
Ask HN: Sci-Fi book recommendations for kids? - ceocoder
My friend (iamgopal) and I grew up reading adventure&#x2F;science fiction books by Jules Verne; shared love of these books was the reason we became best friends in matter of days, and were a huge influence for us - reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Mysterious Island and the like were a huge influence during our formative years.  Even today I have a mild obsession with submarines that probably links back to reading 20k leagues.<p>Now that both of us have kids of our own and want to expose them to some good books.  Any and all suggestions are much appreciated.<p>Thanks
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NeedMoreTea
You don't mention their age which may help!

Charles Stross's Merchant Princes is a rolicking good read, and well suited
for teens and near I think - our eldest loved them. I recommend the first six
(the six books are now sold as a trilogy, as they were originally intended to
be).

The relaunch of the series with a new follow-up trilogy rather loses the plot
and was a big disappointment... So I'd stick to the originals. :)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchant_Princes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchant_Princes)

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ceocoder
Sorry age between 3 and 6

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NeedMoreTea
They're rather young for Merchant Princes yet then. Hmm.

Jonathan Stroud's award winning Bartimaeus Trilogy (in 4 parts with prequel)
is younger - probably around 8 or 10, and is one of those children's series
that there's a good chance parents will enjoy too. More alternate history and
fantasy than sci-fi though. There's an adult layer in things, and a
deliciously acerbic and sarcastic main character, so a good series for reading
to them. I think I would have bought the rest of the series even if the kids
hadn't enjoyed the first! Hugely recommended.

His other series, Lockwood, is similar but perhaps less for the adults though
there's similar humour. They're a group of kids who are ghost hunters. So more
squarely in the Harry Potter vein.

Younger still and I draw a blank, sorry - it's been a good while since our
kids were in that age bracket. If I do remember anything suitable I'll update.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartimaeus_Sequence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartimaeus_Sequence)

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shoo
> They're rather young for Merchant Princes yet then. Hmm.

i pretty much enjoy any book that Stross publishes, including the merchant
princes series, but things do get rather grim. (now kids, what do you think
would _really_ happen if a superpower discovered a doorway into narnia? ...)

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NeedMoreTea
True, they do get a bit grim, but not graphic, which is why I thought them
well suited for early teen. I think the lad was 12 when he started them and
teens when he'd done, and he was a big fan. YMMV. He was an age to have enough
glimpses of the real world in media and internet to get, and enjoy the ideas
the books were playing with.

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DanBC
I enjoyed _The House of the Scorpion_ [https://www.amazon.co.uk/House-
Scorpion-Nancy-Farmer-ebook/d...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/House-Scorpion-
Nancy-Farmer-ebook/dp/B00DTDKTI8/)

You can find award winning books of different genre in the database of award
winning children's books: [http://www.dawcl.com/](http://www.dawcl.com/)

You can browse through winners of the Carnegie Medal here:
[https://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/archive.php](https://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/archive.php)

Weirdly they don't keep the short lists. :-/

EDIT: here are the shortlists for a few years. You can find them easily with
google:

[https://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/press.php?release=pres_...](https://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/press.php?release=pres_2018_shortlists_announced.html)

[https://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/press.php?release=pres_...](https://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/press.php?release=pres_2017_shortlists_announced.html)

[https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-
site/2015/mar/17...](https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-
site/2015/mar/17/carnegie-medal-and-kate-greenaway-2015-shortlists-announced)

[http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/childrens-
books/news/2012-cilip-c...](http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/childrens-
books/news/2012-cilip-carnegie-and-kate-greenaway-medal-shortlists)

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a-saleh
How old are the kids?

I.e. I have read Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy as ~13 year old and enjoyed it
immensly. Terry Prattchets later discworld books might count as well, i.e.
Going Postal, Making Money and Raising Steam is quite a bit about new
technology and its influence on the changing world :-)

Ah, now I see, 3 to 6 year olds.

My daughter is 5, and we haven't really been reading sci-fy, but next time I
might ask in our library :-) We mostly read fairy tales an light fantasy (i.e.
she really enjoyed Hilda)

But she likes machines and robots and I amused her several times with i.e.
guides through International Space Station or documentaries about various
robots on Mars :)

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robotbikes
A lot of what Cory Doctorow writes is accessible to a young adult audience,
like Pirate Cinema and the Little Brother series. For younger kids there are
probably lots of books at the library with a science fiction theme for those
just getting a taste for reading. I think Choose Your Own Adventures were some
of the first sci-fi books I got into when I first learned how to read.

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salutonmundo
Eoin Colfer generally writes science-fantasy appropriate for older kids /
young adults. See: "the Supernaturalist", the Artemis Fowl books, the WARP
trilogy.

"Escape to Witch Mountain" (by Alexander Key) is a classic.

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shoo
i have vague and hazy memories of reading loads of andre norton science
fiction books borrowed from a library when i was younger -- lots of weird
stories about trading ships visiting far planets, meeting aliens, some unusual
amount of gem trading, "forerunner" alien races...

edit: aside from scifi, garth nix' "sabriel" books are a pretty good read.
fantasy, necromancy, & quite an imaginative take on how magic systems work

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polifazy2
Fables for Robots - Stanislaw Lem

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a-saleh
Not really sci-fy, but my 5 year old daughter enjoyed reading Thing Explainer
and What if? from Randall Munroe of xkcd.com fame.

What if? is more speculative of the two, and you can read a few of the
stories/speculations on [https://what-if.xkcd.com/](https://what-if.xkcd.com/)
:-)

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Ran9er
Ender's Game Saga

