Slashdot Mirror
Science Fiction Stories for Teenage Girls?
Sooner Boomer asks: "Not having met 'Mrs. Boomer' yet, I'm buying Christmas gifts for my nieces and nephews. Whether genetics or just good luck, almost all of the young 'uns are girls. I've been slowly introducing them to the classics of science fiction: Heinlein ('Podkayne of Mars', _'Starship Troopers', etc.), Asimov short stories, Ann McAffrey (the Dragonrider books), Alan Dean Foster (the Flynx books and others), Douglas Adams and Terry Prachett, some Neil Gaiman (Stardust, Good Omens), as well as the mandatory Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. This is just a partial list, but what would Slashdot consider to be good (or even essential) science fiction for teen and pre-teen girls?"
A girl I was infatuated with got me hooked on Piers Anthony, specifically his Adept series. Good blend of sci-fi and "girly stuff" (unicorns, chivalry, etc.).
"You know you're narcissistic when you quote yourself in your sigs." -- PRoPAiN!
Speaking as a former teenage girl...
The Meri by Maya Bohnhoff
Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy (start with The Crystal Cave)
Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series (start with Magic's Pawn or Arrows of the Queen)
David Eddings's Belgariad and Mallorean (start with Pawn of Prophecy)
Mary Herbert's Dark Horse trilogy (start with Dark Horse)
Trudi Canavan's Black Magician Trilogy (start with Magician's Guild)
Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality Series (start with On a Pale Horse)
Piers Anthony's Apprentice Adept Series (start with Split Infinity)
I know they always seem to be in another castle.
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
- A Wrinkle in Time
Madeleine L'EngleAny of a few score books by Andre Norton.
Anything by Patricia A McKillip, but particularly the "Riddlemaster of Hed" series.
Earthsea series by Ursula K LeGuin
- Ender's Game
by Orson Scott Card. The rest of the series is good as well (as is pretty much anything by Card) but may not appeal as much to your target audience."The legitimate powers of government extend only to such acts as are injurious to others." Thomas Jefferson.
When I was a preteen girl I loved books by William Sleator. It was only years later that I realized how technologically/scientifically advanced they were-- at the time I just loved the stories. My favorites were The Boy Who Reversed Himself (which to this day shapes how I think about 4+ dimensional geometry) and House of Stairs (which I forgot about completely until I was in Psych 101 and then had to track it down and reread it), though they were all good; great plots and characters and cool SciFi. I can't vouch for anything written after about 1990.
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