andyman wrote:
[hijack]
So … who would win in a fight between Tolkien’s Ring, and Wagner’s Ring?
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I just went back and read one of my favorite books from my teens, I Robot. I had forgotten exactly how great that book is. The way Asimov worked the interaction between human nature and the 3 laws of robotics is truly great! I’m not sure who wrote it but I can also recommend a wrinkle in time. I really didn’t get it the first time I read it but I have since reread it and love it. (That was truly a gratuitous use of the word it!:))
If you like Asimov but think that his average work is too advanced for your kids, try his Norby series that he wrote with his wife, as a kid i started reading those, and then moved on to the books he intended for adults. I thouroughly enjoyed them, but you may have trouble finding them in a bookstore, try your library
Oh yeah…another book that i just read (although it was in the young adults section, it was highly recomended) was “Shade’s Children” by Garth Nix
You can’t go wrong with the Dragonlance Chronicles. Also Between Planets and Starship Troopers by Heinlein are good. Do they get Book Orders at school? Good sci-fi anthologies in there sometimes.
There are four other Ender books by Card: Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind. They are much richer than Ender’s Shadow (which I liked primarily because it’s about the character Bean from Ender’s Game, and I didn’t want the Ender stories to . . . end).
I don’t really think of those as children’s books, although young adults do like them. The Jedi Apprentice series is good, for Star Wars fans. They’re about the size of the Animorphs books, but the plots are more interesting.
Lighten up, sci fi vs SF people. We’re all in Flatland together.
Well, you might be in Flatland, but I’m up here on A.K. Dewdney’s Planiverse. Which, IMnsHO, does a much better job of extrapolating what physics and biology would be like in a 2-dimensional universe than Abbot’s Flatland did.
<holds nose snootily in the air>
You might be careful about Piers Anthony. He keeps putting more and more juvenile sex in his Xanth stories, and if they start reading his adult-oriented stuff they will find some real perversion (i.e. five year olds who want to be molested).
Heinlein is good, I don’t think anyone has mentioned Poul Anderson, he wrote some good space opera and did some juvenile books that were really good. Larry Niven is great for the kids who are into interesting gadgets and weird (but real) science, but you might want to pre-read some of it because of occasional sexual themes that show up (though usually nothing explicit, nothing that would shock an 11 year old).
Well, Heinlein and Bradbury wrote a lot of good stuff for youngsters. Be careful with Heinlein, though–some of his stuff is for adults.
You can’t go wrong with Andre Norton. She wrote dozens of books, and as far as I can tell, they all seem to be good for younger readers.
Check your local library and see if they have anything by Sylvia Louise Engdahl. She wrote a series starting with Enchantress from the Stars that was very good. Most of her stuff is out of print, but amazon.com says that some will be reprinted in the coming year.
Hal Clement’s Needle and Through the Eye of a Needle were good.
I’ll second Athena’s recommendation of Anne McCaffrey, particularly the Dragonsong/Harper Hall books, and particularly if either or both of the kids are girls. The most important character in the first two books, Menolly, is a bit of a rarity, a strong teenage heroine who has a passion other than boys and popularity. Considering how many books teenage girls read where the protagonist is obsessed with boys and popularity, Menolly is a useful counterpoint.
R.A. Salvatore is the best. He writes some Sci Fi (star wars, really good), and fantasy (his own series, and Forgotten Realms). I devour his books like Starbursts!
Oh I second Salvatore! Everyone needs to read Drizzt and Cadderly! OK, now I’m giddy, I hope you’re happy.
Thanks again.
And thanks for the heads up, Badtz. Any other comments along those lines? Books/series I don’t need to rush into for one reason or other? To the extent reasonably possible, I like to “expose” my kids to stuff with “due deliberate haste.” There also is the “mommy” factor, who disapproves of my fighting, taste in movies, etc.
I am not bothered by the fact that my 13 year old said “Ender’s Shadow” (which I finished this morning. An entertaining read.) “… was pretty good except it had a couple of swears.” And the worst ones were a couple of “pisses” and “asses.” I gues it shouldn’t surprise you that I’m raising such prudes, huh?
That line between challenging kids without sacrificing some degree of childhood naivete is a fine one indeed.
I, too, would highly recommend Isaac Asimov. I still have my Lucky Starr books. To the best of my knowledge, there were 6, the titles are below.
David Starr, Space Ranger
Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus
" " " " Pirates of the Asteroids
" " " " Big Sun of Mercury
" " " " Moons of Jupiter
" " " " Rings of Saturn
I saw a collection of these at Xmas a few years back, so they shouldn’t be too hard to track down.
I would also recommend any of the Tom Swift books (there were 3 series written over around 70 years. The Tom Swift in the first series is the father of the Tom Swift in the second series, who is the father of the Tom Swift in the third series. Three generations, three sets of books. The second and third series are not hard to find (check your secondhand book stores), or expensive (I paid around $3 CDN for the second series and $2.50 CDN for the third). The first series is much harder to come across, although I have turned up “reader” quality books for as little as $8 CDN.
What’s really interesting about these is getting perspective on what the writers of the time thought the future would be like. For example, series 1 has a book titled Tom Swift and the Talking Pictures. The second series has many books set in outer space, and below the ocean. Interesting how progress changes perspective.
Anyway, I know I’ve rambled on here long enough. Any of the books mentioned would be appropriate for a thirteen year old, as I started reading them around age 11.
Before I forget, does anybody out there know a definitive book number for the first Tom Swift series? I’ve got over a dozen, and I know from reading the list on the back cover that there had to be around 24. Thanks!
If they get into long series of books (and I think most teens and pre-teens do), I just thought of another excellent one.
The Warlock In Spite Of Himself series by Christopher Stasheff was mighty good. He manages to come up with a fun mix of the futuristic and the medieval.
Dinsdale: You won’t go wrong with any of the books I listed, I think. Possible exception for The Moon is a Harsh Mistress which deals with a violent revolution and discusses such things as multiple marriages. But it is not nearly as explicit as some of his work ( like Stranger in a Strange Land). I’d consider it halfway between his “juveniles” and his more mature stuff. There are strong themes, violence, and even occasionally tragedy ( the otherwise innocuous Farmer in the Sky about immigrants homesteaders on Ganymede, includes the death of a child to illness, for instance ) presented in all of Heinlein’s juvenile works. But they were written for mature teens in the 1950’s, so by our standards aren’t particularly explicit.
The Taran series I mentioned is on the same general plane as The Hobbit. Oh and miles better than that Harry potter stuff IMHO.
Another book for teens a friend just recommended ( I’ve never read it myself ) is Earthfasts by William Mayne, about an 18th century drummer boy in modern times ( my friend thinks the book was written in the 50’s or 60’s ).
You also can’t go wrong with Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea trilogy ( again, fantasy rather than sf ).
Although it may seem odd to so classify it, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H. is fine science-fiction and well-suited for younger audiences. And it is miles better than that crappy movie they made out of it.
Again, not really sf, but Watership Down is a superb book, by any standard.
Finally I’ll also endorse Dragonsong and Dragonsinger, by McCaffrey. Strong female teen protagonist.
- Tamerlane
The Alvin Fernald series, by Clifford B. Hicks.
The Danny Dunn series is by Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin.
I used to love both series. The science may be a little dated, but the fiction is great.
As for Heinlein, check the copyright dates. The stuff he wrote during the 40s and 50s is pretty safe for kids (kids of all ages). During the 60s he started to get more controversial. The stuff he wrote during the 70s and 80s is for grownups.
How 'bout Space Cat, hah? Anybody 'member Space Cat? How 'bout Major Matt Mason?
We are talking about kids’ books, after all.
Also: Pat Murphy’s “There And Back Again” is an EXCELLENT space fantasy modeled after The Hobbit.
Tolkien’s Ring vs. Wagner’s Ring: Tolkien wins. Less depressing, less boring, and the good guys really are good.
Heinlein was an old perv, don’t read him to the kids until they’re ready.
I remember Space Cat!
Wasn’t Major Matt Mason an action figure? I don’t recall any books about him, but I DO remember how you could dis-attach his head from his shoulders…damn, that was cool!
How about Sprockets, the Little Robot? Huh? Huh? Anybody remember Sprockets, the Little Robot? And his little stuttering buddy, Rivets?
Incidentally, I think some of you guys are forgetting Gotterdammerung, the fourth opera in Wagner’s famous Ring Trilogy.
Slight hijack - But there is an interesting discussion on Heinlein going on the General Questions right now.
- Tamerlane