# Recommend some great sci-fi reading for middle school science class **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2011, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550 "2011-02-25T06:20:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![camille](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@camille](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/camille)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/1 "2011-02-25T06:20:11Z")
I’m a fairly new science teacher (2nd year - career changer) and I’d like to incorporate science fiction into my curriculum to improve science literacy and up the engagement level of my newly hormonal tween students. Our textbook is dreadfully dry, and a major leap in reading level from their previous elementary science textbook. They’re at that crucial age where they can go from science lovers to science phobics. I don’t want to lose them now, and we’ve got a couple of years before I have to worry about standardized test prep, so I can afford to be creative with my curriculum and keep them engaged. I was (and still am) an avid reader in middle school, but I’m worried that my tastes may have been too “precocious” for some my current students, so I’m asking you guys to recommend some favorites. I’m thinking along the lines of Heinlein’s Space Cadet, Vonnegut’s Welcome to the Monkey House and Player Piano, Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker, Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, Ursula LeGuin… Do you think these are suitable for 11 to 13 year olds? They were my faves back then, but I’d like to get a broader range of input. I teach both gifted and special ed, with a lot of ELL students (4 different languages). Short stories that reinforce basic science concepts would be perfect, but I don’t have enough time now that I’m teaching to search them out. Please help! I’m a long time lurker here so I know I can get some great advice. Thanks in advance. camille ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/2 "2011-02-25T06:40:22Z")
The light of other days, by Arthur C. Clarke. It’s about a breakthrough technology that completely unwinds humanity as we know it. ---
**Author:** ![AlienVessels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba8739/32.png) [@AlienVessels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlienVessels)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/3 "2011-02-25T07:15:23Z")
For Heinlein stuff I’d suggest Red Planet, Farmer in the Sky, and Podkayne of Mars. Asimov’s Caves of Steel might be good. I’d also throw 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea into that hat. You might consider focusing on short stories given that age bracket. I’d suggest Surface Tension by James Blish to start. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/4 "2011-02-25T07:16:05Z")
Maybe something with a protagonist near their age. Emergence - David Palmer Jumper - Steven Gould Podkayne of Mars - Robert Heinlein Rite of Passage - Alexei Panshin ---
**Author:** ![lshaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e36b37/32.png) [@lshaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lshaw)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/5 "2011-02-25T07:32:14Z")
_Calling B for Butterfly_ by Louise Lawrence ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/6 "2011-02-25T07:44:59Z")
_I, Robot_ by Isaac Asimov. It was “sci-fi” when he wrote it, but it is fast becoming reality. The three laws! Awesome! Q ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/7 "2011-02-25T12:20:26Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/8 "2011-02-25T12:23:09Z")
Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold - great characters and story (it is by Bujold), and it’s got a pervasive background of how technology affects society. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/9 "2011-02-25T12:49:23Z")
_The Science Fiction Hall of Fame_, preferably Volume I or Volume II. Ignore the others (which are, thankfully, almost impossible to find) Older science fiction, but still some of the very best, and the first volume is all short stories. You can introduce your students to quite a variety of authors and story types. > **[The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. 1: 1929-1964: Silverberg, Robert,...](https://www.amazon.com/Science-Fiction-Hall-Fame-Vol/dp/0765305372)** > > The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. 1: 1929-1964 \[Silverberg, Robert, Silverberg, Robert\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. 1: 1929-1964 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/10 "2011-02-25T14:05:12Z")
**Mission of Gravity** by Hal Clement. A great SF novel that is all about science. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/11 "2011-02-25T15:39:39Z")
> [@camille](#): > > I’m a fairly new science teacher (2nd year - career changer) and I’d like to incorporate science fiction into my curriculum to improve science literacy and up the engagement level of my newly hormonal tween students. > > I’m thinking along the lines of Heinlein’s Space Cadet, Vonnegut’s Welcome to the Monkey House and Player Piano, Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker, Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, Ursula LeGuin… > > Do you think these are suitable for 11 to 13 year olds? They were my faves back then, but I’d like to get a broader range of input. > > Thanks in advance. > > camille I remember that in my elementary/middle school library, about the only sci-fi was LeGuin and the assorted Tom Swift stories. Really not sure about giving them **Welcome to the Monkey House**. I loved it as a teenager, but I’m pretty sure the title story will have many of the parents jumping down your throat. “ **Harrison Bergeron** ” should be fine, though it isn’t sci-fi. I might give them short stories from Larry Niven, especially the Known Space series. They usually deal with “weird” concepts from physics and math—neutron stars, gas toroids, quantum black holes, teleportation, mathematical series, etc—in a very straightforward manner. Usually, there’s a mystery for the reader to figure out as well. And, his early stuff is pretty easy to excise the sex from, which may be a consideration as an American middle school teacher. The beginning of **The Integral Trees** , especially the cover art, might suck in some of your class that’s starting to get into fantasy. Then again, I got started on Niven from a recommendation for **Lucifer’s Hammer** from my 8th grade science teacher… You might also look at Charles Stross’s short stories: Missile Gap, A Colder War, etc. Lots of ideas, but he is very, very dark. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/12 "2011-02-25T17:51:59Z")
> [@camille](#): > > Short stories that reinforce basic science concepts would be perfect My area is math rather than science, and two math-related SF stories that spring to mind are Isaac Asimov’s “[The Feeling of Power](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feeling_of_Power)” and Robert Heinlein’s [And He Built a Crooked House](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E2%80%94And_He_Built_a_Crooked_House)." [This website](http://kasmana.people.cofc.edu/MATHFICT/all.php) is a guide to Mathematical Fiction, and it has an extensive list that can be sorted by genre, topic, or motif. I don’t know whether there’s a similar site out there for fiction that relates to specific science concepts, but if there is, it would be a good resource for you. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/13 "2011-02-25T17:59:23Z")
They are probably a bit outdated now a days, but for me middle school was all about Asimov, Bradbury, and Adams. ---
**Author:** ![camille](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@camille](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/camille)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/14 "2011-02-25T18:10:28Z")
Wow, thanks so much for the responses! I love most of these myself, so at least _I’m_ engaged - it’s a start. 🙂 I think I have a copy of **Surface Tension** already in an anthology - got to dig it out… I’m definitely going with **Emergence** - I think my kids will love it. I’ll look at **Podkayne** - do you all think it’s a better bet than **Space Cadet**? I was thinking my boys would relate to Space Cadet… So I’ve ordered most of these already, both through my librarian and on my own. I’m not sure if I can get class sets for some of these, so we’ll see what happens on that end (I’ve never ordered fiction class sets before). **Gray Ghost** , how do you “excise” the sex out of an assigned paperback? It is a concern, as I’ve got quite a few “helicopter” parents with time on their hands. Are you saying I should photocopy chapters and edit them first? Do you really think **Welcome to the Monkey House** is unsuitable? I love Vonnegut, and he always gets shortchanged by ELA teachers (actually, most sci-fi does, hardcore or otherwise). Any votes for including some Vonnegut, or is he best saved for high school? Asimov is a definite yes, just matter of which one… Thank you all! Now I’m looking forward to my lesson planning (suggestions welcome with that as well, as I’m not an ELA teacher)… ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/15 "2011-02-25T18:47:07Z")
As to the helicopter parents… I read Ender’s Game when I was 12, and loved it, and it is no doubt suitable for that age group. But it’s also got, um, two fairly graphic murders in it. Ethan of Athos partially takes place in a society that is all men, with the pairings as you would expect. Nothing explicit, and I find it quite charming and would totally let a 12-year-old read it, but you may have to watch out depending on how conservative your helicopter parents are. More generally: Yay Asimov! The short stories are pretty much all good (scientific, logical). Arthur Clarke’s short stories were favorites of mine too (if not quite as classic as Asimov’s). Not sure if you’re looking for nonfiction at all, but Feynman’s _Surely you’re joking, Mr. Feynman!_ is a classic that I read at about that age and loved. Perhaps take out the sections where he talks about picking up women 🙂 **Thudlow Boink** , that is an awesome list. I’m going to have to go through that in more depth. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/16 "2011-02-25T19:39:12Z")
> [@camille](#): > > … **Gray Ghost** , how do you “excise” the sex out of an assigned paperback? It is a concern, as I’ve got quite a few “helicopter” parents with time on their hands. Are you saying I should photocopy chapters and edit them first? > > Do you really think **Welcome to the Monkey House** is unsuitable? I love Vonnegut, and he always gets shortchanged by ELA teachers (actually, most sci-fi does, hardcore or otherwise). Any votes for including some Vonnegut, or is he best saved for high school?.. I’d just photocopy the short stories out, edit whatever you’d think are prurient bits, and assign those. Buy a copy or three for the school library if you think you need to assuage the copyright gods. Definitely check with your institution’s policy on copyrighted material, yadda, yadda. IIRC, Niven’s Known Space short stories aren’t _that_ unseemly, but they do have adults as characters, and adults have sex from time to time. Nothing like Heinlein’s later stuff—I’d avoid Friday and Stranger in a Strange Land—but still… In the short story, Welcome to the Monkey House, isn’t the protagonist [SPOILER] a poet who forces himself sexually on different women in order to reacquaint their culture with the beauty of physical love? From the wiki, > [@](#): > > The story centers around Nancy, a suicide parlor hostess who is kidnapped by the infamous nothinghead Billy the Poet and taken to his hideout, where he rapes her. Nancy is very angry about this, but Billy says that eventually she will come to thank him. Billy is shown as not a twisted rapist who wants a sexual harem, but instead a good-natured freedom fighter trying to open the eyes of the citizens who for so long have had their rights taken away. He then leaves the room but leaves behind a bottle of birth control pills with a note on them saying “Welcome to the Monkey House.” [/spoiler] The collection is wonderful, I agree. You could go with EPICAC, the Euphio Question, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, The Kid Nobody Could Handle (no, not sci-fi, but applicable to them, I think)… ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/17 "2011-02-25T20:03:28Z")
Off the subject of sci-fi stories, but if you were looking for small vignettes to popularize math and science to young women, you could do worse than talk about the life of Admiral [Grace Murray Hopper](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper) (very early computing pioneer) and [Hedy Lamarr](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr)’s contributions to [spread-spectrum radio communications](https://w2.eff.org/awards/pioneer/1997.php). Yes, that [Hedy Lamarr](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001443/). (Got thinking about Admiral Hopper in reference to her familiar saying, “It’s easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission.”) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/18 "2011-02-25T20:06:46Z")
_Space Cadet_ is my favorite of the Heinlein juveniles, and would not be a bad choice, but for demonstrating scientific principles, it’s hard to do better than _The Rolling Stones_: There’s tons of orbital mechanics packed in there. And speaking as someone who may someday have to teach relativity to your students, please _don’t_ get _Time for the Stars_. Bless him, old Bob knew all the formulas for relativity, but he hadn’t a clue how to apply them. ---
**Author:** ![camille](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@camille](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/camille)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/19 "2011-02-25T21:51:42Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > In the short story, Welcome to the Monkey House, isn’t the protagonist a poet who forces himself sexually on different women in order to reacquaint their culture with the beauty of physical love? From the wiki, > > The collection is wonderful, I agree. You could go with EPICAC, the Euphio Question, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, The Kid Nobody Could Handle (no, not sci-fi, but applicable to them, I think)… You’re probably right about Monkey House - the rape part might be too much. I taught high school last year, so I’m still trying to gear down to middle school level. I’ll see if I can edit it to make it suitable, but if not, I’ll go with another Vonnegut ss. And thanks for the links about Grace Hopper and Hedy Lamarr - my girls do need encouragement right about now. I love Hopper’s models for nanoseconds and picoseconds… **Chronos** , thanks for reminding me about The Rolling Stones, but Space Cadet is my fave juvenile too, and I think my reading averse boys will get into it a lot easier. I might save The Rolling Stones for 8th grade next term - that’s when we’ll cover orbital mechanics anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550/20 "2011-02-26T03:28:34Z")
Alan Dean Foster: Glory Lane and The Last Starfighter. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-great-sci-fi-reading-for-middle-school-science-class/572550.md?page=2)