Sci-Fi Books For Pre-Teens? 1419
o2binbuzios writes "I have two pre-teen boys who are avid readers, and I am going through my mental catalog for great sci-fi & fantasy books for them. What are some of the classics (and maybe new additions to the classics) that would be great for them to read? I am asking because some of the 'straight-up' classics I remember actually seem kind of dark & cynical for younger readers. Starship Troopers and some of the other Heinlein are definitely darker and more political than I remember... Foundation Trilogy and psycho-history maybe too dry. Road-trip reading season is upon us — what are the good reads for the kids in the back seat?"
Re:Enders Game (Score:1, Funny)
When I was 4 years old, preschool consisted of fingerpainting and coloring, maybe a little bit of ABC and number recognition.
I only have three real memories of when I was in preschool (I'm going to say I was 5, then k,1-12 and college and... yeah 5) about 25 years ago.
I remember learning to count to 100 (and realizing that once you got there you could keep going by basically starting over again) and learning to do simple addition using these nifty colored plastic squares (in little bite-sized pieces, then bars of 10 squares, then plates of 100).
I remember one day the teacher had this felt board with various shapes that stuck to it. One day she set it up with a thermometer and a little felt sun at the top and a snowman at the bottom. She pointed at the board and asked me to spell it, so I spelled out the word "thermometer", and was promptly laughed at because she wanted me to spell "sun".
Finally I remember sitting around one day gluing pieces of construction paper together and being grossed out by two of the other kids sitting there eating their paste.
Re:Dark and Cynical? (Score:4, Funny)
Or as my wife like to succinctly put it "OMG WTF Jesus Lion"
Re:Dark and Cynical? (Score:5, Funny)
3-Line Narnia
C.S. LEWIS: Hey, a Utopia ruled by children and populated by talking animals!
THE WITCH: Hello, I'm a sexually mature woman of power and confidence.
C.S. LEWIS: Aaaahhh! Kill it, lion Jesus!
Re:Try these (Score:4, Funny)
Wow, your taste doesn't match mine! What a thought!
Re:Try these (Score:4, Funny)
Why not Douglas Adams' novels? I read those when I was 10 - pretty^H^H^H^H^H^H^H mostly harmless
There. Fixed it for you.
Re:Try these (Score:3, Funny)
All sex scenes are poorly written by definition.
Of course, I'm taking this on faith, as you will have to, since, the two of us being slashdotters, have never had sex with anyone.
Re:Arthur C Clarke and Doctor Who (Score:5, Funny)
Just make sure you use the paperback version. Otherwise, you might:
a) hurt the kid.
b) hurt your arm.
Re:*not* Niven's Ringworld (Score:3, Funny)
I learnt about sex when I was 8 or so from science books my parents let me read (and also a few of those sci fi books).
But wait... I'm one of those virgin slashdotters, erm nevermind then
Re:Try these (Score:4, Funny)
Definitely. The language is too complex for most. It's also highly Christian. As in, the protagonist is a Christian fighting the forces of Satan with the aid of angels.
Nothing wrong with reading CS Lewis provided you go on to read Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials for balance (protagonist fighting the forces of God and the church with the aid of witches and fallen angels...)
PS: Beware - do not place His Dark Materials on the shelf next to Narnia or the Space trilogy - they will annihilate each other in a burst of dark matter.