One of my recent ideas for school next year was to put together a science fiction unit for J, something that he would absolutely love (he wants to be an astrobiologist). Below are the books that I initially purchased, though I expect that some will be culled and others added as I get further into my pre-reading and planning. In particular, I like the idea of studying the books by sub-genre (time travel, dystopian, apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic, etc.), so there's clearly some organizational work to be done. More than likely our "spine" will be the amazing Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy, a college text which I'll use selectively.

A fascinating blog documenting non-fiction children's books about space flight, from 1945 to 1975, is Dreams of Space.


The Tom Corbett - Space Cadet series was inspired by Robert Heinlein's Space Cadet and published between 1952-1956. The series inspired comic books, a daily and Sunday newspaper strip, radio shows, and a television series.

Thanks to Boom Pop!, I discovered that 7 of the 8 titles are available as free eBooks at ManyBooks:
While these books might not have much literary value, I thought they might be fun to include anyway (or maybe not!).


Dystopian Fiction*
*I picked these books from the excellent lists found here and here.
Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time

6 Comments:

  1. Catherine (Alecat Music) said...
    This looks like such a fun thing to do! You've inspired me (wink!)

    By the way, it's a little while since I've visited your blog. I love your layout. :)
    MissMOE said...
    Looks like an awesome unit study. I love Jules Vern. I'll have to look at some of your other books you've listed.
    Kristine said...
    Thanks Alecat!

    I think it will be fun, though I've not read much science fiction, I look forward to learning from this as well.

    I'm especially excited about the dystopian novels, I think they'll lead to some amazing discussions.
    Faith said...
    My 18 yo who loves science fiction just wants to warn you that Ender's Game, while a great book is very dark and he thinks is best saved for high school age. I haven't read it but that's his opinion, so I thought I'd let you know!
    Faith said...
    A couple other suggestions. For dystopia have you read Hunger Games and the other two books in the series by Susan Collins? My 15 yo read all (I only read the first one) but they are VERY compelling reads!

    Also White Mountains and the rest of Tripods series by John Christopher is very good. I remember reading them when I was young and my boys have enjoyed them.
    Kristine said...
    Faith ~ Thank you so much for the suggestions! I will hold off on Ender's Game and I did just buy Hunger Games. For some reason the book's description didn't sound very appealing to me (like it might be too intense for 7th grade), but it kept popping up on every list I looked at, so I bought it & plan to start reading it tonight. I'm going to check out your other suggestions on Amazon now, thank you!

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