Suggested Science Fiction Reading List for Young Adults

Well, summer is right around the corner, and with it comes the opportunity for parents to help their children explore more things outside of the classroom. Obviously, a great summer should be filled with campfire stories, roadtrips, and outdoor adventures, but there is also the room to help expand your kid’s mind. For the record, I’m not a dad, but there are a few science fiction titles that I’d really recommend to anyone with kids in the 10-15 year old age.

  • Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

I may not be able to say it enough – this is a great work of fiction. Orson Scott Card creates a story so enthralling that most people I’ve known that have picked up Ender’s Game haven’t been able to put it down until it’s concluded. The language is complex but not so obscure that a young adult can’t determine the context from the story itself. Not only that, but the story is about a child, which makes Ender a remarkably familiar character. The story, while including a fair amount of violence, is also passionate about brotherhood, thinking outside-the-box, and overcoming challenges.

  • Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

This may or may not be a book actually included in a high school English cirricullum. If it isn’t, it should be. Farenheit 451 is the story about the destruction of knowledge and the control that the lowest denominator can empart on society. The title itself is derived from the temperature that books burn, and in Bradbury’s world – firefighters don’t stop fires, they create them. It’s a chilling tale, but may encourage your son or daughter to be more inquisitive and less likely to simply accept the world at face value.

  • 1984 by George Orwell

Orwell’s 1984 features a chilling story of a future (or, more specifically, an alternate past) where Big Brother is in control of essentially all information, and the minds of the people are as malleable as clay. The story follows one particular resident who questions the authority, who desires to break out from the mundane existance that he’s been forced to endure and experience the freedom he can only barely remember of his youth. This is probably a title best left for slightly older young adults, because it does deal with some touchy subjects, including sexual desires and physical torture (er… not at the same time).

  • Foundation by Isaac Asimov

When I was in junior high and high school, nobody had introduced me to Asimov, but Foundation (as a stand-alone book or as part of the entire Foundation Saga) is a great story, and should definitely be read by a young science fiction enthusiast. Like most of Asimov’s stories, the tale is simple yet poetic, and challenges the readers to consider everything. Foundation is essentially the story about how human kind fights wholeheartedly against entropy, even when it’s inevitable. The entire saga might be a worthwhile way to spend the summer – in a hammock with a glass of lemonade, and with the mind wandering among the stars in the far distant future.

Why I think Science Fiction is an important part of a young adult’s reading.

My recollections of junior high and high school are becoming dimmer every day, but I can recall a specific emotion when I graduated: relief. There are lots of pressures on young adults to make a wide variety of decisions, and unfortunately the school system isn’t great at teaching how to make imaginative choices. Imagination, for all the art and learning opportunities that exist for young adults, is unfortunately lacking in our current society.

I’m not trying to point fingers at school systems or administrators. I know they try very hard to provide the best with what resources they have at their disposal. But imagination and free thought is inhibited. It’s not even the school’s fault. It’s the fault of our hectic media culture, which tends to encourage confirmity. Furthermore it’s a young adults peers – they each establish a set of pressures amongst one another, which oftentimes leads to those that think outside the “peer collective” to be percieved as outsiders.

Those that read Science Fiction understand that imagination and creativity are ways of life. A Science Fiction fan loves the unknown because discovery is in our nature. That’s what helps us turn the page – the thrill of discovering what our favorite characters are, and what the world or the universe may potentially hold in store for us all. Great Science Fiction is often uplifting and empowering, and on top of everything else, can spark an imagination. Well, even if your teenager isn’t reading science fiction, encourage them to spend less time near the television, computer, or movie theater, and more time reading a great book. Enjoy the summer, and take advantage!