Young Readers And Science Fiction Books

I spent time at the school library yesterday, mostly working on displays and bulletin boards to make everything pop for the kids when they return to school next Wednesday.  I'll definitely take photos for everyone next week once I've finished tweaking.

Am especially pleased with a "books we love!" display that I put together.  I've got a bright Dr. Seuss border around the outside of the bookshelf area, and a stuffed White Rabbit and Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland peeking out from the shelves.  (Thank goodness I saved all the decorations from The Peanut's 7th birthday party -- I knew they'd come in handy again someday!)

I managed to carve out this designated section of bookshelf space for rotating displays and themes from the fiction section which faces out where the kids will be sitting for class, but it is a painful carve out because it makes shelving a little more tight than I'd like it to be.  The space may reduce in size a bit over time out of necessity.  But, for now anyway, it is a bold and lovely display of great books to entice the kids to want to check them out.

As I was putting the display together, though, I realized that we have no really good science fiction books for younger readers in the library.  Or, frankly, no science fiction books that I could find at all beyond the classic Jules Verne variety (which is awesome, but not likely to tempt a 4th grader quite yet unless he or she is a particularly precocious one) or Star Wars novelizations.

Which got me thinking about great science fiction books for kids.  At which point I, sadly, drew a bit of a blank.  That's just unacceptable, isn't it?  So, I'm asking for your help.

Growing up, I had a father and an uncle who loved science fiction.  My uncle had a huge library of SF paperbacks that he'd amassed over the years, and when we went to visit them he used to let me fill up a paper grocery bag or box with books to read, so I cut my reading teeth in my 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade years on science fiction.  But it was adult-level reading -- he knew I was ready for a challenge and he wouldn't let me read under my level, so I loaded up on Asimov, Herbert, McCaffrey...you name a classic and I probably devoured it in my youth.

I do recall that Heinlein had quite a few "juveniles" in his vast writing collection -- Starship Troopers being the most well known of that group, I think.  And I seem to remember Asimov had at least one or two as well, although I'm struggling to recall the titles.

There have to be some excellent science fiction books out there that would work well at tempting 8 to 12 year olds into deeper, broader reading in the genre.  I know there are, and I'll probably be thwacking my head going "duh!" when you start listing titles for me, but as I sit here this morning (on my measly one cuppa coffee thus far, mind you), my brain is drawing a blank.

My goal is to build the school library up into a place filled with books that tempt kids to begin reading and then keep them so engaged that they never want to stop.  We have fantastic fantasy books already, and that's a collection that I can build on.  But not so much with SF.  There have to be some science fiction books that will be great for 8 to 12 year old kids out there.  Please, please help me find them...

(Photo via NASA's Hubble, described by the cheery folks at NASA's Goddard Photo and Video Center as "[a] colourful star-forming region is featured in this stunning new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 2467. Looking like a roiling cauldron of some exotic cosmic brew, huge clouds of gas and dust are sprinkled with bright blue hot young stars."  Science is really awesome.)