Clean Reads discussion

Okay... my 11 year old son has to read a Science Fiction book for his last book report of the year. I was going to have him read "Ender's Game", but then I read it first. It has quite a bit of language in it. Actually, I didn't even finish the story. Anyway, I can think of lots of books he could read, but there's a catch - there can't be a movie made based on the book. It narrows our choices... a lot. He loves to read, but I'm running out of ideas. Anyone have a thought on a clean Sci-Fi book that he might be able to use??

Honestly, I know nothing about JUV sci fi -- other than I shelve them at the library -- this is a series I've seen -- you would have to check it out for content -- but it's intended for 9-12yr olds:
The Prometheus Project: Trapped (Richards, Douglas E. Prometheus Project) (Paperback)
~ Douglas E. Richards
I think this is the 1st of three.

Artemis Fowl by eoin colfer is not a movie yet. I'm still listening to it, and outside of being weird (I'm not a sci fic person) it seems clean to me. Found by Haddix is really really good and isn't a movie. I enjoyed it and can't wait to read the next books in the series and it is 99% clean I would say 100% but there has been other books mentioned on this site that I read and did not find as unclean as others have.

"The Giver" is an excellent book, but it does have some "hard parts" in it, maybe better for the teen read. "A Wind in the Door" or "A Swiftly Tilting Planet" by Madeleine L'engle are very thought provoking. I don't remember who, but there was a Clean Reads member who was offended by A Wrinkle in Time, which is the first of the trilogy, because a crystal ball was used, but I didn't feel that way. "The People of Sparks", "The Prophet of Yonwood", and "The Diamond of Darkhold" are all sequels or prequels to "The City of Ember" and were engaging. There is a sequel of sorts to the classic "Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh", called Rasco and the Rats of Nimh", but it is written by a different author, so I wouldn't count on it being brilliant like the original, but it is the right age group and I'm sure would be clean. My son who is a similar age really like "A Forgotten Door" but I haven't read it. There is a very popular series called "Among the Hidden" that has been widely suggested, but I have not read them. My older teen daughter read one of the last ones, and said there was a little bit of violence, (someone was killed) but nothing graphic. I'm not sure if they would necessarily be classified as science fiction, but they are futuristic. "The Thief Lord" has been loved by all of my children and is clean. "The Time Bike" was interesting and would be good for his age. It had too many "holes" in it's plot for my older children, but unless your 11 year old is really into unraveling the details, I doubt that would bother him. It's been years since I read it, but I don't remember anything offensive. I'll keep thinking.

Rachel wrote: ""The Giver" is an excellent book, but it does have some "hard parts" in it, maybe better for the teen read. "A Wind in the Door" or "A Swiftly Tilting Planet" by Madeleine L'engle are very thought..."

I just remembered that "The Thief Lord" has a movie.

Lanetta wrote: "Artemis Fowl by eoin colfer is not a movie yet. I'm still listening to it, and outside of being weird (I'm not a sci fic person) it seems clean to me. Found by Haddix is really really good and isn..."

Actually Artemis Fowl was made into a movie a few years ago.

The City of Ember movie was released recently. As Rachel suggested, the prequels/sequels might work. They’re good.



What about Alliance by Gerald Lund. It's not YA, but it's pretty easy reading. You'd have to look at it to see if it's too difficult for him.

Rachel wrote: "Lanetta wrote: "Artemis Fowl by eoin colfer is not a movie yet. I'm still listening to it, and outside of being weird (I'm not a sci fic person) it seems clean to me. Found by Haddix is really rea..."

my fault, i was unaware of that. last i heard it was being made into a movie....way for me to keep up on the times:)

I read The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron to my boys and they liked it a lot. Totally age appropriate and clean.

Hi. I just joined Goodreads yesterday and learned of this discussion. I'm the author of one of the books mentioned, The Prometheus Project: Trapped, so I thought it would be helpful if I jumped in. Trapped could not be more "G" rated with respect to language. In terms of violence, the mom gets hit in the head with a heavy object and is bleeding pretty badly, and they think she may not make it (she does), but other than that there are no weapons and no one dies. I personally think of it as very, very "G" rated overall. I should also add that I read the Mushroom Planet book that was mentioned when I was a kid and loved it, and I remember that being very "G" rated as well, so you could never go wrong with it.

I hope that is helpful.

Good luck!

Doug

Artemis Fowl is being made into a movie but it's not out yet.

I agree that Found is just right for an 11 year old.