Another give-me-book-rec post!

[cahn]

I feel that I ought to know the answer to this, but it is easier to ask you because I know you will have good solutions!

E. needs to read a science-fiction book that is appropriate for her age (12/6th grade/middle grade). If she were two years older I'd give her Ender's Game or Becky Chambers, but she's not. She says she likes fantasy better than SF but I suspect this is at least partially because she hasn't really read much SF, most of the stuff I know about being aimed a little above her head (she's read Dragon Pearl and liked it but is using it for another category). I'd considered giving her a Heinlein juvenile but I think she should probably be just a little older for that too. I also gave her The Martian to look at, which she rejected on account of it being too long :) (If it's something that I think will suit her interests enough, I'll give it to her anyway even if it's long, but Martian was already pushing things a bit -- I'll give it to her in a year or two and I think it'll work better for her then.)

(If there are sentient animals or puzzles to solve that would be a plus, but not required. Another reason she likes fantasy better is because there are more sentient animals, I think.)

Comments

[mildred_of_midgard]

Einstein's Dreams, Pern, Zenna Henderson? May be too old and/or not sci-fi enough to please the teacher, but that's what came to mind when skimming my sci-fi/fantasy Kindle collection.

[mildred_of_midgard]

Does The Giver count as sci-fi?

[cahn]

hm! I think Einstein's Dreams might be too old for her, and I'm a little dubious about Pern (although I agree she'd really like Dragonsong!) but Zenna Henderson sounds... really very doable. Thanks!

[rachelmanija]

Okay, I know later books are full of problematic elements, but I bet she'd love Dragonsong and it stands on its own.

[luzula]

Ha, that's just what I was going to say. I mean, sentient animals.

[morbane]

I say as someone who also loves Dragonsong - I feel like the very way it stands on its own makes it read far more fantasy than sci-fi? Yes, it's in a far-future space world, but in Song and Singer those elements are very far in the background.

(As a gateway to other sci-fi reading, maybe? But first it would be a gateway to more McCaffrey, and there's a reason we're reccing Dragonsong as opposed to certain others.)

[cahn]

:D Oh yeeeeeah I think she would love it! If she doesn't end up reading it for Book List, I shall give it to her anyway :)

[seekingferret]

This is not responsive to your main question as it's not SFF, but my Mystery Hunt teammate Eric Berlin's Winston Breen series is fantastic for full-of-puzzles stories for roughly that age. Eric also has a subscription service called PuzzleSnacks with puzzles that are pitched to be fun for adults but approachable for children starting around age 10 or 11.

[cahn]

Okay, this sounds brilliant and like she would love it, thank you! I've got the first one reserved from the library. I'm not totally sure about PuzzleSnacks for E, but it does sound like something A. would really like when he gets older (E. is more a logic puzzle type, A. likes word games more -- he is all about doing Wordle these days with me :) )

[cahn]

Btw, E read the first Winston Breen and enjoyed it a lot, thank you! Yay puzzles :D (We also looked up Puzzlesnacks but she's not into it -- A. on the other hand was interested, though he's way too young :) )

[lightgetsin]

Oh, that's easy, Space Evacuees. Bonus for the talking robot fish. It is a bit scary/grim in the background, but if you were okay with Andy Weir stuff, I imagine it would land okay.

[cahn]

Mars Evacuees? I just looked this up and it looks great! Yeah, scary and grim aren't a problem for E (A. seems more sensitive to that kind of thing, but idk how that might change as he gets older -- but E. has always been reasonably impervious to scary in media; she has an extremely good sense of "this isn't real.")

[cenozoicsynapsid]

This isn't exactly my area--- I think I started reading science fiction in the adult section and moved backwards. Asimov's "I Robot" was one of my early favorites, and it's still a great collection of puzzle stories, but with an extra helping of weird 50s social attitudes that I'm not sure E wants to read past. (I grew into appreciating the character and emotional dimensions of fiction as I got older, but as a 6th-grader, I think, I wanted setting and worldbuilding more.)

Brandon Sanderson's "Skyward" immediately comes to mind. Teenage pilot, pet slug and artificially intelligent fighter plane start out on a space colony surrounded by aliens who keep trying to bomb them. There's a lot of Top Gun-style flight-sim action, but as the plot unrolls, she also learns more about the origins of the conflict and the possibility of peace. The second book has a ship piloted by super-cute monarchist gerbils.

Scott Westerfeld's "Leviathan" trilogy is a possibility? Steampunk World War I: the British and their living airships versus the Germans and their mechanical walkers), but way fluffier than the real war. Spunky teenage couple (heterosexual, if it matters) on opposite sides fall in love as they work together to save Europe.

I am not a huge fan of Heinlein juveniles. John Scalzi does a bunch of books that are basically "Heinlein for people who wish he weren't a crusty conservative", and unsurprisingly, since the originals weren't my cup of tea, I'm not really here for the remakes either, but perhaps other people have ideas about whether they'd be appropriate?

[cahn]

Ha, this is exactly my problem! When I was her age, I was reading all kinds of stuff from the adult SF/fantasy section, and I feel like anything I was reading at that time that was actually vaguely age-appropriate was fantasy. But she does get turned off stuff if it's too much for her -- I imagine it's a combination of her being farther out on the spectrum than I might (or might not) be (so stuff that requires more inferencing or more understanding of adult norms is harder for her than it was for me, plus which reading things she doesn't understand is much more frustrating for her than it was for me), plus that when we were kids I feel like there just wasn't as much variety so we sort of had to go to the adult section after a while, whereas she can kind of pick and choose rather more.

I read "Robbie" in our fourth grade reader and loved it, and was so disappointed to learn years later when finding I, Robot that the rest of the book wasn't also about Robbie! (Though I did very soon after become reconciled to it being about Susan Calvin instead.)

I will check these out, thanks! Cute monarchist gerbils?? Yeeeeah, that sounds entirely up her alley :)

[sophia_sol]

my fave scifi for that age is The True Meaning of Smekday. it's just so very good!

if animal companions are a draw, then The Wild Robot might appeal, it's very charming. and there's a sequel to if the first book is enjoyed.

[hamsterwoman]

YES! I was just about to recommend The True Meaning of Smekday! (I read it as an adult and thoroughly enjoyed it; L read it at 9, according to my journal tags, and also really liked it.)

This is the book the animated movie Home was vaguely based on, but the book is SO much better!

William Sleator wrote a bunch of juvenile sci-fi that I remember enjoying as a kid (Interstellar Pig, and I feel like I read a bunch more, but don't recall any of the other titles), but no idea how well these books have aged since the 70s...

[rushthatspeaks]

Bruce Coville! Both of his SF series are aimed at kids of exactly that age and reading level, and both are utterly delightful, with lots of interesting aliens, realistic kid dynamics, and a gentle humanism that means I will never stop coming back to him.

[cahn]

Ooh, this sounds great. Thank you!

[elsane]

Hellspark by Janet Kagan could be very good! It's SF, and its alien-language mystery would appeal to animal-lovers. (I recognize there is a certain amount of uh in recommending a book with Hell right there in the title for 12 year olds, but I remember this book as feeling quite -- friendly for kids? while being fun and absorbing) Kagan's Mirabile might also be fun - ecological mystery short stories on an alien world.

[cahn]

Ohhhh I remember Hellspark! I really liked it. (And ha, yeah, I probably wouldn't give it to my niece-whose-parents-are-evangelist-Christians, but that's fine for me.) I am going to say that at least from my vague memories of it, I might wait a couple of years -- but I'm glad you reminded me, as I think she'll really like it in a couple of years.

I never was able to find Mirabile as a kid, but that description sounds amazing, I think I might have to find it just so I can read it!

[thistleingrey]

I'm of no help because I read Ender's Game in sixth grade and several Heinlein juvies in fourth.

Oh wait. Ray Bradbury short story collections? R Is for Rocket was assigned reading in sixth grade, and other people liked it too.

[zdenka]

+1 on Ray Bradbury. It was assigned reading for my 7th grade class and I loved it.

(K)

[(Anonymous)]

D is only reading SF that B gives her, which is to say Becky Chambers and Scalzi's Zoe's Tale (which is the one book in Old Man's War with a teenage girl as narrator). She's also read some Cory Doctorow -- Little Brother and For the Win. These tend to push her patience, but she does like them. I think all of these have some sex, but at a level that we're comfortable with. (B has been reading the Lady Astronaut books and says that the sex in those is adult enough that he's not going to push them on D, even though she would probably like other aspects of the books. If she sought them out, we'd let her read them, but we'd probably discuss them with her.) She's a militant enough feminist that she doesn't give the time of day to golden age SF. Eventually I will try to reason with her about The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but I'll survive if she never reads The Rolling Stones or Have Spacesuit, Will Travel. I might give her Panshin's Rite of Passage at some point.

Re: (K)

[cahn]

Yeah, I am not totally sure that E is ready to tackle Becky Chambers. Though the last Scalzi I read had a big plot twist that was a middle-grade-type plot twist... And yes, I'm fine with sexual content, which is not the problem -- it's the level of inferencing and knowledge of social norms (especially for adults) that's the issue for her. I feel like I have to be careful about giving her books that are too advanced for her; when I was her age I'd regularly read books that were too advanced for me and they were good for me and I often enjoyed them despite that, but when she reads books that are too advanced for her, she often just gets frustrated and decides she doesn't like them/the author/the genre. (I am pretty sure that this is why, despite liking fantasy in general, she doesn't like Harry Potter.)

[allmyfansquees]

If she enjoyed Dragon Pearl, the sequel ("Tiger Honor") came out this January so it might be an easy sell? It seems to be a direct follow-on, with a new PoV character - Min and her friends play major roles.

[cahn]

Oh wait there's a sequel?? Somehow I didn't know about this. OK, that might work out, thanks!

[antisoppist]

We read John Wyndham's Chocky at school at that age. But it's adult pov about a child so not technically designed for that age group. The Chrysalids has teen protagonists but might not be SF enough?

[cahn]

Ooh, Wyndham sounds interesting for me, lol -- I somehow escaped reading him. Ha, maybe I should read these and see if I think E would like them :D Thank you!

[morbane]

What age range do other people think the Darkangel Trilogy might be appropriate for? As something that straddles science fiction and fantasy.

Other things that come to mind:

Diane Duane's Young Wizards series, although it's not until book 3 that it really establishes its sci-fi footing. (There are some sentient animals.)

Gillian Rubenstein's Galax-Arena, about gymnastically gifted children kidnapped to perform in an alien arena. (No puzzles or sentient animals.)

Jane Yolen's Pit Dragon series? It's been a while since I read them so would probably suggest someone else's confirming opinion on age-appropriateness. However: definite sci-fi, gives good dragon, and I think the first book stands on its own?

[morbane]

Also this is a tangent and it isn't sci-fi enough for your rec, but Tanith Lee's Unicorn trilogy is wonderful. The titular unicorns are more themes/quests than characters, but the main character's animal sidekick is a delight. Possibly something else for E's fantasy pile?

[skygiants]

Diana Wynne Jones' Archer's Goon straddles the fantasy/sff line in an interesting way that could be fun for her (the town is full of wizards, but they're building a spaceship)!

[cahn]

...I have not read Archer's Goon! How have I not read Archer's Goon?? (I know how: when DWJ died I started hoarding the books I hadn't yet read by her and reading them really slowly, and then I forgot I hadn't read that one. I bet there's at least one more out there like that...)

(K)

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, um, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? D had to read it for lit club at school and wasn't impressed, but it certainly is cultural literacy.

Re: (K)

[cahn]

Ohhhh that is a good idea, if she's old enough for it (which she might be) -- it's exactly the kind of absurdity that both E and A think is hilarious! :)

(K)

[(Anonymous)]

Tripods? I don't remember it well enough to comment on E-specific appropriateness. I kinda liked it, and was kinda creeped out.

Re: (K)

[cahn]

Yeah, I remember thinking exactly that about the Tripods! I don't know whether she'd like it or not -- perhaps worth trying. (I suspect she has possibly gotten too many dystopias, though, and that's why she is not sure she likes SF.)

[brainwane]

What did y'all choose?

[cahn]

I gave her a few Kindle samples to try out, and she ended up getting really into Brandon Sanderson's Skyward, which was surprising to me (that was not what I had thought she'd choose). Of course, being a kindle sample, she didn't realize how long it was, and when confronted with the actual book said she might have chosen something shorter... But she liked it!