What’s the best introduction to science fiction for younger readers?
By: Rob
tags: reading, recommendations, young readers
Category: Entertainment, Family, SF, arts, sci-fi, science fiction
My daughter (10) asked the other day if she could read some of my science fiction books. She’s big into Doctor Who, of course, and has enjoyed Harry Potter, and I believe has read some Terry Pratchett (The Carpet People and The Wee Free Men), but all of these things are a long way from what I think of as proper science fiction. When she asked, though, I wasn’t sure just which of my multitude of books would be a good start. I’d like to steer her away from the likes of Pratchett. I’ve nothing against him, but find the domination of his books on library and bookshop shelves an annoyance.
A lot of my own collection requires a degree of scientific knowledge. I’m an arts graduate, in case you couldn’t tell, but I did study sciences till I was 18 (didn’t finish my ‘A’ levels, but that’s another story), and got good ‘O’ levels. I’ve also been reading science fiction since a very early age, so I’ve picked up a lot of knowledge along the way - and when I was growing up, we always had a free copy of New Scientist magazine in the house, because my dad’s company printed it. All the books I read when I was her age have long ago fallen apart.
My daughter’s request caught me off guard, because I just didn’t know what to recommend. One of the first SF books I owned was Arthur C Clarke’s Islands in the Sky, about a young boy’s first trip into space to visit a space station. It’s out of print, though available second hand. I imagine it’s pretty quaint and old-fashioned by now. I can read Golden Age science fiction, as a long-term fan, but I’m not sure a lot of it would strike the first-time reader as being any good ad I’d hate to put her off.
My earliest exposure to the genre was Hugh Walters, with books like Blast off at Woomera and Passage to Pluto. I also read a lot of James Blish, but I wasn’t much older than my daughter when I was introduced to the likes of Larry Niven, Fred Pohl, the Terry Carr anthologies and the wonders of the science fiction section of my local library. My current local library hasn’t even got a science fiction section. They had one, but then closed for refurbishment and clearly overlooked that genre when they reopened. I’m traumatised every time I go in.
Had a trawl round the interweb and found some ideas, so I’ve ordered H M Hoover’s The Winds of Mars and Children of Morrow, as well as Stephen Baxter’s The H-Bomb Girl, which is on the Locus list of recommended reading for 2007.
If you’ve happened across this entry and know of any good SF story collections or novels aimed at the younger reader (my daughter is 10, but with an advanced reading age, so anything for teenagers would probably suit), please add a comment (and please bear with me while it queues for moderation: I’m UK-based, and only on-line evenings and weekends).
in other news, if you sign up for the Tor.com Watch The Skies mailing list, you’ll get access to free downloads of science fiction books. I’ve already scored three PDF versions of novels - including Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin, which is one of the best novels (in any genre) I’ve read in recent years.
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UPDATE: Just to clarify to those worried about recommending something racy or risky: I’m fairly liberal, an atheist, and would be more concerned about exposing my kids to right wing fundamentalism than mild sexual content.
You could try the Doomsday Rats series by James Maloney. There are three books in the series: The Tunnels of Ferdinand, The Scorpion’s Tail, and Malig Tumora.
The language is pitched at the younger reader, the scope of the action is local (no planet wide conspiracies which can be too big to handle and too confronting for youngsters), and the adventure plots and events are suitable as well. For example, driving at high speed in go-karts down storm drains, sneaking and avoiding dog-creatures, and so on.
You could also try Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve. This is certainly a ‘bigger’ story in terms of plot and scope, but makes much of the children protagonists.
In any case, I’d recommned giving any such book a read yourself first if you can. But if not that, at least the first chapter or two to get a feel for the language and the tone.
Hope this helps.
How about Have Space Suit-Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein. It’s a juvenile SF novel and one of the main characters is a young girl. The lead is a boy just getting out of high school, and the other is an alien called “The Mother Thing.” Heinlein wrote 12 SF juvenile in the 1950s that have been in print ever since.
When I was your daughter’s age I read A Wrinke in Time by Madeleine L’Engle which won the Newbery Award. It’s science fantasy.
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells is very readable by young people I think.
Ender’s Game is about children and a favorite SF novel by women who don’t normally read SF.
The Giver by Lois Lowry another Newbery winner is very popular with kids.
That’s a few for now.
Jim
Thanks for the suggestions.
shichitenhakki: yes, I’ll definitely be reading them myself. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.
james: I wondered about the Heinlein juvenile stuff, but thought it might seem old-fashioned to her, like the Arthur C Clarke stuff. I think I’ve read Have Space Suit Will Travel, but it was too many years ago.
I’ll check out all suggestions, with pleasure.
HG Wells and Jules Verne - these were probably the authors that got me hooked to SF and encouraged me to explore this genre further.
You should also look at Asimov’s Robot series. Except that his writing style tends to be a bit dry, I think they should be interesting for your daughter.
Remember what feels old fashion to us might be new and novel to a 10 year old kid. I remember loving I, Robot as a kid, but I don’t think I would like it now. You might test this on your daughter.
I have heard that children like stories with characters slightly older than themselves. I think that’s why I like the Heinlein juveniles so much - it felt like I was reading about problems I would face in just a few years, but these were science fictional problems.
Also, I would think it would be a good idea to find SF with female lead characters for your daughter. Or at least have major female characters that stand out for role models. Let’s hope you get some female SF fans recommending books.
Jim
Maybe some Orson Scott Card? Ender’s Game? I don’t know, he might be a little too old, although Ender’s Game is about a kid around your child’s age. It’s a great book, but I don’t know if it’s too violent. Maybe if you’ve read it or if you could read it first that would be a good idea. It’s a fantastic book and it’s not gory, but it does have some violent scenes.
Already mentioned was Heinlein. Maybe some Larry Niven? Not Ringworld, although that’s a classic, but some of his later work. Ben Bova is always pretty easy to handle as well. Mars and Venus were both great books in my opinion.
I also search the web and found this site: http://www.colapublib.org/reading/children/sci-fi.html
Might find some stuff there too.
Good luck!
Steve Gould’s Jumper. Almost any of Scott Westerfeld’s recent books.
A couple of great recommended reading lists:
- http://www.lasfs.info/oldwebsite/about/pubs/booklist/kidlist.html
- http://www.sff.net/rff/readlist/goldduckRL.htm
ENDER’S GAME. I am a woman and that is the book that really captured my interest. I am a science fiction/fantasy reader to this day. I did read, and love L’Engle - however, it didn’t really seem like Sci-Fi to me it didn’t develop my love for the genre.
I would like to throw in the novel “Polgara” by David Eddings. I know it’s a fantasy, not sci-fi, but the female character is a strong female character who goes through the same trials as any other young woman. Also, she is involved in politics and world events.
The Belgariad is awesome, but “Polgara” really puts it in a feminine perspective. I might consider “The Rowan” but there is a lot of backstory there, not fully explained in the novel - though it does stand on it’s own.
Seriously though, Ender’s Game. Even though the main sharacter is a guy, she won’t identify with him because he is a guy. but because he is a kid who is picked on. Or one who is misunderstood. Or one who is ‘used’ by adults for their own purposes. Or one who is a genius.
I am definitely interested in which book you pick, and what she thinks of it.
Thanks so much for all the responses. The links to lists are very useful, too (thanks SMD and slj), though personal recommendations are really valuable.
Aditya, I thought about the Asimov Robot stories, so I might look them up in some of my anthologies. That reminded me of Cory Doctorow’s brilliant story Robbie the Row-Boat, which is just lovely, but also contains ideas that will be very hard for someone who’s never encountered them before. The idea of people uploading themselves, for example!
Persistentillusion, Ender’s Game will certainly go onto the to-try list. The first book that arrived from Amazon, though, was Children of Morrow by H M Hoover, which I found as a recommendation on one of the on-line lists.
On the fantasy side, she also has Ella Enchanted, in French! (Ella l’ensorcelée). Though she’s a bilingual speaker, she isn’t as strong at reading French, so I don’t know which book she’ll try first.
As a college age girl who’s spent most of my life reading science fiction and fantasy…
I definitely agree with “Ender’s Game,” “The Giver” and “A Wrinkle in Time” I would also suggest the Dragonsong series from Ann McCaffrey, they’re a good introduction to her Pern series, but are written for a younger audience and the first two have a very interesting female protagonist. Also when I was about 10 I started reading Douglas Adams with my father, who also loves Sci-Fi, I probably wouldn’t have appreciated it reading it alone, but it was perfect for us to trade off reading aloud.
If your daughter is also interested in fantasy, I would definitely recommend Patricia Wrede, I liked her “the Magic Forest Chronicles”, as well as books by Monica Furlong. I also like to recommend Tamora Pierce to girls who interested in Fantasy because she’s started writing to fix what she saw as a lack of strong female characters in fantasy. As a warning though, her books are for different age groups and some of them contain sexual content that could be too old for your daughter.
I hope this helps.
What about humorous SciFi? There’s the Vorkosigan series of books by Lois McMaster-Bujold. You can find them just about anywhere, including Amazon. She’s won several awards for her writing (ie: hugo’s etc), but doesn’t require the science background of a writer like David Weber. She deals more with the personal aspect than the technical aspect. And yes, I’ve read every Vorkosigan book because they are good.
Oh, I agree on the Scott Westerfeld stuff. His book “Peeps” was exceptional. Again, though, I don’t know how you parent and some of the books I’ve seen mention might touch on subjects you don’t want your child dealing with at this age. Peeps is an awesome book and I’d have no problems with my ten year old reading it, but it does have some suggestive sexual content, and if you’re a very strong Christian it may or may not be a problem for a ten year old. I’d recommend it anyway, but again, maybe you should really read all these recommended books first, or really research them to make sure you don’t have your child read something you really don’t want them reading.
My son is ten and loves H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. He’s read The Time Machine and 20,00 Leagues Under the Sea. He’s curently reading Journey to the Center of the Earth. He doesn’t find them old fashioned. I know you’re trying to stear clear of Pratchet but he also liked the series, Only You Can Save Mankind, Johnny and The Dead, and Johnny and The Bomb.
Tamora Pierce is the bomb!
I was going to suggest Asimov’s Robots but others have beaten me to it. A couple of others would be Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere - which is set under London and ‘fantasy’ rather than full on sci-fi. He did Stardust (also the recent film), too.
The varied cyberpunk novels are a great genre (to your point about beyond Clarke) and something like Neuromancer by Gibson may be aimed at an older reader but sets a really broad and interesting agenda in its strange variant of the 21st century.
However, I’m not so good at selecting based upon ‘reader suitability’, as others might attest.
Thanks all. I think the current list of recommendations will take my daughter well into her mid-20s.
Rashbre, I’ve got Neverwhere somewhere, so that can go in the pile.
I’m going to enjoy reading all these, too.
These are not all science fiction, but I think they are trail blazers to science fiction and they are easy and enjoyable reads for children:
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle
The Little Prince, Antoine Saint-Exupery
The Glass Elevator, Roald Dahl
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Oz Books, L. Frank Baum
His Dark Materials, Phillip Pullman
The Stainless Steel Rat, Harry Harrison
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
The Martian Chronicles, Arthur C. Clarke
The Forgotten Door, Alexander Key
The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis
Incarnations of Immortaility, Piers Anthony
The Xanth Series, Piers Anthony
Oops! Martian Chronicles is Ray Bradbury!
Lisa, thanks. I think you were thinking of The Sands of Mars by Arthur C Clarke, which I do have.
My daughter has actually read quite a lot of that list (The Roald Dahl, the Philip Pullman).
She’s just finished Children of Morrow and enjoyed it. More later.
I hate the Xanth series, but maybe it’ll be funny to a 10 year old.
At that age I started out on pulp 1950s/1960s sci-fi and anthologies. I romped through the likes of Simak, Pohl and Harrison, most of whom wrote fairly short books aimed at a non-genius audience.
Llewtrah. that was how I started, too. She’s really interested in time travel stories, thanks to Doctor Who, so I guess I should look out more of those. She just finished The H Bomb Girl and really enjoyed it, because of the time travel aspect.
[...] bought this for my daughter, following my appeal on the other blog for recommendations. I’d already spotted this on another web site, but hadn’t realised it was so recently [...]
[...] short while ago, on my other blog, I asked for suggestions for introductory texts to science fiction for younger readers. I received quite a few useful [...]
Lots of good suggestions above, here’re some that are a little less well known. Mixed bag, mostly fantasy with some SF.
The White Mountains (Tripods Trilogy #1) - John Christopher
Little Fuzzy - H. Beam Piper
Beauty; The Blue Sword; Outlaws of Sherwood - Robin McKinley (all of these have strong female leads)
The Silver Sun - Nancy Springer
Tea with the Black Dragon - R.A. MacAvoy
Sabriel (Old Kingdom #1, strong female lead); Mister Monday (Keys to the Kingdom #1) - Garth Nix
The RiddleMaster of Hed (Harpist #1) - Patricia McKillip
Master of the Five Magics - Lyndon Hardy
Interworld - Neil Gaiman & Michael Reeves
May Bird and the Ever After - Jodi Lynn Anderson
The Safe-Keeper’s Secret - Sharon Shinn
The Telzey books by James H Schmitz ?
Some of the above I read at about 14 (when they were new), but I think they’d be as accessible as the later Harry Potter books.