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Ask Slashdot: Best Science-Fiction/Fantasy For Kids?
Jason Levine writes "My son is 8 years old. I'd love to get him interested in science-fiction, but most of the books I can think of seem to be targeted to older kids/adults. Thinking that the length of some novels might be off-putting to him, I read him some of the short stories in Isaac Asimov's I, Robot. He liked these, but I could tell he was having a hard time keeping up. I think the wording of the stories was too advanced and there was too much talking and not enough action. Personally, I love Asimov, but I think much of it just went over his head. Which science fiction and/or fantasy books would you recommend for an 8-year-old? (Either stories he could read himself or that we could read together over the course of a few weeks.)"
My advice might seem a little cynical, but the first thing I always tell someone who asks "How do I get my kid to like X?" is to tell them "Don't." If they're anything like my kids, mom and dad trying to sell them on something is the quickest way to make it the most uncool thing in the universe.
When I was a kid, my dad kept trying to sell me on Westerns. Whether or not that had anything to do with it, or whether it was just my nature, I can tell you that I *hated* Westerns then and still do. Of course, I never had the heart to tell the old man, and humored him to no end. But if there was ever any chance I was going to like those bastards Louis L'Amour or John Ford, my dad trying to make them seem "cool" certainly guaranteed that it was never going to happen.
As an alternative, why not ask your kid what HE likes, and YOU read some of HIS stuff instead? It will probably be a bunch of crap (my evil kids stuck me with reading those damned Harry Potter and pussy vampire books). But at least you won't be turning him off to something.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
I read the Hobbit to my son around first grade, and we read Lord of the Rings when he was about 7. This was ten years before the movies came out, and he was able to use his own imagination instead of seeing Peter Jackson's imagination at work. Highly recommended - he still has fond memories of our reading those books, and even said so this weekend.
If you read them over the course of a few weeks or so they are like any serial, where you learn to keep track of who is where and doing what, and enjoy the anticipation of finding out what comes next. I wouldn't assume they have to be short stories, they just have to hold his interest.
John
Christopher's Tripods trilogy is aimed at the younger reader. There's even an old British TV adaptation of the first two books.
I was totally reading Jules Verne as a young kid. They're easy reads, often interesting for kids, and are very light-hearted/G-rated.
Ender's Game.
'Space Cadet', 'Rocket Ship Galileo', 'Have Space Suit Will Travel' etc etc.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Great writer.
Have him watch Star Wars in the Machete Order and then get him started on the Timothy Zahn books, Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. They are awesome! I loved them when I was a kid, and still do.
Narnia or Dark is Rising, both are fast paced and worthy of a few chapters at a time. I was read them when I was a kid, by the time we finished Narnia I was reading the books to my parents and was way ahead of my classmates on a reading level.
CS: It is all sink or swim...oh and did I mention there are sharks in that water?
I don't recall getting into this stuff seriously until I was 11 or 12 but names I would throw out would be Madeline L'Engle (Wrinkle in Time), C.S. Lewis (Perelandra, That Hideous Strength), Ray Bradbury (Martian Chronicles or his short stories), Lowis Lowry (The Giver), Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game although it's a long one for kids), Robert Heinlein (The Star Beast, The Rolling Stones), Arthur C. Clarke (Childhood's End), Terry Pratchett (Johnny Maxwell series) ... now, since I was young there have been a whole raft of others and I think Neil Gaiman is even writing children's books now. I guess some names I've heard that you can look into are Andre Norton, Douglas E. Richards, Terrance Dicks, Donald Moffitt, Larry Niven, Jane Yolen, Gary Paulson, etc.
Just so you know, Asimov did edit collections of sci-fi for children (on his way to having his name on 500 books) and I think I remember Young Mutants and Tomorrow's Children being okay collections.
My work here is dung.
How about the Lensman series?
I'd say anything by Jules Verne. I read most of his work between 8 and 10 and I couldn't be happier.
Oh, and, while not really Science Fiction, "The Mad Scientists' Club" by Bertrand R. Brinley was pretty cool.
...I just came for the free beer.
Need I say more?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
_not_ Scalzi's reboot.
Charming, stand-alone story which is a part of his ``Terro-Human Future''.
In the public domain, so available from Project Gutenberg:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18137
If you're travelling at some point in the near future, the version on Librivox:
http://librivox.org/little-fuzzy-by-h-beam-piper/
is absolutely professional in its production quality and would make a great story to listen to in the car.
William
(and I second the suggestions of Verne, Ender's Game and the Heinlein juveniles)
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
This was got me hooked back in the day (plus the Heinlein juves): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Flight_to_the_Mushroom_Planet Part of "The Mushroom Planet Books". These are easy to follow without being condescending. And anyone who isn't captivated by the idea that youngsters could build their own functional rocket ship isn't awake.
Books I remember liking from that age that had a science or sci-fi bent were Danny Dunn stories (there were quite a few books, don't know if any are available) and a book called the Dinosaur and the Egg (by Stephanie Lewis?). Lit my imagination and an appetite for all things sci-ency.
We have nothing to fear but fear itself! And Spiders!
There's plenty of kid-focused Sci-Fi
Anything with Janet Assimov's name on it is kid friendly.
I loved the Lucky Starr series by Isaac Asimov (under the name "Paul French")
Heinlen even wrote some kids books.
Most of the 'big' sci-fi authors have written stories for kids.
You just have to go looking for it.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Seconded again, Tom Swift books come in various Generations... get the latest ones for the most relevance to today. But don't ignore the old ones, they are more fun in my opinion.
"Computer Scientists can count to 1024 on their fingers" (non-mutant, non-mutilatated, human computer scientists)
For SF, the Heinlein juveniles: Red Planet, Have Space Suit Will Travel, Between Planets, Space Cadet, etc. if your kid can deal with young-teen reading levels. If you need something younger, Asimov had "Norby" and "Lucky Starr", there were a set of books about "Danny Dunn" in the 50's and 60's, Brinley wrote "The Mad Scientist Club" for Boy's Life around the same time, and there were a bunch of "Tom Swift" books - Jr, not Sr, the latter are way too dated. Also from the 50's, check out "The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet" by E. Cameron. Fifteen years ago my own kids plowed through the "Animorphs" series, but I thought they were formulaic and trite - I guess the recommendation depends on whether you're looking for "good" books or something that the kids will find engaging. In the same vein, Coville's wrote a bunch of lightweight but fun things such as "My Teacher is an Alien".
I would NOT recommend Verne or HG Wells for modern young readers, the prose seems long-winded and obtuse by modern standards, but after your kid's hooked he can certainly go back and fill in with these.
For fantasy, you couldn't do better than "The Enchanted Forest Chronicles" by Patricia C Wrede. Hold off on Tolkien until later, "The Hobbit" might be okay for a read-aloud family activity but is a bit much for most 8 year olds.
I've seen an eight year old read it and love it. It is very accessible because it is just random fun.
Those are all good suggestions, I might add Anne McCaffrey to the list. I am confused however by the idea that it's bad to exceed a child's comprehension. Let his own reading material be age-appropriate if you must, but he will enjoy being read good stuff even if he doesn't completely understand it. What exactly is gained by reading unchallenging books?
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series for fantasy, Heinlein's juvenile stuff for SF. And don't ask him to read the books, read the books to him. Let him find his own things to read (it'll be godawful stuff in your opinion, and that's OK).
I had the same experience with Westerns. I guess when I saw "My Name Is Nobody" I was a bit lost but the Fist Full of Dollars stuff was right in my wheelhouse. Today I don't watch much other than Clint and my dad was okay with that. On the other hand, my dad used to play records for me like Baba O'Riley by The Who and The Beatles' Red and Blue collections on his old record player. I gobbled that stuff up and, later, when I would be exposed to then popular bands like Ace of Base and Green Day from my classmates my body rejected that trash like a baboon heart with the wrong blood type. So I think it can easily go both ways depending on the relationship and the kid's interests. This guy's kid already sounds like he's showing a positive enjoyment towards the books so let's further it.
And today, I have many younger cousins that I guess I never realized looked up to me and thought I was cool. Well, one Christmas, my aunt just put my name on a present to my younger cousin Hunter and it was for some book I never heard of. She e-mailed me the synopsis and he read that book in five days we did a little back and forth over e-mail about it. So I took her cue and started sending him books I pick up at thrift stores and other used book stores if they're cheap (I'd wager he's got some pretty good sets and maybe even doubles of most of these authors). Seriously, stop in a goodwill sometime, pick out some good books and gift them to your younger relatives, it's worth the ~50 cents for the old paperback on the chance the kid reads it. Now when I'm visiting I casually ask him about the books and he goes nuts where he never said two words before.
So, if you want to help the person asking Slashdot, perhaps the suggestion should be "Give the book to his idol and politely ask them to give the book to your kid." Then once the kid is hooked, you just so happen to have read the book as well.
My work here is dung.
I think GRRM's Game of Thrones might be slightly more kid friendly.
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
Not hate, not even ideology, stupidity is politically neutral but it seems that there is a preponderance of good fiction, and re-writing of history that begs laughter in this political compaign. It also seems like much is coming via Fox "News" (since when). What you see is laughter.
I detect though that you have some scorn, and hate. You wouldn't be invested in that message would you? and you with your "festering bullshit" comment seems like you missed the point and as other have stated, possibly, lack a sense of humor.
Well better than Republicans, lets see. by keeping an open mind, caring for more than just myself and my pocketbook, feeling that every citizen should vote and we should not provide road blocks to suppress voters from voting, I think congress should govern (parties working together and compromising) rather than lying down on the floor and pounding their fists and saying no, no, it that to be my way. Realizing that we are better off now than when Bush was in office, because the economy was in free fall, it is not now. Thinking that unregulated commerce has almost killed the economy what 5 or 6 times, so anyone saying that more de-regulation is the path out of economic crisis, is not playing with a full deck (or most likely, they feel they can take advantage and take your money and run behind the gated community gate before you realize what has happened). I don't know what makes anyone better than an ideologue, on either side.
But as you said, this was about what children should read. But you asked the question.
Good call on Alan Garner, I'd second that.
Also the Wizard of Earthsea series (Ursula LeGuin) are very readable and the character is (or at least starts the adventure as a) kid, which I think is necessary for kid-suitable fiction.
It's heartbreaking to say it, because they've given me so much pleasure over so many years, but we may as a civilisation be moving away from Plain Old Books and into other forms of storytelling.
It might be more useful in the long run to teach him how to discern between mass-market crap and good, meaningful stories in whatever form they take.
Business/App ideas are like arseholes: everyone's got one, they're mostly shit, but very rarely they contain a diamond
the Tom Swift books are pretty fun for kids. Crazy airplanes, spaceships, submarines, and all kinds of weird things. The books will make YOU cringe a little (not the best prose in the world and sometimes quite tacky) but may spark the imagination of a child.
Hardcore sci-fi can start being interesting soon, but most of that does not get REALLY interesting until the children become old enough to read between the lines and see the actual point of the stories. At least a little. Books such as Animal Farm (okay, not sci-fi, but bear with me) are often seen as boring by children who haven't trained themselves to read books and understand the point. Most hardcore sci-fi isn't about robots, but rather about the human condition. Choose something simpler that really is about robots to begin with. The rest comes when the children start exploring by themselves.
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Absolutely, The Hobbit. At eight it should be easy. We were reading LOTR by eight. The Narnian Chronicles are also good for children and easy reads. (Some people hate them as inherently religious--kids don't notice.)
Harry Potter, though reductive and non-classic, is also easy and can be fun.
The Dark is Rising Sequence is a slightly tougher read, but also uses much better language.
Most importantly, turn off the TV/Computer/Videogames. Books get MUCH more interesting when there isn't something around that gives faster rewards.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
Some of the classics of SF are awfully dated: theirs are futures which didn't happen. Because of that, Asimov, Heinlein, Andre Norton, Williams and Abrashkin's "Danny Dunn" and other juveniles of that time may be hard to swallow. I'd say that CS Lewis falls in the same category.
Daniel Pinkwater is a genius, with books for all ages:Tooth-Gnasher Superflash is a picture book about test-driving a car, and hopefully it flies and eats other cars; Alan Mendelsohn, The Boy from Mars is about the strangeness of growing up. You can't go wrong with one of his books. ;^)
Roald Dahl, while written half a century ago, hold up pretty well: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a good gateway drug, and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator is a little more SFnal
Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" is a tough read for a youngster -- be available for the reader, answer questions, help them along. Some object to Card's politics, and his psychology of cruelty, but it's still a darn good read.
Lois McMaster Bujold's "The Warrior's Apprentice" may be a little old for an 8-year-old, but not by much. It's a modern space opera, about someone older but not bigger than an 8-year-old.
Scott Westerfeld's "Leviathan", "Peeps" and "Uglies" series are perhaps aimed more at teens, but don't get too adult. His wife, Justine Larbalester, writes great fantasy (How to Ditch your Fairy, Liar).
Clive Barker's "Abarat" is sort of an Oz/Wonderland inside-out. Yes, the creator of Pinhead can write kid-safe stuff too. But oops, that's fantasy too.
China Mieville's "Railsea" is getting great press, but I haven't had a chance to read.
Paulo Bacigalupi's "Shipbreaker" is another I haven't read yet
Adam Rex's "The True Meaning of Smekday" is one my wife enjoyed a lot
Cory Doctorow's "Little Brother" might work well, if you don't mind your 8-year-old becoming an activist
Design for Use, not Construction!
(no depth, just a series of rather hum-drum encounters and a load of nonsense about magic and superstition)
Wow. I'd hate to hear your review of Homer's Odyssey.
Breakfast served all day!
I agree, I tried to wade through Tolkien as an adult but could never stay awake long enough to turn the page. For an 8yo I would suggest A wrinkle in time, I enjoyed immensly when I read it as a kid in the 60's. Unlike Tolkien it flows very well. The main charcters are kids a teenage girl hero and her younger brother, the writer does a great job of making them real by giving the charaters everyday kids problems. For example the girl is seen as a troublemaker at school and lacks self-confidence in her looks because of her red hair. It's educational without reading like a text book, it firmly plants science and math concepts into the child's mind by applying them to situations the hero's find themselves in, (a visit to a 2d planet is one example of that covers the concepts of higher spacial dimemtions).
But most importantly it's a great story about two kids growing up on an road trip through the universe, guided by wise beings who do not belittle their childhood concerns but rather expose them to experiences and hard choices that provides them with the perspective to deal with their own problems. The Harry Potter series does the same thing but in a different setting and with less educational value. Ultimately I belive the ability of these writers to relate to kids in this way via a fantasy world is why both books have been immensley popular with children. The fact that both books mention wicthcraft have also made them very unpopular with religious nutters, Both are high on the list of books that have garnered the most petitions to ban them in the US, wich to me is even more reason to give them to your kids and let them make up their own minds.
Now if someone could just explain to me why my 3yo grandaughter is facinated by kids shows that to me look and sound like they were the product of some really funky drugs? I'm not having a go at modern kids shows here, my favorite when I was very young was "Bill and Ben the flowerpot men" which as an adult appears every bit as fucked up as the modern stuff. Since I only had B/W TV as a young child, this universal urge to watch bizzare animated creatures wander around the screen can't be explained away by "bright colours".
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.