Science Fiction

• stories that often tell about science and technology of the future

• involving partially true fictions laws or theories of science

• Settings:

• in the future
• in space
• on a different world
• in a different universe or dimension

By: Linda Brown, Gina Sharpe, and Marilyn McDonald

 Young Adult Science Fiction

Start with the classics!

Verne's From The Earth To The Moon and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Well's The Time Machine and The War Of The Worlds, Huxley's Brave New World, Orwell's 1984, and Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles

Robert Heinlein's Have Space Suit, Will Travel (1958)

John Christopher's Tripods Trilogy (1967)

Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle, Welcome to the Monkey House

 Pinkwater's Lizard Music 

http://io9.com/5384382/where-to-start-with-young-adult-science-

"The challenge of writing science fiction is to stay as true to science fact as we know it, to try to get the science part as right as possible, while getting the emotional life of the characters right as well. I also think it's important to remember that science fiction doesn't have to be depressing. YA science fiction often paints a very bleak picture of the future. I think science fiction can be hopeful. I think it can even be funny."

—Margaret Bechard,

Children's-YA Author

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

Center for the Study of Science Fiction

http://www.sfwa.org/

http://www2.ku.edu/~sfcenter/other.htm

Visit Brain Pop to Watch Science Fiction Topics

Some "Top" Lists of YA Science Fiction

Recommended Science Fiction Novels for Young Adults

Classics

Jules Verne: The Earth To The Moon and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

H.G. Wells: The Time Machine and The War Of The Worlds

Aldous Huxley: Brave New World

George Orwell: 1984

Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles

Through the Decades

Robert Heinlein: Have Space Suit Will Travel (1958)

Madeleine L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time (1963), The Arm of the Starfish (1965)

John Christopher: Tripods Trilogy (1967)

Kurt Vonnegut: Welcome To The Monkey House, Harrison Bergeron (1968)

Daniel Pinkwater: Alan Mendelsohn, The Boy From Mars (1979)

Douglas Adams: Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy trilogy (1979)

Madeleine L'Engle: A Ring Of Endless Light (1980)

Jane Yolen: The Pit Dragon trilogy (1982)

William Sleator: Interstellar Pig (1984)

Orson Scott Card: Ender's Game (1985)

Lois Lowry: The Giver (1993)

Jonathan Letham: Girl in Landscape (1998)

M.T. Anderson: Feed (2002)

Scott Westerfeld: Uglies trilogy (2005)

Cory Doctorow: Little Brother (2008)

Contemporary

- Feed by M.T. Anderson

- Spacer and Rat by Margaret Bechard

- The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

- The City of Ember and sequels by Jeanne DuPrau

- The Shadow Children books by Margaret Peterson Haddix

- Siberia by Ann Halam

- Taylor Five by Ann Halam

- Rash by Pete Hautman

- The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd

- The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

- Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

- The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex

• Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Huffington Post Top 9

L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time

Anderson: Feed

Gowry: The Giver

Orwell: Animal Farm

Card: Ender's Game

Vonnegut: Cat's Cradle

Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Wakely: An Audience for Einstein

Jackson: The Lottery

Tor.com, a site for science fiction, fantasy, and all the things that interest SF and fantasy readers- Young Adult Science Fiction Recommendations

House of Stairs and Singularity by William Sleator - The first perfectly demonstrates the power of behavioral conditioning, while the second bends space and time and the relationship between two brothers.

A Crack in the Line by Michael Lawrence - Alaric and Naia live in the same house, with (mostly) the same family, but they’ve never met—until a crack between their parallel worlds brings them together.

Candor by Pam Bachorz - A “perfect” community where everyone is kept in line with subliminal messages, except for the founder’s son, who finds himself having to decide just how much he’ll sacrifice for the new girl in town.

Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer - A girl and her family struggle to survive the environmental catastrophe that follows a meteor changing the moon’s orbit; a worldwide horror made personal.

Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O’Brien - A young woman left alone in her small town after a nuclear disaster encounters the first survivor she’s met in years, and finds out sometimes it’s better to be on your own.

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau - After ravaging the Earth, society has retreated into underground cities, but now supplies are running out and it’s up to two teens to convince everyone to return to the surface.

Eva by Peter Dickinson - A young woman is kept alive after a car accident by having her consciousness transfered into a chimpanzee, but she soon discovers she’s not alone in this new body.

Feed by M.T. Anderson - In a society where everyone is plugged into the internet directly through their brains, a young man meets a girl who challenges the system, and starts to question everything he’s taken for granted.

House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer - A boy cloned from the DNA of a drug lord discovers the true reason for his existence and must navigate a world of politics and prejudice to save himself.

Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden - An untrained group of teens must fight to survive and save their community when they return from a remote camping trip to find an invading army has taken over their country.

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve - In this future, wars are fought not by people but by cities: enormous, traveling constructions that clash and scavenge off each other’s remains.

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff - A girl’s idyllic holiday in England turns into unending horror when war crosses the country’s borders and the enemy is everywhere.

Amazon.com's Top Science Fiction for Young Adults:

This Time of Darkness: H.M. Hoover

The Sky So Big and Black: John Barnes

Singularity: Charles Stross

Ender's Game: Orson Scott Card

Shadow Puppets: Orson Scott Card

Shadow of the Giant: Orson Scott Card

Obernewtyn Chronicles: Isobelle Carmody

Feed: M.T. Anderson

Violet Eyes: Nicole Luiken

Silver Eyes: Nicole Luiken

Shade's Children: Garth Nix

The Giver: Lois Lowry

NPR Top Ten List

The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert

5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin

6. 1984, by George Orwell

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

Authors

Daniel Manus Pinkwater (author of Lizard Music and the Hoboken Chicken Emergency)

"No author has ever captured the great fun of being weird, growing up as a happy mutant, unfettered by convention, as well as Pinkwater has. When I was a kid, Pinkwater novels like Lizard Music...made me intensely proud to be a little off-center and weird — they taught me to woo the muse of the odd and made me the happy adult I am today. The NYRB edition of Lizard Music is a beautiful... hardcover, a testament to Pinkwater's influence on generations of readers. It's one of those books that, in the right hands at the right time, can change your life for the better and forever." —Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing