale, Australian teenager Tess finally confronts her fear of swimming and begins to resolve her difficult relationship with her father.

Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen
YA FIC MIKA
After his anger erupts into violence, Cole, in order to avoid going to prison, agrees to participate in a sentencing alternative based on the Native American Circle Justice, and he is sent to a remote Alaskan Island where an encounter with a huge Spirit Bear changes his life.

The Baboon King by Anton Quintana
YA FIC QUIN
After being cast out of the tribes of both his mother and father’s people, the strong young hunter Morengaru feels like he’s becoming more and more like the animals around him, but he still clings to his humanity.

Summer Hawk by Deborah Savage
YA FIC SAVA
When her rescue of a baby hawk takes 15-year-old Taylor to a raptor rehabilitation center in rural Pennsylvania, their offer of a summer public relations job seems a step toward her dream of becoming a journalist.

Thunder Cave by Roland Smith
YA FIC SMIT
Determined, after his mother's accidental death, to foil his stepfather's plans for his future, fourteen-year-old Jacob travels alone to Africa in search of his father, a biologist studying elephants in a remote area of Kenya.

Lord of the Kill by Theodore Taylor
YA FIC TAYL
With his parents in India, 16-year-old Ben Jepson is in charge of Los Coyotes Preserve, a refuge for big cats near Los Angeles, when two powerful groups try to shut it down by intimidation, murder and even kidnapping the largest tiger in captivity.

The Weirdo by Theodore Taylor
YA FIC TAYL
A social outcast tries to save the black bears of Powhaten National Wildlife Refuge.