Hello, amazing Redditors. My 12-year-old nephew is struggling to find some books that fit with his taste. He's not into fantasy (tried Harry Potter and Percy Jackson), he MAYBE is into mysteries, but I think he needs to find something that resonates with his mind. He is into programming, creates models for 3d printing, and loves everything science. I was thinking sci-fi may be the way to go. Do any of you have any good recommendations for his age?
by Swimming-Painter
13 Comments
Ender’s Game?
If he likes it he could follow up with the Ender’s Shadow series. The Speaker for the Dead path is not as accessible IMO.
Maze Runner
The Marrow Thieves
Ready Player One
Jurassic Park
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
*__[THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY](https://www.amazon.com/Mysterious-Benedict-Society-Paperback-Boxed/dp/0316460966/)__* series 💯
We are Legion, we are Bob – Dennis E Taylor. About a guy who has his consciousness uploaded to a spaceship to explore and colonize other planets. A lot of use of 3d printers to accomplish this.
I loved Starship Troopers at this age, just reread it recently and it kinda holds up.
The Giver
Project Hail Mary and The Martian by Andy Weir. Both are written clearly and have a lot of math and science problem solving
Armada by Ernest Cline is much easier to read (and shorter) than Ready Player One. It’s an update to The Last Starfighter trope where a kid with mad gaming skills saves the world
Hi! HS Librarian here, and HUGE sci-fi fan!
Project Hail Mary – gets a lot of praise and rightfully deserves it! great story, great read, and the MC is just an absolute standup guy. Nothing objectionable at all in the book, but it has some really good science
The Martian – bigger sci-fi ideas, same author as PHM, but a bit more grown-up. the movie is nearly page for page from the book
Ender’s Game – video game like violence, but perfectly appropriate for a middle schooler
Ready Player One – really fun book, especially if your 12 y/o is into the idea of booting into a video game. might really resonate with his love of programming
Armada – Same author as ready player one, lots of 80’s music references, so might not be for him, but gave me lots of The Last Straighter vibes. space battles are cool
Go to a good comic book store and ask for age appropriate graphic novels. There are tons. Might help him get into the flow of reading slowly.
The Last Cuentista — Higuera
Short stories are the traditional gateway drug to SF, but seem to get no love these days as endless series are the gold standard. I’d get some older collections that tend to be science nerdier than today’s works. You can’t go wrong with Heinlein, Niven, Asimov, and Clarke. Not knocking other golden age authors, but they were my favorite shorts writers.
If there’s any chance he would be into crime/forensics, Jeffrey Deaver is very well-researched in a lot of his writing. I enjoy the tiny little details he’ll include that are the same type of thing that would make or break an investigation, and some of the premises are kind of out there
Have Spacesuit, Will Travel by Robert Heinlein. The first science fiction I ever read.