I’m proud of my nephew for being an avid reader, and I have always supported it by giving him books as presents. He’s always enjoyed everything about Star Wars and I gave him an “interactive” Star Wars book a few years ago. So I thought before his last birthday to expand his sci-fi horizon and asked for fitting books for his age in that genre at my favorite bookstore. The owner told me that science fiction wasn’t particularly popular for his age group and that she didn’t have any recommendations. I was quite baffled and shocked, but since I like the book dealer, I let her sell me two books in a different genre. Now I’m thinking about what to give him as a Christmas present, and this time I want him to read a really good sci-fi story for his age. I remember having read some, then, mind-blowing sci-fi stuff myself at his age from the library, but I don’t remember any titles or authors. I like the genre till today, but I’m not really knowing or well-read in it. So please give your suggestions for stories for my nephew, if it’s a classic, all the better.
12 years old? Lemme think.
I was reading the Pern books around that age - the Harper Hall series is for younger readers, but depending on how much of a reader he is, he might light the Dragonriders trilogy.
What else? Anything Heinlein probably works, as does (and I hate to admit it… but I loved 'em at this age) the Xanth books. I dunno, maybe those are considered fantasy? Still, I loved them.
Ender’s Game and the Hitchhiker’s Guide series.
That’s what comes to mind when I try to channel my inner 12-year-old.
This I can comment on, because I saw the Hitchhiker’s BBC TV show at about his age and enjoyed it, but I only realized how much went over my head then when I read the original books later in my life, at about twenty. I’m not quite sure if my nephew is nerdy enough to get it already.
The Guide, as said above - even if he doesn’t get it all yet, it’s still funny and he’ll still enjoy it.
The Tripods series by John Christopher is really awesome.
The Hunger Games books are awesome, and boys need to read books with female protagonists, too.
That’s a good age for Bradbury.
And it’s a really good age for Asimov’s “I, Robot.” Highest possible recommendation: the Robot stories are brilliant, thoughtful, fun, kid-friendly (no sex and almost no violence) and written in a simple and direct style (unlike my own) that is amenable to younger readers.
Not just John Christopher’s Tripod series, but also everything else he wrote.
The adventures of Danny Dunn are a bit dated and may be out of print, but they’re fun.
The anthologies of short stories edited by Robert Silverberg are spectacular.
I second the recommendation of Heinlein’s juveniles.
Well, sex is no problem, I could handle that myself at age twelve, and books (and movies) are good ways to learn about it, so there’s that. But I’ll consider “I, Robot”, because I’ve always wanted it to read myself and maybe can later borrow it from him :).
At age twelve or thereabouts, I read “House of Stairs” by William Sleator, which served as my gateway drug into a life of SF reading. Some of his other work is a little dated, but that one and “Singularity” hold up pretty well, and he generally wrote for a younger audience without dumbing stuff down too much.
One of my favorite books at that age was Asimov’s Mysteries. I still have my battered old paperback from 1968.
Indeed. I still remember reading “The Green Futures of Tycho” and “Interstellar Pig” at about that age, even now 30 years later.
Lots of books here from more than fifty years ago. I loved those too, but sometimes they feel pretty dated. Maybe Red Thunder by John Varley? It reads very much like a Heinlein juvenile, but with some of the zeerust scraped off. A little bit of sex content, but nothing graphic or disturbing.
The Other Side of Tomorrow is an anthology put together by Roger Elwood back in 1973. All of the main characters are children, tho in some cases they are clearly teens. The stories are quite good and a few are among the most powerful SF I’ve ever read. In fact, I recommend this book because I first read it at about 10 years old and never forgot it. Over 30 years later, thanks to the internet, I acquired a copy for myself and found the stories still impressive and resonant. Hardcover copies are available for less than $10, plus shipping.
Another favorite from my childhood.
John Wyndham’s stuff’s great for this age. I loved ”Day of the Triffids”, ”Chocky” and ”The Chrysalids” when I read them around this age.
I’ll second Heinlein, which seems the obvious choice.
The Hunger Games really isn’t good Sci Fi (the setting and plot makes no real sense), and is hardly sci fi at all in many respects. I’d never recommend it to anyone who wants good sci fi.
The other thing I loved around this age were short story anthologies. These are fantastic because they are samplers, you can get exposure to lots of different styles of writing, subjects and so forth. Anthologies are also available in just about every field of sci fi: war, space travel, horror psychology, anthropology, time travel and so forth. So they provide a good way for a young adult to experience all the ways that a single subject can be investigated and conveyed. Rather than reading, say, “Starship Troopers” and spending years thinking that that is the way that sci fi war books “look”, a kid can experience see that a sci fi war story can be like that, or it can be done with no reference to actual combat at all, just dialogue with prisoners, or the aftermath of a nuclear exchange or with grey and grey morality or…
I remember “Apeman spaceman” very fondly, and it’s fairly typical of the anthologies, with authors from H. G . Wells to Arthur C. Clarke and subjects ranging from poetry and cartoons to mild horror, political satire, adventure and the entire spectrum of science fiction.
ERB’s Mars books are a lot of fun, if approached with the right state of mind .
Well, not anything—I wouldn’t start him on one of the long, talky later novels—but Heinlein’s “juveniles” are the standard answer to this sort of question.
Yes
Good suggestions.
John Barnes’s Orbital Resonance is one book I happened upon that reminded me a bit of an updated Heinlein juvenile.
Tui T Sutherland has some great books: the Dragonets of Prophecy series. There’s also a series about a menagarie.
Andre Norton, pretty much all of them.
Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles (fantasy) are great for kids – I have very fond memories of sneaking off from class to read them in elementary school. 12 is about the first time I read Tolkien, if I remember properly – I started with “The Hobbit”.
Star Trek novels are probably fine for kids for the most part.
The Vorkosigan books. Lois McMaster-Bujold.
Artemis Fowl! It’s a clever SciFi/fantasy mashup (the “other world” creatures living alongside humans are fairies/centaurs/dwarves, etc, but they use futuristic technology and the plots are far more Asimov than Tolkien). 12 is the perfect age, too.
Hilarious and such great characters. Susan Sto Helit - simply the greatest teacher ever.
Boy hero in an interesting world with magic alongside normal life.