Getting an introduction to Sci-Fi

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 2:19 am

So I like reading to my kid. It's easy to find folk tales, real life stories, and fantasy for a kid. But I've never been so much about the sci-fi. But she seems interested and I was wondering if you guys might know some good suggestions to read to a 3-4 year old. She's been read at a much higher age-level as well seeing I took to reading her Jack London and Kenneth Grahame whenever I could.

So any suggestions? If you can't think of anything specific for that age, just give me some fun reading for anybody under say 10.

Danke

~
Cynic

Aktariel · Post by **Aktariel** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 2:41 am

Have Spacesuit Will Travel by Robert Heinlein?

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 2:43 am

There are a fair few childrens sci fi books out there, but a lot originate from the pulp era when there were just plain a lot more sci fi novels in general (and so may be mildly dated).

So theres stuff like Rebeccas World, which I (vaguely) recall as a sort of sci-fi alice in wonderland thing.

But a lot of these old children's sci fi stories are kind of dark.

So there are things floating around like the Tripods trilogy, chocolate wars, A Wrinkle In Time, etc... That may or may not be scary or might be better for a 9-12 year old.

Hell I think I've seen "A Rage, A Bone, And a Hank Of Hair" depicted as a children's story, and it's bleak as all hell, so watch out for the extremes.

You may well have just as much luck with regular adult sci-fi of the softer more optimistic varieties.

So say, The Stainless Steel Rat series, the Vorkosigen saga, the border line for "childrens" novel and adult is pretty flexible, you just want something a touch light on the reading, not too dull or bleak, and without too much of that boring old sex stuff in it. There are tons of books like that.

Just don't go reading the poor kid any Robin Hobb or Greg Bear.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:46 am

Spacesuit will travel is one of Heinlein's better, but it lulls you into falling for his wingnut period.

-Crissa

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 4:08 am

Crissa wrote:Spacesuit will travel is one of Heinlein's better, but it lulls you into falling for his wingnut period.

-Crissa

well he did his juvenile series before going on to his SERIOUS stage.

the juvenile stage was definitely light and easy but it still had crazy amount of wingnutism. not to say I don't like a good heinlein novel for the beach.

shau · Post by **shau** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 4:29 am

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle was very enjoyable for me as a child, although that might be a bit too much at this age. I don't have kids personally so I don't really know what's appropriate. I also read her other books from the series, but none of the really enchanted me like the first one.

Star Wars books are really popular and might be easy for children to get into because they have the movies as visual aids. You might want something a little more intellectually stimulating however.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 4:41 am

shau wrote: Star Wars books are really popular and might be easy for children to get into because they have the movies as visual aids. You might want something a little more intellectually stimulating however.

My nephew has a Star wars: CLone wars backpack. I told him that I really liked his Star Wars back pack and he corrected me saying that "It was a Clone Wars backpack not Star Wars."

Silly 5-year-olds.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:58 am

He decided that Clone Wars is utter shite and a stain on the (already dirty) name of Star Wars? Haha, that's pretty cool.

Draco_Argentum · Post by **Draco_Argentum** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 7:13 am

We read the first book of the Tripods trilogy in school. I liked it then.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 7:58 am

shau wrote:A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle was very enjoyable for me as a child, although that might be a bit too much at this age. I don't have kids personally so I don't really know what's appropriate. I also read her other books from the series, but none of the really enchanted me like the first one.

This was my introduction to sci-fi, but I read it when I was eight.

You know, you might want to try asking a librarian.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:04 am

Maj wrote:
This was my introduction to sci-fi, but I read it when I was eight.

You know, you might want to try asking a librarian.

I did and I was pointed to a series or two about a magical treehouse that takes you back in time. But she has books in a similar vein (sans time travel) that have her learn/know about different times and people from history.

Apparently nobody really asks questions about kids and sci-fi. I've put a question to my old kid-lit professor about this as well. Let's see if she knows anything more. I'll post if so.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 2:29 pm

Asimov edited a few short story collections that might do - Young Aliens and Young Mutants I think they were called.

CatharzGodfoot · Post by **CatharzGodfoot** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:25 pm

The Cyberiad (and similar compilations) by Stanisław Lem are totally awesome stories for kids. David Brin's Uplift War series might alsso be a good choice; my dad read those to me when I was young. The Diamond Age (Neil Stephenson) might be a good choice, although I'm not sure if it would be too complicated/tedious/'adult'.

ubernoob · Post by **ubernoob** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 4:35 pm

IIRC, some of Asimov's shorter works would be fine for children. Particularly the ones involving robots protecting children.

Falgund · Post by **Falgund** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 7:07 pm

Speaking from my experience, I second the Tripods trilogy, and add Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger, HG Wells, Jules Verne and J.-H. Rosny aîné novels, starting by his prehistoric ones (especially Quest for Fire), going to the half-prehistoric/half-science fiction ones (The Shapes).

PoliteNewb · Post by **PoliteNewb** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 12:43 am

I second the suggestion of Asimov's robot short stories..."I, Robot" was an excellent anthology, which had quite a few good ones.

I would recommend anthologies in general; short stories are often easier for kids to grasp (they were for me, when I was a kid)...shoot, Frederic Brown's "And the Gods Laughed" has some stories as short as 1-2 pages (of course, you'll need to pre-read those, as a lot do have some sexual content, but a lot of them are fine).

My all-time favorite sci-fi designed for kids (young adults, really, but it should be cool) was "Interstellar Pig" by William Sleator.

Finally, H. Beam Piper's "Fuzzy" novels should appeal to children, and I don't believe there were any major adult issues that an intelligent child couldn't grasp. I believe "Little Fuzzy" has recently been reprinted.

Caedrus · Post by **Caedrus** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:13 am

When I was a little kid I loved Michael Crichton and listened to all of his books on tape well before I started learning to read.

I know, it's mainstream and all that, but hey, young me watched Jurassic Park like 5 times in the theatres.

ckafrica · Post by **ckafrica** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:08 am

It is probably to much for him to read at 3-4 but Robert Asprin's Phule series is pretty light hearted and fun. I don't recall anything dirty in them.

Neeeek · Post by **Neeeek** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:21 am

ckafrica wrote:It is probably to much for him to read at 3-4 but Robert Asprin's Phule series is pretty light hearted and fun. I don't recall anything dirty in them.

The first book has 3 of the women posing nude. The second book takes place primarily in a casino. Not to mention the very high amount of guns.

It maybe a little too old for a 3-4 year old (I'd go 8-13), but nearly everything I can think of is, but I recall reading a book called "I spent my summer vacation kidnapped in space". It's not good, but it's readable.

ckafrica · Post by **ckafrica** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:38 am

I might concede that nudity is inappropriate for young children, but guns? Come on we all grew up on guns and violence. Hell I bloody learned how to read so I could borrow my brothers Red box D&D books and understand what all the cool pictures were. Phule's company didn't actually have bloody violence, it had cartoon violence, just like the Myth series. The nudity was never described either an activity that included them being nude was mentioned. It's mildly more pornographic than mentioning someone took a shower.

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 11:02 am

People are making some silly suggestions here.

Anything Asimov He's great and may have (maybe) edited some good stories. But his own stuff is way too DULL for young kids. Even his writing style is too dull and flat for kids to enjoy. I mean really, stone cold sober almost monotonous reports on the ethical motivations of robot killers, really?

Brin's Uplift Series At least written more excitingly than Asimov but a kid isn't going to get or care about the complex themes and ideas involved. It's great stuff and I love it, but even an advanced kid won't really appreciate it until they are at least in their early teens. Try digging up his rather lighter, more personalized and exciting "Practice Effect" if you really want a Brin book.

HG Wells is so archaic as to be nearly unreadable. For me. Maybe if I was a kid being read to. MAYBE. I doubt it. I certainly wouldn't go reading it myself, as a kid. Or now.

The Diamond Age Great book. I like it. And it IS about a girl being brought up, by a book. It kinda... fizzles at the end. But it lacks clear narrative. It lacks obvious relate-able main characters. It has all sorts of unpleasant misadventures for the (some time) young female protagonist without minimal rewards, victories or even good things. It has no happy ending (barely an ending at all). It spends significant time describing underwater naked mass suicide distributed computing sex orgies, sadomasochistic prostitution/torture for information, and other things which while fun for me and you are boring as hell for little girls.

We might as well start suggesting Piers Anthony at this rate.

tzor · Post by **tzor** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 3:20 pm

I'm going to disagree on Asimov, he has some really good science material for children. Some of it may be outdated but still all good reads.

Jacob_Orlove · Post by **Jacob_Orlove** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 6:18 pm

Jules Verne is the only reasonable suggestion so far, of the books I'm familiar with. Specifically, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas, Around the World in 80 Days, and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Those should work for pretty young child, I think, although I can't think of much else that would.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:32 pm

I loved Asimov as a child.

-Crissa

Caedrus · Post by **Caedrus** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 2:40 am

Crissa wrote:I loved Asimov as a child.

-Crissa

No one introduced me to Asimov as a child. I wish they did.