readers advisory for all discussion

Okay, so I am obsessed with the idea of a school in space.

I don't want anything that is exceedingly dense, so I guess my pacing request would be anywhere from Ender's Game to Dune and everything in between. (but leaning toward fast-paced and plot-driven) I'm not stuck on YA, it can be adult sci-fi.

I've read the Ender/Shadow series and some of the new YA books set at Starfleet. That's as close as I've found. Another Goodreader recced me Survey Ship and it is pretty entertaining so far. I'm also interested in books where there are groups of young people sent to colonize new planets or explore new worlds, but I'm not really looking for book adaptations of ST, Stargate, etc. unless you think they are genuinely entertaining.

This is really vague but let's see what you've got! I'll take anything even remotely close:)

I recommend this movie:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenon:_G...

and it is apparently based on a book!

Hahaha, I saw that when it originally aired. And my GR friend Lyndsey and I just watched it on youtube the other day.

In terms of books, I'm looking for something more mature than Zenon. Thanks, though!

ETA: Oh, it is based on a book? I never knew that! I'll look into it.

I will think more maturely

there is a story by ray bradbury called all summer in a day that is about a class on venus.

All Summer in a Day? I added it TBR, especially since it is freely available from a link on Goodreads. Thank you!

I guess I need to clarify that I'm not really looking for children's books or middle grade. The youngest the protag should be would be high school age. (YA/teen to adult)

The Ender series is an exception because the children are highly intelligent (ridiculously so) and speak and strategize like adults...if that makes sense. Though maybe the 9-year old in the Ray Bradbury tale is no different. I'll check it out.

yeah that's it.

Hmmm... I will keep thinking, those are the only two I remembered so far, they are very young in the bradbury I think.

i really like this subject and hope folks have some recommendations! i think the only book with this subject i've actually read would also be Survey Ship.

I posted this rec on my main goodreads page and got a few more takers who recced books to me:

D.A. by Connie Willis
Skyship Academy: The Pearl Wars by Nick James
Earthseed by Pamela Sargent

This is more "remotely close" but A Coming of Age by Timothy Zahn is about school life on a colonized planet where every child under the age of 14 possesses telekinetic powers, but loses them at puberty.

Colonized planets definitely still interest me. I'll add it to try--thanks!

Also, to keep this list updated for karen, I found a random series at the library that is rather spot-on.

The Comet's Curse: A Galahad Book
The Web of Titan: A Galahad Book
The Dark Zone: A Galahad Book
The Cassini Code: A Galahad Book

I am only on the second one but there is YA fun to be had. Also, the Starfleet YA books:

The Edge
The Delta Anomaly
The Gemini Agent

It just occurred to me that you might want to include the Chaos Walking series. The colonizing ships provide school for the kids who are awake on the journey. It's all backstory, so it might not be of interest.

The Knife of Never Letting Go
The Ask and the Answer
Monsters of Men

Kaethe,
I had no clue that's what the Chaos Walking series is about. Must make that a priority to try out..

Thanks!

That's not what it's about, but that is part of it.

I'm just adding more books that I've included on my space-quest shelf. I've read several of them lately:

Singing the Dogstar Blues
Feed
Academy 7
Interworld

And I found one that sounds right on the mark but I haven't read it yet: Space Cadet

Bumping all those books up the list or adding them. thanks!

Oh, Survey Ship, I read that and loved it long ago.

A novella by Connie Willis is precisely what you requested D.A.

And I read the first Chaos Walking book and had no idea that was what the series was going to be about.

I was equally in the dark picking it up.

hey look, Kirkus Reviews stole the subject of this thread! some interesting-looking books noted:

http://www.kirkusreviews.com/blog/sci...

Hey, I'll take recs on this topic from anywhere! Here are the books mentioned in that thread that I hadn't come across before:

Up Against It
Higher Education
Starswarm
The Billion Dollar Boy
Putting Up Roots
The Cyborg From Earth
Outward Bound
Journey Between Worlds
Sky Horizon
Shanghaied to the Moon
Barbary
Jumping Off the Planet
Bouncing Off the Moon
Leaping to the Stars
The Mayflower Project

I wish I could recommend more, but all I do is take down titles to read.

My favorite book for years has been "Ender's Game", but I had some problems with Mr. Cards awesome book. Warfare is deception, and the next Great military leader would not be able to be hoodwinked or fooled! That coupled with a society of totally peaceful people who never had to develop the fight or flight response in their early development are the basis for my second novel which I just E-published August 31, 2011. So for a school in space and fast action with great plot twists please look at "No Rules Of Engagement".

this group is making waves and influencing publishing worldwide!

did you get any good suggestions here?

Yes, I did! I've read All Summer in a Day and D.A.. Both are short stories that I gave 4 stars to. I'm keeping a shelf of all the books recced to me on the topic here: YA SPACE QUEST SHELF

Here is an answer I got from King County Library System when I asked the same question (I've changed the links to Goodreads links):

Thank you for your question, and for the opportunity to suggest some books to you! So, if you are open to not just traditional "school" and "space" per se, but the young person's experience (or coming of age experience) in space, the future, dystopias, etc., here are some titles I would suggest:

The first thing that came to my mind when I heard "school in space" was author Robert A. Heinlein, specifically Red Planet, in which a young colonist on Mars goes to boarding school and stumbles upon information that sends him on an adventure. This is customarily a juvenile book, but one that adults also find very entertaining:
Other Heinlein books that are promising are Space Cadet (Sadly, KCLS doesn't have this title, but you could request it through Interlibrary Loan here: http://www.kcls.org/usingthelibrary/r... and Starship Troopers.

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer takes place in a future country called Opium which exists between what today is the USA and Mexico. A young boy has been cloned to be used for organ harvesting for the country's ruler, the drug dealer El Patron. One of my own personal all-time favorite books (no pressure).

I found the book Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund, which fits "school in space," though it has a very unfortunate cover that I understand does not reflect on the story much.

Feed by M.T. Anderson follows teens who try to navigate a world where most people have what amounts to internet connections implanted directly into their brains.

Shade's Children by Garth Nix is about a future where all humans over the age of 16 have disappeared. The remaining children are rounded up and kept until their fourteenth birthday, when their bodies are harvested to create "creatures." The story follows four teens who escape.

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins, which you may have heard of, is about young people coming of age and also trying to survive in a post apocalyptic world where children are forced to fight to the death in order to amuse the elite (I am simplifying the plot significantly). There is a wait for this but worth it.

There are so many good books. Here are a couple more lists to peruse, though I don't want to overwhelm you too much. This is a list of young adult sci-fi from our teen librarians.
This is a list of dystopic fiction for adults.

Please do let us know what you think of these suggestions! Thanks again for using the service!

-Meredith

okay, i failed you earlier today, but look what i found!

The Highest Frontier

it is not deep deep space, but it counts, right?

Oh my gosh, karen, I am SO excited for that. Will acquire as soon as possible.

UGH, it is $12.99 AS A KINDLE BOOK. Get real, Tor.

well, i guess it is off to your awesome library!

You're so smart. They had 5 copies so I put it on hold. I guess I just got so excited that I wanted to have it right away.

i am equally excited to finally have found something for you. i hope it's good! come back and tell me!

I'd like to add a book, that I found for someone on What's the Name of that Book?:

_Astropilots_ by Mixon, Laura J. 0-590-40277-3

A little on the YA side, and dated (call newspapers 'faxes' and it's good to go, right?), but otherwise all about the academy in space.