SF Reading List For Adolescents

[Simon_Jester]

I know perfectly well he'll understand it, I just don't know HIM that well. For that matter, I'm not entirely sure he does; I get the feeling his mental horizons are a bit cramped by circumstances.

One of the reasons I appreciate the response I'm getting is that it's scattershot enough to actually be helpful- if I just ran off a list of stuff I liked when I was his age it wouldn't be representative at all.

[Ahriman238]

Fair enough.

When I was in high school I devoured a shelf-full of William Sleator short books (interstellar pig, the boy who reversed himself, singularity, the duplicate, the boxes, etc.) They're short and probably pitched more for bright middle-schoolers than high school, but they're short, interesting and entertaining.

[NeoGoomba]

Some of my former students really dug Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Those same kids liked Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, so there are my two cents.

[StarSword]

Some more fantasy I'd recommend:

• The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski. The books are just as good as the games if not better. The first three are available in English and the fourth will be out in June IIRC.
• On a sillier note, I had a good time reading Discworld: Thief of Time.
• The True Game by Sheri S. Tepper.
• The Year of Rogue Dragons by Richard Lee Byers. Good intro to the Forgotten Realms setting that doesn't require a whole lot of prior knowledge.

[DarkArk]

Surprised no one has recommended the Forever War yet. I read it when I was slightly older in my life, but one of my good friends read it around 16 and was I think changed by a lot of the themes that are discussed within it. Helps that it has some interesting actions sequences.

March Upcountry series might be a good start for a serialized sci-fi series. Perhaps not a great discussion of heavy ideas but has some fun things going on and doesn't bog down and get bad as a lot of long-runners do. Helps that it is mostly focused on one planet.

[Batman]

Well since a) Fantasy and b) Discworld are already in the game, I'll just throw in the entirety of the Discworld series, as well as The Carpet People and the Nome trilogy. Also, HHGTTG (except the 4th book which stunk) and the Dirk Gently novels by Adams.