Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Children's Science Fiction

This is topic Children's Science Fiction in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by pickled shuttlecock (Member # 1714) on :

Regarding children's science fiction: is there really any at all? I can think of A Wrinkle In Time offhand, but nothing else suggests itself...

A few searches on Amazon.com turned up nearly nothing. It seems most speculative fiction for children is fantasy.

Does anybody have a few counterexamples for this bold hypothesis?

Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :

Well, Heinlein wrote some SF aimed at a younger audience, like <i>Space Cadet</i>.

There were some series of SF/adventure novels, like the Tom Swift, Jr., books (see http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/3712/ ) and the Tom Corbett books (see http://www.seriesbooks.com/tomcorbett.htm ).

But I don't know of anything recent, perhaps because I don't have kids.

Of course, a lot of the older SF not specifically written for kids is still appropriate for young readers, although the ideas may be somewhat dated.

Posted by Ergoface (Member # 1429) on :

There is the "Jupiter" series of books which are specifically designed to be sf for younger readers. The first title in the series was Higher Education and then there are others including Billion Dollar Boy and Star Swarm. I believe there are others, but those are the ones that come to mind.

The series was the idea of Charles Sheffield and Jerry Pournelle, who wanted to duplicate the kind of novels that Heinlein did, to fire a new generation.

I've read the three novels mentioned and they are all pretty good, though not phenomenal. Another new series from one of my favorite authors just got started: Dragonback stories ( just realized I didn't say it is written by Timothy Zahn). No this is not fantasy, it is just that one of the main characters looks a lot like a dragon.

There's my 2 cents.

[This message has been edited by Ergoface (edited January 12, 2004).]

Posted by somnambulous (Member # 1849) on :

It might be sacriledge to say it here, but when I read Ender's Game at the age of 21 or so, I wished I'd read it when I was in Junior High or earlier.

I got my 11-year-old cousin a copy for his birhtday and it was really just about the first book he read through to the end and he loved it.

The rest of the books in the series don't really seem suited to a younger audience, but Ender's Game did.

But I guess that's more "young adult." I remember my mother read the Wrinkle in Time series to me sometime around the age of 5 or 6, but I don't remember it all that well. I'll try to think of something... but thinking back, all I read in elementary school through junior high was fantasy.

What's the age-range that qualifies as a "child?"

[This message has been edited by somnambulous (edited January 11, 2004).]

Posted by punahougirl84 (Member # 1731) on :

I remember in the 6th grade I bought an anthology of science fiction short stories that really turned me on to the genre, but can't remember what it was called. It did also include "The Littlest Dragonboy" by McCaffrey - yeah, crosses the sf to f line but you can argue it either way. I did a search at borders.com to find it - found a couple of anthologies with sf for younger readers, but not specifically the one I remember. It had a red cover with a collage of sf artwork, and was paperback, but larger and square as I recall.

Andre Norton wrote some wonderful books that combined sf and f (depended on the one you read - know several that had "magic" in the name) that I found and devoured when I was in middle school - they seem to be out of print but I plan to find them and buy them for my kids (ok, they aren't even 2 yet, but it's never too soon to hope!).

I remember getting books in the mail when I was really young - one was called "You Will Go To The Moon" - I tried to find it the last time I was at my parents house but I think they donated it years back. I loved that book - read it over and over - wanted to be an astronaut. I think it had a picture of a boy and girl looking out the window at the moon, with an orange back.

That is mostly what I can think of - I know fantasy was much of what I read too - Lloyd Alexander, LeGuin, Tolkein, McCaffrey, C.S. Lewis - all the usual stuff. I'm interested to see what others list!

Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :

It seems there is a lot mroe fantasy for kids than scifi, but there is a series called Artemis Fowl that is scifi for young adults.

Besides A wrinkle in Time, Madelien L'Engle wrote a series of sequels including A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and one other I can't remember the title of right now.

I mostly read fantasy and mystery at that age, so that's the best help I can give you.

Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :

On Amazon, you can browse down through the categories along this path: Books > Subjects > Children's Books > Series > Science Fiction. There are sixteen series listed:
Animorphs
Countdown
Deltora
Everworld
Megamorphs
Mind Warp
Mushroom Planet
Outer Limits
Remnants
Replica
Space Brat
Star Trek
Star Wars
Star Wars Jedi Quest
The Weird Zone
Watchers

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/265558/ref=br_bx_c_2_2/002-5791066-9084813

Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :

Oh, and I forgot to mention the Tripods books, by John Christopher. (I don't know if they're still serializing them in Boy's Life, though.)

Posted by ccwbass (Member # 1850) on :

I seem to recall that some of Andre Norton's books were geared to a younger audience.

Posted by Phanto (Member # 1619) on :

A lot of Bruce Coville's work (sp on last name), like: My Teacher Flunked the Planet.

Posted by Joshua (Member # 321) on :

Ummm... Artemis Fowl is more comic fantasy than science fiction, although it does have some sf elements. It is not very well written, and relies on gross out humor way too much.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

A Dragon in the Door, I believe it was.

Posted by WileyKat (Member # 652) on :

There's actually quite a lot of Science Fiction for kids. I know, because I read most of it when I was small!

"A Tale Of Time City" by Diana Wynne Jones (usually a fantasy author (and a great one!) but this is definitely Sci Fi)

"Grinny", "Trillions", "Antigrav", "Starstormers", "A Rag, A Bone and A Hank of Hair" amongst many others by Nicholas Fisk.

"FutureTrack 5" by Robert Westall is particularly good.

Some of Peter Dickinson's stuff is Sci Fi.

Douglas Hill wrote a series of books starting with "Galactic Warlord" that are quite good, if aimed at slightly older children.

Brian Earnshaw's wonderful "Dragonfall 5" novels as well. I can faintly remember reading and liking some H.M.Hoover as well.

[This message has been edited by WileyKat (edited January 14, 2004).]

Posted by Rahl22 (Member # 1411) on :

I've read Holly Lisle's first World Gate novel, entitled "Memory of Fire." It was certainly not inspired, but was oddly enticing. You may enjoy it, but it probably won't make your list of favorites.

Posted by Ergoface (Member # 1429) on :

I just recently read A Tale of Time City and I would tell anyone to keep this book away from children (or anyone else). I don't usually do this, but I've been reading a good amount of YA Fic lately and that book was just bad. It had plot holes you could drive an aircraft carrier through and the end disappointed completely.

Sorry, but I kept reading, hoping the end would pay off my slogging through the slop, only it was even worse. Either this is a case of an established writer being able to get away with publishing gunk, or YA Fic having lower standards. Either way, I don't want to know.

[Rant ends]

[This message has been edited by Ergoface (edited January 15, 2004).]

Posted by srhowen (Member # 462) on :

Has anyone else seen that they have re-released Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series in a youth book format? They have divided the books up into part one and part two of book one and so on, with a brighter cover, and with a larger print and book size (paper back)

I'm not a big Jordan fan--but my daughter saw them and got book one, (not from the book store, she went to the library and got the adult version of the book)(she's 10--one of those advanced readers)

I wouldn't consider wheel of time children's fantasy. But obviously the publisher does. Maybe it's all that description--

Shawn

[This message has been edited by srhowen (edited January 16, 2004).]

Posted by WileyKat (Member # 652) on :

Well, Ergoface, you're entitled to your opinion, obviously.

I enjoyed it both when I read it first, at about 14 years old, and the last time I re-read it, which was last year. I'm sorry you didn't like it - there are many people who do (it has good ratings on every book site I've seen).

I'm unsure what you mean by plot holes as well. Perhaps you could explain where you found them?

Posted by Georgeanne (Member # 1879) on :

Hi, there, I'm new to this, but thought I'd chime in. Sylvia Louise Engdahl wrote a wonderful series back in the 70's (I think), beginning with *This Star Shall Abide.* Another one of hers is *Enchantress from the Stars*, a profound novel about the collision of three cultures at very different places in their development, and their interpretation of the events that ensue.

Also appealing to young people, although not written specifically for them: Ray Bradbury's *Martian Chronicles*, Asimov's *I, Robot* and its sequels, and just about anything by Piers Anthony.

Posted by pickled shuttlecock (Member # 1714) on :

Well, thanks everyone! I'll have to check some of these out.

[This message has been edited by pickled shuttlecock (edited January 20, 2004).]