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Sci-Fi Books For Pre-Teens?
o2binbuzios writes "I have two pre-teen boys who are avid readers, and I am going through my mental catalog for great sci-fi & fantasy books for them. What are some of the classics (and maybe new additions to the classics) that would be great for them to read? I am asking because some of the 'straight-up' classics I remember actually seem kind of dark & cynical for younger readers. Starship Troopers and some of the other Heinlein are definitely darker and more political than I remember... Foundation Trilogy and psycho-history maybe too dry. Road-trip reading season is upon us — what are the good reads for the kids in the back seat?"
I'd suggest you try Anne McCaffrery's "Decision at Doona" and James Blish's "Welcome to Mars."
Both are great SF, both are aimed at younger readers, both are upbeat and greatly enjoyable to read.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Ender's Game or just about anything from Orson Scott Card
When I was a kid, I had a lot of fun time reading Journey to the Center of the Earth, from the Earth to the Moon, etc.
Always at the top of my list. It's one of those books that when you finish, you think "how the hell did he fit all that in so few pages?" I can't remember if there's any sax or violins, but that's good for kids too.
.nosig
Almost anything by Terry Pratchett.
I like the Recluse series by L. E. Modesitt. I read those books over and over.
Ender's Game, of course.
He is the same guy that wrote Tarzan. There are several on http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/b#a48 They are a little light on the Science part on occasion, but they were written in 1914.
Scott Carr
Back in six grade, we read "Invitation to the Game" by Monica Hughes, and I've been hooked on scifi ever since.
Brief plot synopsis: unemployment is skyrocketing due to mass mechanization of society, although the unemployed are well taken-care-of due to the same efficient use of resources. It can be dull to be unemployed, at least until you get an invitation on your doorstep mentioning a secret game with a very exclusive list of players.
Mystery/adventure/scifi, very highly rated, but do not read the Amazon editorials (thar be spoilers afoot).
Misery loves company. Online misery loves unsuspecting random strangers.
Those are good. Along those lines, if the readers in question can put up with a style like Verne's (in the sense that it isn't a modern style) they might enjoy E.E. Doc Smith's Skylark and Lensman series; those were very cool to read. The styles can be a show-stopper for some, though. Personally, I just re-read the Skylarks and they were great.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
I found Alfred Bester's works to be timeless classics. Especially "The Stars My Destination."
Citizen of the Galaxy, Farmer in the Sky, Have Space Suit will Travel, Starman Jones - all by Heinlein. These are his juveniles and are all good stories, drama and action along with some moralizing about studying hard etc ... I read them as a kid and was hooked. The Larry Niven short stories.
Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.
Both Bradbury and Heinlein are wonderful. I loved The Martian Chronicles in Junior High.
On the Heinlein side, check out his youth fiction rather than his more political stuff. He wrote a bunch of novels targeted directly at youth.
Life is short: void the warranty.
In particular, McCaffrey's Dragonsdawn even has a little bit of science in it! A smattering of biomed, genetic engineering, some light AI, space navigation and terminology (this is where I discovered Oort clouds), a tiny bit of geology and botany. It's fun, and the psionics comes in late enough that you can ignore it if you want.
Uh, "if it looks roughly mouse-shaped according to my infra-red sensitive pit, eat it"? --Chris Burke 09-08-10
My advice would be, don't hold back. I had a voracious appetite for books as a teenager which crossed many demographics and genres. But the most memorable to me are the ones with more of an adult edge that really made me think. Personally, I think we spend too much time holding children back and looking to make their lives better than our own. Not every novel I've read was a classic, but there are very few I would say I didn't at least enjoy. Let them read everything you can get your hands on that looks interesting.
A steaming cup of soykaf would be real wiz right now.
Robert Aspirin's Myth Adventures books, the first 3 are: Another Fine Myth Myth Conceptions Myth Directions Quite funny, lots of pun names and general hilarity. Terry Pratchett's Disk World novels are also very funny, with lots of "play on word"s to keep a young mind on its toes (so to speak)...
I mostly bring up old-timers because they're the ones I read when I was young. Asimov's Robot novels like "Caves Of Steel" might be more appealing than the Foundation stuff. Heinlein wrote a lot of juveniles. I've read that "Starship Troopers" was supposed to be a juvenile but it was deemed to rough by the editors and re-marketed as adult. However, "Double Star" is a good juvenile by Heinlein.
In the old days, Sci-Fi was mostly short stories, go find good anthologies! The Science Fiction Hall Of Fame anthology of the best science fiction stories is a good place to start.
Other recommendations would be "Voyage Of The Space Beagle" by Van Vogt, "Wasp" by Eric Frank Russell.
In theory, theory and practice are the same; in practice they're different. (Yogi Berra & A. Einstein)
other suggestions:
Diana Wynne Jones: Howl's Moving Castle
William Sleator : Interstellar Pig, Singularity, House of Stairs.
Joan Vinge: Psion (Cat trilogy), etc.
No doubt Slashdot is full of Harry Potter haters. I was one, too, until I actually read the entire series last month. It's still not exactly my cuppa, but it's an incredibly well-crafted work of fantasy fiction for young adults. The first couple of books are pure wish-fulfillment, which will appeal to any pre-teen. The books are too long for young readers to make it through all of them back to back, though, so by the time they get around to the later volumes, they will be just the right age to appreciate the darker aspects and more complex themes of the series's conclusion.
Unfortunately, most kids will probably just watch the movies.
Breakfast served all day!
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a good, easy read, and is what actually got me started reading Sci-Fi.
Ender's Game is excellent, and while a little dark in places, it's no darker than most classic fairy tales.
Also, if you're at all interested in getting them some fantasy books, two of the absolute best reads would have to be Clive Barker's The Thief of Always, and China Mieville's Un Lun Dun.
In "Time Enough for Love" (by Heinlein), the protagonist has sex with both his mother (there is time travel) and with his X-duplicated, female clone. Lots of his stuff would be fine, but not really all of it.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Here's some that got me started, back in the late 50s. They are all quite accessible to a young reader:
Eric Frank Russel's _Wasp_ (Also good: _The Space Willies_ A.K.A. _Next of Kin_)
Murray Leinster's Med Ship series.
Hal Clemmet's _Needle_ (A.K.A _From Outer Space_)
Heinlein's _Red Planet_
George O. Smith's _Space Plague_ (A.K.A. _Highways in Hiding_) and _Venus Equilateral_ (though the latter is quite dated, using vacuum tube technology.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
"Foundation" is not "too dry". The best thing you can do for your kids is to give them reading material -- sci-fi or any other genre -- that challenges their mind, and makes them think.
Before Foundation, though, get them started on three Robot novels, then the seven Foundation books. After they're done with Asimov, give them the three Lord Of The Rings books. I read all three LOTR in my early teens, in high school. They weren't "too dry", in the least. I loved them. I had no problems with it, and English isn't even my native language.
Don't be afraid to challenge your kids. Challenging reading material is very good brain food. Other suggestions:
* The first three Mars books, by Edgar Rice Burrows. Some of that (mostly the first book) is a bit dated, and a bit bizarre (everyone on Mars walks around naked, and Martian women lay eggs). But, once you get passed the weird stuff, it's great pulp.
* War of the Worlds, by HG Wells
* A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court, by Mark Twain. Yes, it's sci-fi/fantasy.
That should be enough to last until next year. Come back then for more stuff to suggest.
Ringworld, Snowcrash, Cryptonomicon, The Hobbit, LOTR, Harry Potter, Odd Thomas, Dragonlance (the stuff written by Weiss and Hickman, not the 3rd party crap), Star Trek novels, Sword of Truth, A Game of Thrones, Neuromancer is pretty edgy, but a great read. My younger brothers absolutely loved a series called Animorphs. When I was about 12 I really enjoyed Swiss Family Robinson. Maybe throw in some classics like Frankenstein and Dracula. H.G. Wells Time Machine, Gulliver's Travels, Around the World in 80 days, Dune
I would also second the suggestions of Card's early work. Ender's Game, Songmaster, The Shadow Series, The first few Alvin Maker books are good. I would definitely get them to read Pastwatch: the Redemption of Christopher Columbus.
You also can't go wrong with comics. There's a lot of really good stuff in trade paperback these days. You can introduce them to Marvel's Ultimate lines; Ultimate Spiderman, Ultimate Fantastic Four, etc. These series start over and reboot the universe. They will be more compelling for young readers because there isn't 40 years of continuity to sift through.
I would also suggest giving them books that you enjoyed as a child, or even an adult. Just because something is edgy or political doesn't make it automagically inappropriate for a child. You can tell them to come to you with any questions, and you will end up raising a kid who's wise beyond his years, and that will serve the kid well as he gets older.
rj
I'm not a huge sci-fi reader, but also never really found what I read to be all that difficult.
'Dune' is a great place to start out. I was never able to get through the sequals, but the original is a classic. Possibly a bit advanced and cynical, but definitely on the 'required reading' list. The Sci-Fi channel miniseries is also excellent.
Another obvious recommendation is The Hitchhikers Guide series. They're easy, they're funny, and unfortunately not strictly sci-fi. Either way, I'd have a hard time thinking of reasons not to read something by Douglas Adams.
On the fantasy end of things (more my tastes, and still closely related to SF), I'd strongly recommend His Dark Materials, LoTR (if you can manage to get through the first 250 pages), and anything by Terry Pratchett.
If your sons have any interest in The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, I'd highly recommend starting early, as the average lifespan of the typical human is only just barely long enough to cram them all in (I jest, but seriously.... if you follow the user-submitted reviews of the books on Amazon, the readers get fewer and angrier as the series goes on with seemingly no end in sight).
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea novels + short stories are a fairly easy read. Also each is quite short. Can't remember anything in it that might not be suitable for younger children offhand.
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by Robert Silverberg. Gripping plot, accessible on several levels, no naughty words that I can recall.
This ain't rocket surgery.
Pretty much all Hienlien's earlier stuff is what I call "boy scout" stories. I developed the term from his Sunjammer solar sail story that premiered in the boy scout magazine "Boys Life".
And every kid of any age should read everything from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Besides 36 novels, he's written some books specific to younger readers (and won awards for same) and there's been both animated and live versions of some of the Discowrld books made. The Discowrld stories are much like the old Bugs Bunny cartoons -- well done for and received by kids, but some more esoteric pieces inserted specifically for those who can find them -- mostly for adults, sometimes for specialists (like the details of the "clacks" being there for techheads).
Asimov's collections of short stories are good for kids and he puts in well explained details of the science involved. And if you can interest them in these, then you can give them his collections of science essays, which are equally entertaining but even more educational. By the time they catch on to the latter, they'll be more interested in learning more, and that's the best thing that can happen from all this.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
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A problem with the Skylark and Lensman series is that they were written when eugenics was still popular in the US, before the NAZIs made such a graphic display of their dark-side implications. The good guys are good guys and the bad guys bad guys largely due to their genetics. The last book of the Lensman series shows that the police/military organization you've been following was actually a secret breeding program, run by behind-the-scenes aliens, to produce a human master race to rule the galaxy and wipe out their ancient enemies.
Whenever I feel like trusting government officials I re-read the section of _The Grey Lensman_ where an "unattached lensman" (a supercop, with carte blanch to do whatever he pleases, no oversight, massive resources, and a gadget that lets him wiretap minds remotely) wipes out a nest of dope dealers by calling in the equivalent of a massive surprise nuclear carpet-bombing on the city they're in, to vaporize them all before they can get away.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
The Asimov robot trilogy is more accessible than the Foundation series.
My wife is the current librarian of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, and there's a Children's Recommended Reading List that the club has been keeping up for some time. There's a lot of stuff on there, and it should offer some guidance.
Though his Xanth series is probably more widely known there are others to choose from. Terry Pratchett had some good stuff for kids as I recall though I think I only read one of them and it was about gnome type critters but good reading regardless.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Most of Heinlein's early works (Tunnel in the Sky is my favorite) are pre-teen fodder. It's not till the 60's when he started getting into the more mature stuff. As a kid I whet my teeth on Tom Swift Jr., by Victor Appleton III. There were a bunch of earlier ones that were Tom Swift Sr. that I didn't find as interesting, Tom Swift and his Motorcycle, etc. There are a bunch of new generation ones also, Tom Swift and his IPod or whatever. Any good library's sci-fi section should do splendidly, especially at their schools. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift By the way, I got my daughter to read Tunnel in the Sky and she loved it. She's now devouring Bradbury books after reading Farenheit 451 in school (8th grade).
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I think Dune is probably the first Sci Fi I read that's really memorable to me, although I'm not sure I would really recommend it to you. I was a huge fan of Star Wars novels when I was younger, especially the ones authored by Timothy Zahn.
H. Beam Piper.
2-3 sequels..
fuzzy sapiens...
a great read- similar to heinline juveniles.
hard to find-- worth the search....
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
I loved sci-fi short stories as a kid.
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov (get the book of short stories not the movie adaptation)
The Wind From The Sun is a good collection of Arthur C. Clarke.
If you can find 'em, the Danny Dunn series of books were great, always had hard core science. Kinda like the Hardy Boys, but with a sci-fi influence. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Dunn
Sherlock Holmes!
The first time I read the Narnia books, I had no idea there were "Christian overtones." But I was young and just enjoying a quick fantasy.
When I read the Narnia books when I was a kid I had no idea there were "Christian overtones.". When I read them again when I was 33 I still had no idea there were "Christian overtones."
I think whatever overtones you're reading are more about what YOU put into what you're reading than what's written on the page.
I know C.S Louis was considered by himself and others as a christian writer, but it's quite a stretch to think that the Narnia series are any more "christian" than most other fantasy novels.
Unless you consider anything with good and evil epic battles and sacrifices to be "christian", but that seems like an awfully broad definition.
The Xanth series really got my daughter hooked on reading. I'd read 10-12 of the series when I was in College (all that were available at that time) and she's blown through the 30+ books that are now part of the series.
Use your head, can't you, use your head,
You're on earth, there's no cure for that - S. Beckett
If ERB is the Stephen King of SF/F then Anre Norton was the Judy Blume. Like ERB, almost all of her 300 books are suitable for younger readers.
It's been so long since I read her stuff, but don't ever remember being disappointed by any of her books.
Some titles that come to mind:
Quag Keep
Zero Stone
Android at Arms
Ice Crown
Merlin's Mirror
Voorloper
Crossroads of Time
Forerunner Foray
Exiles of the Stars
Postmarked for the Stars
The Time Traders
Galactic Derelict
Witch World
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Don't try to avoid dark in sci-fi. A lot of the best sci fi is more about exploring the human psyche - the technology or remote physical setting is more a tool than the focus of the story.
My recommendation: Go for a short story collection. Anything by Asimov would be good. Or failing that try a collection that exposes the youngster to a wide variety of authors, but in short little bursts. Any story that isn't interesting can be skipped, or if read won't turn into a long drawn out drag that'll put the little tike off.
If short stories aren't what you want, try Cities in Flight James Blish.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Oh heck yes! There have been multiple generations of this series. The older stuff like Tom Swift and his biplane perhaps not as interesting but there were at LEAST 3 generations after that! I actually collect some of the really old ones - now nearly 90 years old and have some of the 2nd and 3rd gen ones too, I think there's a 4th newest generation as well.
For stuff that is NOT dark, not super violent, and a decent read for younger people this stuff is great I think. It's like Sci-Fi Hardy Boys. When I was a kid I read every one of them the local library had in multiple cities.
The oldest Tom Swift books are now public domain it seems, holding one that old in your hands is pretty wild but be advised that they aren't terribly "PC" for the modern world, they depict stereo-types pretty badly in the oldest books. A window into that time I guess but I do find it bothersome sometimes. These are popular on eBay...
There was another bunch of books - Zip Zip was in the title. John Schealer was the author of these - I liked them as a kid too. Worth checking out although likely dated now like the old Tom swift books.
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The first books I've read and still remember fondly these days were The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne. I think I was 9 or 10 years old at the time and the edition I read had some pencil-drawn pictures every 5 pages or so.
Amazing, engrossing story of a group of people lost on an island and how they build their own little pocket of civilization. There's an engineer in the group and they build a watermill, a telegraph, etc. They even rebuff a pirate attack! I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I absolutely loved those books (I think it's only a single book, but the ones I had were split in two). They are accessible and I don't remember anything objectionable in them. There's a little tie-in at the end with Captain Nemo, from the Twenty Leagues Under the Seas story, but the books stand on their own.
I highly recommend this book. Hmm, I wonder if I can find a good online version of it to read again...
Religion is the best example of mass psychosis
Actually, C.S. Lewis had been converted to Christianity by J.R.R. Tolkien and in fact wrote the Chronicles of Narnia as a sort of Christian allegory. The "overtones" (to put it mildly: I agree with others now that they are overwhelming and a bit cloying) are not really meant to be subtle.
This is in contrast with The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings which does have a very Catholic foundation in its setting. The entire nature of the origins of the Elves--firstborn of the Children of Ilvatar--and their undying nature, the idea of the Halls of Mandos and the Gift of IllÃvatar (Elves were immortal only as long as Arda existed, but the spirits of Men lingered in the Halls of Mandos and then passed beyond the circles of the World), plus the hand of God guiding the heros (Frodo actually failed his Quest--it was impossible for him to overcome the lure of the One Ring, but because he showed Sméagol mercy and did everything that he had the strength to do, by divine fate the Ring was destroyed.
All in all I far prefer the quiet, assumed Christianity of Middle-earth to the blatent allegory of Narnia. That said, I found the series delightful as a child.
The "sinner" is replaced by the blameless sacrifice, who is shamed, mocked then killed, the women weep over the body which disappears, then the blameless sacrifice is resurrected.
Lion the witch and the wardrobe.
You mad
Along a similar line as Harry Potter-
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Brian Jacques' "Red Wall" series of books. Perhaps I am getting older, but those were a lot of fun when I was in elementary school.
The series is about various critters who act like humans. Lots of well described scenes, battles, and specific personality traits characteristic of which type of critter you are looking at. Your kids will probably learn some vocabulary too.
Thoughtful and well written series of books.
I realize you are looking specifically for sci-fi, but since people who like that typically also like fantasy, here were some of my favorites.
* When I was a pre-teen, I really enjoyed Sword of Shannara, and then I followed the series as more came out. Other Terry Brooks books are also great.
* Almost all of Isaac Asimov's stuff. Foundation series, the spacer books, etc.
* Chronicles of Narnia. These were the popular books for elementary kids where I was.
* Some of the Star Wars books were good, but not all. Most were "unoriginal".
* I read the Dune series when I was in middle school, and loved it. But I suspect only the 1st would hold the attention of a pre-teen.
* Michael Crighton books scared me to death when I was a kid. Maybe I was too young when I read those.
* Flatland. Helps you imagine what higher dimensions would "look" like.
* Obviously LOTR + The Hobbit. Non-negotiable.
* I read a lot of books by Steven Lawhead, many of them fit better in the fantasy category, but some were sci-fi like. I *really* enjoyed Empyrion.
* Also, I really enjoyed sci-fi short stories. I felt they worked really well, but you'd have to find a collection.
* Others: Madeline L'Engle, Ray Bradbury. I know he's not sci-fi or fantasy, but I really liked Shogun by Clavell. Hey, Japanese dress like aliens...
I'm currently reading the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons, and I love it, but it's not for pre-teens. Save it for later.
For the record, Lewis wasn't trying to write "Evangelistic" literature. He wanted to teach children ideas about right/wrong, self-sacrifice, good behavior and such. His self-avowed goal with those series was to plant seeds of good conduct not to explicitly attempt a conversion.
And, yes, I like the books and agree with what he did with them.
The Tripods Series is a great Sci-Fi read for that age. It's a vaguely Orwellian world of the future, ruled by aliens with man in controlled virtual slavery. Kids try to break free of control and rescue man, etc, etc....
When the Tripods Came/White Mountains/City of Gold and Lead/Pool of Fire.
I'm pretty sure the books are labelled in sequence order
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the+pool+of+fire&x=0&y=0
Dan. -- So what if it's spelt wrong, nobody's perfect
Don't forget The Animorphs!
The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy is both hilarious and accessable.
Or maybe if they are feeling dangerous:
NEUROMANCER!!!!!!!!!!
Also, you could check out the Binding of the Blade series. Definitely fantasy and overtly Christianized. The author does not explicitly mention Christianity, but the characters reference a single God and the story arc is about God's interaction with His creation, not about individual characters.
The characters come and go (sadly), but ultimately their goal in life is to accomplish the will of God (i.e. your Christian overtones). And yeah, like Lewis, I agree with the author's theological points. So, I'm biased.
Still these are VERY well written stories.
Other than that caveat, the violence is not any more graphic than Tolkien and no other objectionable elements exist.
I reviewed them more in depth at Conservativebooktalk.com.
The Dune books are far too adult for pre-teens.
Give Frank Herbert a pass. Go for the Heinlein and Poul Anderson.
Why bother
Don't forget RAH's first - Rocketship Galileo, and also Space Cadet, Time for the Stars. Also: I think 'The Rolling Stones' is the correct title of 'Space Family Stone', although I understand many of his early works were originally published serially, and under different titles; that may be the case here, but the novel has always been known to me as 'The Rolling Stones.' I would also include 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' and 'Starship Troopers' here, and perhaps 'The Puppet Masters.' I read all of these before I hit 12, and had no problems with them. Indeed, Moon is perhaps my favourite book to this day, even though I don't agree with some of Heinlein's social or some of his political views, it certainly formed or firmed a lot of my beliefs then and since. I don't see any need to avoid political stuff simply due to being young. On the contrary, much like with pets, it's good to get exposure early, else you might develop an allergy later in life. :)
Other good ones include Isaac Asimov's "Lucky Starr" books (originally credited to his alter ego, 'Paul French', I think). There are also Schmitz's "Telzey Amberdon" books, as well as his classic "The Witches of Karres." Clarke's "Islands in the Sky", Gallun's "The Planet Strappers" (hard to find, but awesome), "Across a Billion Years" by Silverberg, "Space Angel" by John Maddox Roberts, "Healer" by F. Paul Wilson, "Eridahn" by Robert Young (dinosaurs! Time travel! Martians! Aliens! (yes, Martians and Aliens are listed separately here :)), someone else already mentioned "Welcome to Mars" by Blish, and I'll certainly second that. There's a LOT more to E.E. Doc Smith than his Lensman and Skylark books, and I think I'd recommend them all. "Spacial Delivery" by Gordon Dickson was a good one, as are "Talking to Dragons" by Patricia Wrede, (which is apparently part of a series. This is the only one that I've read, and it stands alone brilliantly), the Harper Hall trilogy by Anne McCaffrey (set on the Pern world), and the undersea books by Jerry Pournelle (I think) I remember as being quite fun, too. Also: Robert Aspirin's "MythAdventures" books, and Piers Anthony's "Xanth" books (though the older you are, the more you'll get the 'awful' puns).
Many, if not most, of these, will need to be purchased used, due to the sad state of the publishing industry. *sigh*
I actually wrote a gigantic list on this subject several years ago on Slashdot - you may be able to find it via a search by using some of the more unique titles or names listed here as keywords.
Anything written by Arthur C Clarke. I was devouring everything clark when I was around 10. I started with Rendezvous with Rama, which remains my favorite book of all time. It was actualy on the pre-teen shelf at the library when I was a kid. The sequels are really good, too, imo... though many disagree. The 2001 series is good, Hammer of God, Songs of Distant Earth, Childhood's End. Too many to list. Sometimes the themes are a little advanced, but don't underestimate young readers. I think kids should pick up more advanced books early anyways... it helps development. Too many adults these days are still stuck in a Dr. Seuss world =)
Nicodemus
Or as my wife like to succinctly put it "OMG WTF Jesus Lion"
You don't remember these books as dry and cynical because you didn't care.
You're not seeing them the same way today. Just as I look back on books I loved as a child and see new things, so do you. But the fact remains: they were good books. Children are very, very good at ignoring the things they don't understand in favor of the things they do.
Consider just handing them Heinlein, and letting them figure it out for themselves. Children are robust little machines for making sense of the world. Give them "Stranger in a Strange Land"; all the sex and religion parts whizzed right by me as a kid, and I mainly came away from it with an appreciation for cultural differences. So if you were looking at that book thinking the sex and religion parts were too much, you might be right, but you're also throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Microsoft cheerleader, blue flag waving, you got a problem with that?
Lloyd Alexander's books. His "Chronicles of Prydain" (starting with "The Book of Three") are probably his best work, but he's got some other wonderful stuff.
Jeff Smith's Bone -- don't hold the fact that it's a graphic novel against it. :)
Tweet, tweet.
Karma
Series:
Novels:
Collections:
"Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgement." Job 32:9
Any of the "Tales of Known Space" series by Larry Niven; "Tar Aym Krang" by Alan Dean Foster.
No, Tolkien grew up a devout Catholic. So that's definitely not it. :)
I hate to appeal to Wikipedia, but the article there does mention Lewis's falling away from Christianity as a teenager and then returning to theism and then Christianity when he in his early 30's.
C.S. Lewis was definitely one of the great Christian apologists of the 20th century, and it's no wonder that you remember him as such.
I'll try to stick to ones I didn't see on a fast pass through the topic...
As always, vet for yourself! Good luck! I envy your kids, just starting out with all the wonder out there.
A hero is someone who knows when to run away. I am a hero. -Trent the Uncatchable
From McSweeneys:
3-Line Narnia
C.S. LEWIS: Hey, a Utopia ruled by children and populated by talking animals!
THE WITCH: Hello, I'm a sexually mature woman of power and confidence.
C.S. LEWIS: Aaaahhh! Kill it, lion Jesus!
There's a list of books suitable for children from six to sixteen at The LASFS website. It's one of the many projects of This World's Oldest Science Fiction Club.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
and I really enjoyed Jules Verne. The Asimov short stories are really good and not as convoluted as Foundation.
Asimov's robot series are also pretty simple unless you try to make them fit into the big picture, then it turns into a huge headache. I still remember throwing Prelude to Foundation across the room when I realized that it connected to some other Asimov books I always assumed to be isolated.
The litmus test for when a kid is ready for Asimov is to let him read "The Last Question" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Question).
If the kid goes "uh, whoa" at the end of the story, then he is ready for Asimov.
If he can't figure it out, then he isn't ready.
If he goes "this is bullshit, what a bullshit ending!" then there's nothing for you to worry about, hand him some Philip K. Dick and see what happens.
Pedro
----
The Insomniac Coder
I don't exactly want my kids reading about rishathra and it's many uses political/social/entertainment as pre-teens.
Great books, but with vampires/ghouls/sex I don't think pre-teen is quite the right time.
I strongly disagree, at least with the Dune series. I read Dune (although not in English) when I was 11 or 12, and I believe it's the perfect kid sci-fi. It's light, it present political and social ideas with simple examples instead of explanations, it is morally clear cut so the kid will know who's who, and yet introduce him to some exoticism which can open the kid's mind and certainly lead him to dream about this world. I certainly did.
On the other hand, I think foundation is better for a 14 or 15 years old. It's better on the "idea" side, it has more food for thought, but there is a lot less action and heroism. It's certainly more nerdy than Dune.
(Disclaimer, I read both series a long time ago, so I'm relying on a 25 to 30 years old memory... I may be wrong)
Absolutely. I still read them every few years even though they are very much "Boy's Own Adventure" stuff with teens and tweens saving the world.
Just a note, however, there's also a prequel which explains how the world happened but that ruins half the fun of the series. Do not read it first.
It is an ok book but read it last. Half the fun of reading The White Mountains is figuring out what is going on, what time period it is and other things. Once you read the first three books then read the prequel to learn how the world got that way.
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I'm actually kind of surprised no one until now has really mentioned any of Asimov's robot series, or the Norby Chronicles written by him and his wife Janet Asimov. Perfect for a pre-teen.
The sending of this message pretty much inconveniences everyone involved.
By Carl Sagan. Sci-fi mixed with a little bit of learning - can't go wrong. :)
It was a fine book when I was 10. Now that I'm 55, it's not so good.
And much though I loved Heinlein's juveniles when I was 10 - 16, today I find them... juvenile.
The first science fiction book I read (and the first all-text "adult" book, too) was A.E. Van Vogt's "The Voyage of the Space Beagle." I was seven.
Douglas Adams is fine for all ages.
Piers Anthony is great when you're 10 - 16, starts to lose it after that.
Orson Scott Card, check.
James Patterson isn't thought of as an SF writer, but his "Maximum Ride" series is excellent juvenile SF -- and not shabby for adults, either.
Just turn kids loose in the library, let them get what they like. It may not be what *you* like, but hey! We each have our own taste in authors and styles.
I also highly recomment the Earthsea series, the 4th book, Tehanu, is actually my favourite book of all time.
There are actually 6 books:
- A Wizard of Earthsea (1968)
- Tombs of Atuan (1971)
- The Farthest Shore (1972)
- Tehanu (1990)
- Tales from Earthsea (2001)
- The Other Wind (2001)
Tehanu is a revist to the world of Earthsea through female characters. Tales from Earthsea is a collection of short stories (fairly long short stories) which occur mostly outside of the plot of the other 5 books, but who give context to the world itself and the final book. The last book continues from Tehanu and brings her narrative and the whol series to a more conclusive, and beautiful, end. Highly recommended for any age of person!!
It's controversial author aside, Battlefield Earth is one of the best science fiction books ever written. It's written in a straightforward pulp-action style that is great for kids to digest (as long as they're not intimidated by the ~1k page count). There's nothing too deep or demanding, it's just sci-fi action at it's best. Make sure to buy the copy with the original cover art; leave the hammy John Travolta cover in the store.
The following are all "coming of age" stories which I hope might appeal to your children. Most are winners of the Nebula and or Newberry prizes for literature - which generally means that they can be found in a local library. I will not bother to list all of the wonderful Heinlein novels and stories as they clearly have many champions, though I will plug the anthology "The Past through Tomorrow" which hooked me at age nine and started a life long passion for reading.
David Eddings
Lloyd Alexander
Ursula LeGuin
R. A. MacAvoy
T.H. White
That should keep them busy over the summer.
Over 50 authors sorted by chronological age of readers. Some (e.g. Heinlein) have books for younger readers, but continuing with the author leads to adult books. All (except the Acorna series) are accessible to older readers.
L. Frank Baum - classic Oz for the very young
Lloyd Alexander - Prydain
John Christopher (Samuel Youd) - Tripods series.
Susan Cooper - Dark Is Rising series
Robin McKinley
Robert Asprin - Myth Adventures and Phule series. Other series should wait until mid-teens. Just bought Dragon's Wild -- not read yet, but seems more adult.
Jody Lynn Nye - Mythology
Terry Pratchet - Discworld
Christopher Stasheff - Warlock series, earliest books will need to be reread when older; middle of series is great for children; latest are romances for late teens.
Craig Shaw Gardner
Piers Anthony - Xanth
Brian Jacques - Redwall
Lyndon Hardy - Only one fantasy trilogy.
Harry Harrison - Stainless Steel Rat series. Many other books for different age groups.
Marion Zimmer Bradley - Darkover
Katherine Kurtz - Deryni
Barbara Hambly
Anne McCaffrey - Acorna series is for young children, painful for adults. Talents, Brainships, and Crystal Singer are for any age. Dragonriders vary starting late teens.
Joel Rosenberg - Guardians of the Flame series; warning: main characters die!
Stephen R. Donaldson - Mordant's Need (fantasy), then Gap series (SF). Covenant series for late teens.
Alan Dean Foster - pulp writer great for children but too many clichés for adults.
Edgar Rice Burroughs - classic Tarzan, Mars, and Pellucidar are mandatory.
C. S. Lewis - Narnia
Gordon Dickson - Dorsai (especially appealing to boys), many others.
Terry Brooks (Magic Kingdom for Sale series)
J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter, mandatory for this decade
Fritz Leiber - Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series is great for boys
John DeChancie - Castle series
Fred Saberhagen - Empire of the East and Swords series
Frederick Pohl
James P. Hogan - SF
Laura Resnick - Fantasy
Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game, Shadow series, Enchantment, Songmaster, Magic Street.
Spider Robinson - Deathkiller trilogy and short stories. Callahan's Series for late teens (fun but adult-themed jokes would be missed when very young.)
L. E. Modesitt, Jr. - Ecolitan and Recluse series.
W. Michael Gear - Now writing long-winded pulp with his wife, but his Spider trilogy (and "The Artifact" prequel) is incredible (warning: main characters die!)
Philip José Farmer - World of Tiers
Terry Goodkind - Sword of Truth series starts well
Roger Zelazny - Amber
David Farland (Dave Wolverton) - Runelords
Jules Verne - classic
H. G. Wells - classic
Harry Turtledove - alternate histories, often fantasy.
Douglas Adams - mandatory for potential nerds.
Arthur C. Clarke
Charles Ingrid - SF
Robert L. Forward
Isaac Asimov
Robert Heinlein - mandatory for sci-fi discussions.
Poul Anderson
Larry Niven - Ringworld, etc.
Jerry Pournelle
Greg Bear
Ray Bradbury
Mike Resnick
C. S. Friedman - often requires rereading to understand (even for adults)
I spend my life entertaining my brain.
I preferred the Catastrophe over the Catapult! But I think that Anthony got kinda lazy after Centaur Aisle, I don't think he put a lot of thought into the books that follow, just cashed in on the franchise. And the puns get agonizing from about Ogre Ogre on... Compare what a great book Castle Roogna is VS, say, Golem in the Gears...
You can have my SIG when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
It's hard to remember back that far, but the stuff I had in my elementary school library included things like the "Tom Swift Jr." series, about a young scientist/engineer. They were sort of in the vein of "The Hardy Boys" or the "Jonny Quest" cartoons but focused on some pretty far-fetched scientific concepts. I really enjoyed them though and must have read 40+ different editions. Like "The Hardy Boys" they were thoroughly formulaic but still good harmless fun for 9 - 12 year olds.
Also, the "Danny Dunn" series was pretty fun. It was more juvenile than the "Tom Swift" stories but had a better scientific foundation. One thing that stood out in these were the inclusion of a girl as a principle character, and adults who weren't shown as being totally stupid-- a failure of a lot of kid's books.
Fantasy wise, I read Anne McCaffery's "Dragonriders of Pern" short stories when I was about 11. I think the short stories preceded the first novel ("Dragonflight") but I could be wrong about that.
I also spent a lot of time reading comics. There were some great stories back then, but many comics today aren't as innocent as those 70's stories were. Or as subversive, as I think the old "Green Lantern/Green Arrow" comics subtly shaped some of my political views. Some comics could provide a nice break if you decide to let them read some of the more serious works others have suggested.
Happy hunting, and good on you for encouraging your kids to read a wide range of things.
Chances are they'll like it too. I was 13 when I read LOTR, and Dune. When I was 11-12 I "discovered" Asimov, Heinlein, Niven, Bradburyand other grandmasters, as well as the Star Trek novels. Those guys are famous for a reason.
Might want to try some collections of short stories, and see what they like. You might already have it in your collection. My library, at the time, had YA stickers on books (young adult), and I remember cruising around the library, looking for those stickers for a few years.
I also used to read the first page in a book, and some other random page just to see if I liked it, or the style. Try that with them.
..........FULL STOP.
Well, I'm not entirely certain as to what "pre-teen" is. 9-12? But when I was around that age I wasn't really reading books for my age group. Well, except for Sweet Valley High, but it was a guilty pleasure.
;)
If they display an interest in something, let them read it. Regardless of whether it's too advanced for them. Yes, certain themes may be a bit mature (i.e. A Clockwork Orange, American Psycho), but so long as there is no graphic violence, torture, or rape there shouldn't be an issue. Books with political messages should be fine as well, if they catch the references, it can spark an interesting conversation. It's always good when kids think and ask questions.
As far as sci-fi goes specifically, I've always been more of a fantasy chick myself. Loved Dragonlance, it's total fluff but still fun. They even have children's versions of the first trilogy now, although I'm not sure how much easier to read they can make it. It's not exactly difficult reading material to begin with.
Oh! William Gibson. I read Mona Lisa Overdrive, Count Zero, and Neuromancer when I was about 12 and loved it, then explored his other novels. Good stuff. Orson Scott Card is great as well.
http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_books_rank1.html Top 100 Sci-Fi books.
Hell, if they're ambitious throw a copy of Cryptonomicon at them and see what happens. If they don't like it, read it yourself, great book. And it's ridiculously long, perfect for road trips or long plane rides.
Doctor Who is great sci-fi. I haven't picked up any of the books yet, but now that I have a two years or so until the next series I may start reading the novels until I can get my fix.
All else fails, toss them in the sci-fi section of the library and tell them to look around and read. I suppose it all depends on how much they enjoy reading. Some kids just aren't into it. I was very happy on summer vacations when my parents dumped me at the library.
Snap ! Islands In The Sky probably wasn't the first Sci Fi book I read but it must have been one of the first when I was 8 or 9 or something.
I think the sci-fi books I enjoyed most around 11 - 12 were The Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison.
Not at all Sci Fi but you absolutely can't go wrong with the Swallows & Amazons series by Arthur Ransome, the setting may be ancient history now but the books are probably the best books I ever read as a kid.
Where did we get the idea that pre-teens can't be exposed to sex in any way? It's a good idea to read books before recommending them to your children to make sure the presentation of sex isn't sinister in any way, but the mere presence of sex shouldn't disqualify a book.
I see several posts on this page where people rule out any sex whatsoever, but nothing at all lamenting the fact that most classic sci-fi is absurdly sexist. Usually naively and unintentionally sexist, perhaps, and only occasionally misogynistic, but not suitable to be the bulk of your kid's literary diet.
In fact, the best reason for tolerating a little sex is that most of the non-chauvinistic sci-fi does contain sex. Plus, it is a good idea for kids to be self-consciously, abstractly wondering about sex before they encounter their own urges in a concrete form. They aren't going to take their ideas from you, their parents, and the alternatives are books, movies, TV, and peers. Obviously, good books and a few movies are your best hope if you want your kids to take a thoughtful, critical approach.
I don't know ANYTHING about pre-teens except what I know from being one, but I know I read several books about sex as a pre-teen and was alternately amused and horrified by the unreflective, superstitious, fetishistic approach to sex that my peers took to sex. Whatever they heard from anyone between their age and twenty-one, they took as gospel truth. Whatever they knew at a given time was assumed to be pretty close to the whole truth. Good science fiction is a wonderful inoculation against those attitudes. (Unfortunately, it seems that most science fiction is optimized to sell to people who would rather fantasize about sex than think about it, but you just have to find the exceptions.)
Here are a few books that might be suitable for preteens.
Island , by Aldous Huxley. I actually read this as a pre-teen. The main thing I took away from it is that sex and love present some thorny problems, and different people have come up with many very different ways of coping with them. It influenced me to approach sex with a combination of compassion, love, and pragmatism, in that order. I learned to keep that attitude to myself in the macho culture I grew up in, and gave up on it altogether by the time I went to college, but eventually my adult experiences with sex brought me right back to where Aldous Huxley started me out. This is a no-brainer choice to give to freethinking kids. It does advocate judicious use of hallucinogens for spiritual purposes, but I read and admired it as a preteen and was never tempted to test that particular idea. (Twenty years later, I still haven't.)
Fledgling , by Octavia Butler. Perhaps this one should be saved for older teens. I really don't know what to say about this book except that it made me think. I'm normally a pretty quick reader, but I kept putting this one down just so I could think for a while. (I know, I'm supposed to do that with every book. So I'm a philistine; sue me.) The takeaway lesson from this book is that people have to be very ethically careful about relations of power and dependency.
Stranger in a Strange Land , by Robert Heinlein. The older I get the more I realize that Heinlein was a pompous dick who loved to put ridiculous ideas over on people, take undeserved adulation from naive people (like my teenage self,) and then defend himself against the critics by saying he was just "throwing things out there" or "seeing who would take him seriously." So I would definitely rer
I've been trying to remember what these books were called all morning. I remember absolutely loving "The Castle Of Lyr" when I was 9 or 10, really great characters and a fantastic story. I'd recommend these to any child.
I think there may also have been some sort of animated film of the Black Cauldron 20 years ago or something.
Sure, you can propose some books you think they will like, but please also take them to a library and let them browse and pick up whatever they want. This is how you get kids into reading in the first place. We are all different, I have a lot of books that are dear to me that I've pushed on this or that youngling, and with some I have been successful, with some I have failed totally. I think I bought my sister Michael Ende's "Momo" twice by mistake, and she never read it once.
Real readers start omnivorous, reading all sort of good as well as bad books, but of all the books I read as a child, very few of the more important (for me) were "for children".
The ones that stick in my mind are:
The Wizard of Earthsea books by Ursula Le Guin
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
The Gods Themselves - Azimov
The End of Eternity - Azimov
Just make sure you use the paperback version. Otherwise, you might:
a) hurt the kid.
b) hurt your arm.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
* The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979) * The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980) * Life, the Universe and Everything (1982) * So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish (1984) * Mostly Harmless (1992)
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