Children's Books discussion

My 9 year old daughter asked me this morning if there are story books set in space. She's looking for fiction set in space, she has lots of non-fiction space books. Any recommendations?

This is an undeveloped field, and I don't know why. For example, I don't see a single book I'd actually recommend to your daughter on this list: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2..., and yet that's one of the better lists I've seen.

You might want to look here: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2... or here: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2... or here: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2... too.

And you might also want to try in the Great Middle Grades Reads group. (There are several authors there; maybe you'll prompt one of them to write an SF adventure for 'tweens. ;)

This is not the first time I've researched this topic, as SF and Children's books are my two favorite genres and I'm looking for the same books that your daughter is! I really wish I could find more.

We had this short story by Ray Badbury read to us in grade five or six, All Summer in a Day. It is about a group of children on Venus and where the sun is only visible for one hour every seven years. It deals with bullying and other such themes, and I remember really liking it (but finding the ending a bit too abrupt). It think the story is definitely suitable for children from about age nine onwards, although I would not necessarily consider it a children's story (but dealing with child protagonists and antagonists). Margaret, the one child who loved the sun the most and remembered it because she used to live on earth, misses the sun's appearance because her classmates lock her in a closet (when they let her out, they are ashamed as their act of nastiness has not only caused Margaret to miss the sun, it will now be another seven years before the sun makes another appearance).

I did a bit of research on Amazon, and the following books look at least somewhat promising. I will, though, not vouch for any of them, as I have not read them and this is also not a genre with which I am all that familiar. But the titles look interesting and are perhaps worth examining further.

Ants In Space
Space Case (looks like a series)
George's Secret Key to the Universe (another series, looks interesting as it is by Stephen Hawking and his daughter)
Space Dumplins (sounds a bit excrement heavy, but might be fun all the same)
Space Rats
Zita the Spacegirl (seems to be another series)
Willy Maykit in Space
Joe Devlin And The New Star Fighter (another series)
Cleopatra in Space, Book One: Target Practice (another series, perhaps interesting as it features the historical Cleopatra as main heroine)
Lowriders in Space

It seems quite a few of these are graphic novels, not my cup of tea, but I know they are popular and a hit with many kids.

Yes, that wonderful Bradbury story is often taught - despite the fact that it's fantasy, because of course it doesn't rain on Venus. Several classic short stories by Bradbury and Asimov are good for kids, but I can't actually think of any that take place in space, or even on other scientifically correct other planets.

The only books from the Amazon list that I've ever heard of are Zita and Hawkings'. Please let us know if your daughter likes any of them.

We've read the George's Secret Key books and she loved them. I'll take a look at the others, at least it gives me a starting point.

I'll pose the same question to the Middle Grade group and see what they can recommend.

Cheryl wrote: "Yes, that wonderful Bradbury story is often taught - despite the fact that it's fantasy, because of course it doesn't rain on Venus. Several classic short stories by Bradbury and Asimov are good fo..."

Of course, when Ray Bradbury wrote that short story, he might have actually believed that it did rain on Venus, as this was a common (and of course now proven as absolutely erroneous) concept, just like it was believed (until proven otherwise) or at least speculated that Mars had artificially made channels. So we consider it fantasy now, but when the story was first published, it might have actually been science fiction.

Ah, Bradbury's a fantasist through & through. Sure, *some* folks weren't convinced that Venus was dry in 1950, but there was more evidence for desert than jungle.

Sorry, my personal pet peeve. Bradbury's an amazing writer of literature, but not SF.

Cheryl wrote: "Ah, Bradbury's a fantasist through & through. Sure, *some* folks weren't convinced that Venus was dry in 1950, but there was more evidence for desert than jungle.

Sorry, my personal pet peeve. Bra..."

No need to apologise, I actually know very little about science fiction, as it is not a genre I tend to read all that much.

This book was written in the 80's and I enjoyed it. It is called Space Trap by Monica Hughes and suitable for that age group.

Rosemarie wrote: "This book was written in the 80's and I enjoyed it. It is called Space Trap by Monica Hughes and suitable for that age group."

Thank you very much. I think my daughter may enjoy some of the other books by this author as well.

The Keeper of the Isis Light and the other books in the series are better for 11+ readers, but I recommend them as well.

Oh, thank you Rosemarie, I'm so glad to have more to look for.

I guess I have a question for clarification...do the stories need to just be set in space or be accurate about space? (As the story by Bradbury that Gundula described is set in space even if it is not scientifically accurate. Not to quibble...just to clarify).

Two books that come to mind that may/may not fit what you are looking for:

My very favorite children's book ever is A Wrinkle in Time and part of it is set in space but not in our solar system or any known solar system, an imaginary one. It's the first book in a series and may be a bit complex for most 9 year olds but could certainly be read together.

The other series is definitely geared for kids closer to 12 and up...young adult fiction...but may interest your daughter in a few years...and some of the series is set on the moon but not all of it. Cinder is the first book. I liked the series quite a bit. It's a sci-fi retelling of several fairy tales.

I don't think space needs to be accurate. I suspect she'll enjoy A Wrinkle in Time in about a year's time. Thanks for all the great suggestions.

Here is a list of children's SF books that I have read--several recently--and I can vouch for them all. Most of these are set in space and are full of adventure and a variety of extraterrestrials.

Bounders
The Planet Thieves
Randoms
The Lost Planet
The Stolen Moon
The True Meaning of Smekday (the animated movie "Home" is based on this book)
Smek for President!
Stepsister from Planet Weird
Alien for Rent
What We Found in the Sofa and How it Saved the World
Stinker from Space
Stinker's Return
Helen Hoover also wrote many SF books for children.

Thank you, Beverley. Interesting choices!

Oh, just remembered, Daniel Pinkwater wrote several comic stories, for a range of ages, inspired by SF.

I think you've gotten some great suggestions. I'm late getting to this, but here are a couple that haven't been mentioned yet. They're both wacky fun kind of stories.

Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow by Nathan Bransford
Galaxy Games: The Challengers by Greg Fishbone

Thanks very much, they both look interesting.

Reviving this thread to be more general, because I keep coming across the odd book or list or author that's not been mentioned before. For example, I just enjoyed But We Are Not of Earth by Jean E. Karl. That lead me to this Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... which has companion lists for even older books.

There are listed John Christopher, Frank Bonham and others. And I'm reminded of Annabel Johnson's An Alien Music (which is hard to find and better for slightly older children).

More lists are available, but the ones I just looked at are worthless.

Except I did find the title of one of the ones (for slightly older children) that I was looking for, Enchantress from the Stars. Lovely book with a fantasy vibe but SF underpinnings.

My gateway book to SF was probably The Forgotten Door. Highly recommended.

Twilight Zone (original) anthologies are probably still of interest and clean enough for children.

Of course there's The Giver and Wrinkle in Time.

This is an interesting non-GR list, flawed, but worth a look: https://best-sci-fi-books.com/25-best..., as is this: https://imaginationsoup.net/best-scie... And there's this: https://www.readbrightly.com/girl-cen...

But the book that I cannot find on any of these lists is just about perfect. I don't know why it was impossible to find mention of The True Meaning of Smekday, what with popular author, black girl heroic protag. aliens.... I loved it

Niece #1 loves this category.

She loved Zita the Spacegirl when she was younger, before she could even read. I will ask her about her favorite books when I see her again.

Thanks!

Rosemarie wrote: "The Keeper of the Isis Light and the other books in the series are better for 11+ readers, but I recommend them as well."

I can vouch for this. I don't remember details, but I did find the first title in a little old rural library and was able to read, and enjoy, it.

Check openlibrary.org if your library doesn't have these older books! They specialize in those in-between books, it seems to me... great place to go for books that are not yet on gutenberg.org but have been weeded from modern libraries.

Mighty Jack and Zita the Spacegirl

Thanks! Interesting that Jack and Zita are from two different series....

Cheryl wrote: "Thanks! Interesting that Jack and Zita are from two different series...."

Niece recommended them both but didn't explain the crossover! I didn't have time to read every single book she tossed at me last week when I was at their house.

hah! I imagine not!

I just finished the third book (and final) in the Chronicle of the Dark Star series by Kevin Emerson. It is for a bit older than 9 years, I think, closer to 12 years and up. The people of Earth have to leave the solar system because the Sun is going supernova. Because they had time to prepare for the event, they had prepared a distant planet for terraforming, unwittingly almost wiping out the civilization of intelligent people that inhabited it. Now both humans and the Telphons, whose planet the humans destroyed have to find new homes.
Last Day on Mars
The Oceans Between Stars
The Shores Beyond Time

That looks very interesting, ty!

I just finished [Book:The Jamie Drake Equation] . It’s not set in space, but it’s about a boy who has a famous astronaut father who is generating a lot of excitment with school children from his interaction with them space. Like the fiction version of Tim Peake.

The Jamie Drake Equation, ty!

Thanks Cheryl! Linking to books on the app is still a mystery to me. I wonder what I didn’t do right?

If you're on mobile, I don't think that you can do the links. I only know PC.

Space Taxi: Archie Takes Flight is a fairly new series by one of my favorite authors. I only just discovered it so I can't vouch for it, but it does look like fun!

Cheryl wrote: "Reviving this thread to be more general,.."

Thank you for reviving this thread as I have an 8yr old (going on 26) grandson who is interested in science. He's been attracted more to mystery and fantasy genre, but would like to expand into science fiction.

I'm an old science-fiction geek, myself. The genre was loosely defined in my day, as it still is loosely defined today, but now more distinguished into two categories, Hard and Soft. Some readers "prefer" hard and only recognize science fiction with hard "current" facts, written in stone or at least plausible. To them, if the details or story line traipse over into soft, then it's not science fiction, but rather fantasy. Hence the rub. :)

Truth be known, a combination of Soft and Hard both exist in most works of science fiction. But what is science-fiction or any genre if without social interaction or some morsel of social commentary? In addition, sci-fi and fantasy overlap with common elements.

In my day, it was considered all fantasy, and summarily rubbish, because there were no constrictions, no guidelines to follow. Our teachers snubbed science fiction or fantasy as real writing by students, not recognizing that sci-fi was written as early as the middle ages. To our English and Literature teachers, science fiction was a "b******" genre, not to be considered seriously alongside old fashioned literary giants Thoreau or Emerson.
We as students continually brought up H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov, Mary Shelley, L'Engle, Gilman, Bennett, Henderson and then at that time, LeGuin, McCaffrey, and C.J. Cherryh,
Then the teachers began to allow us to write sci-fi sparingly as a topic for our assignments. :)
Gammy

Ever since the 70s SF has been an elective in some colleges. And now there are more books that purport to teach science in a fiction context, so schools that are into STEM will buy them. George's Secret Key to the Universe, for example.

So, what is your mini-grad student reading?

Reviving this thread. I'd still like to know what Thomas' child enjoyed.

And Guilherme has said:

"I'd like recommendations on sci-fi PBs as well. Also, I'd appreciate more recommendations on MGs.

I'm interested in the very best. It doesn't need to be new/recent books. Thanks!"

I did just read an anthology for tweens, Other Worlds, part of the Guys Read series. I'll try to make time to check my shelves for picture-books.

Ok, I did a quick scan and couldn't see anything really good. Too bad.

Otoh, there is this list: https://bookroo.com/explore/picture-b..., and while I can't vouch for any yet, many do look interesting.

Oh, I am reminded of Mr. Wuffles!, which is beloved by lots of readers. By David Wiesner, who also did Tuesday.

And of course there's Listopia.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

I have read a bunch of those.

I've been finding and reading more of these in the last couple of years. I'll try to do a better job of bumping this thread with new titles.