Science Fiction
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The Adoration of Jenna Fox In the not-too-distant future, when biotechnological advances have made synthetic bodies and brains possible but illegal, a seventeen-year-old girl, recovering from a serious accident and suffering from memory lapses, learns a startling secret about her existence. subjects: Medical Ethics, Bioethics, Biotechnology, Self-Perception, Memory |
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Being It was just supposed to be a routine exam. But when the doctors snake the fiber-optic tube down Robert Smith's throat, what they discover doesn't make medical sense. Plastic casings. Silver filaments. Moving metal parts. In his naked, anesthetized state on the operating table, Robert hears the surgeons' shocked comments: 'What the hell is that?' 'It's me,' Robert thinks, 'and I've got to get out of here.' Armed with a stolen automatic and the videotape of his strange organs, he manages to escape, and to embark on an orphan's violent odyssey to find out exactly who--exactly what--he is. subjects: Identity (Psychology), Ontology, Robots |
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The Carbon Diaries, 2015 In 2015, when England becomes the first nation to introduce carbon dioxide rationing in a drastic bid to combat climate change, sixteen-year-old Laura documents the first year of rationing as her family spirals out of control. subjects: Family Life, Rationing, Energy Conservation, Climatic Changes, Diaries, Science Fiction, England |
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The Comet's Curse Desperate to save the human race after a comet's deadly particles devastate the adult population, scientists create a ship that will carry a crew of 251 teenagers to a home in a distant solar system. subjects: Interplanetary Voyages, Science Fiction |
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The Diary of Pelly D When Toni V, a construction worker on a futuristic colony, finds the diary of a teenage girl whose life has been turned upside-down by holocaust-like events, he begins to question his own beliefs. Companion: Cherry Heaven. subjects: Diaries, Science Fiction |
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Epic On New Earth, a world based on a video role-playing game, fourteen-year-old Erik persuades his friends to aid him in some unusual gambits in order to save Erik's father from exile and safeguard the futures of each of their families. Sequel: Saga. subjects: Fantasy Games, Role Playing, Video Games, Science Fiction |
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Feed In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble. subjects: Computers, Brainwashing Science Fiction |
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House of the Scorpions In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patrón, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States. awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults: 2003, John Newbery Honor Books: 2003, Michael L. Printz Honor: 2003, Texas: Tayshas Reading List: 2004, and more. subjects: Cloning, Science Fiction |
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The Hunger Games
In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place. Sequel: Catching Fire. subjects: Survival Skills, Television Programs, Interpersonal Relations, Contests, Science Fiction |
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The Knife of Never Letting Go Pursued by power-hungry Prentiss and mad minister Aaron, young Todd and Viola set out across New World searching for answers about his colony's true past and seeking a way to warn the ship bringing hopeful settlers from Old World. Sequel: The Ask and the Answer. subjects: Social Problems, Telepathy, Human-Animal Communication, Space Colonies, Science Fiction |
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Iron Jaw and Hummingbird In a far future in which Mars is controlled by the Chinese, teens Gamine and Huang, one the leader of a sham religious movement, the other chief tactician of a gang of bandits, form an unlikely alliance to fight the corrupt government that has determined their lives. subjects: Revolutionaries, Conduct of Life, Life on Other Planets, Science Fiction, Mars (Planet) |
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The Last Book in the Universe After an earthquake has destroyed much of the planet, an epileptic teenager nicknamed Spaz begins the heroic fight to bring human intelligence back to the Earth of a distant future. awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults: 2001, Texas: Lone Star Reading List: 2003, and more. subjects: Epilepsy, Science Fiction |
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Life as we Knew it Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. Companion: The Dead and the Gone. subjects: Natural Disasters, Family Life, Diaries, Science Fiction |
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The Maze Runner Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape. subjects: Amnesia, Cooperativeness, Labyrinths, Science Fiction |
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Mortal Engines In the distant future, when cities move about and consume smaller towns, a fifteen-year-old apprentice is pushed out of London by the man he most admires and must seek answers in the perilous Out-Country, aided by one girl and the memory of another. Sequels: Predator's Gold, Infernal Devices, A Darkling Plain. awards: SLJ Best Books for Children: 2003, Bulletin Blue Ribbons: 2004, ALA Best Books for Young Adults: 2004, ALA Notable Children's Books: 2004, Texas: Lone Star Reading List: 2006, and more. subjects: Nuclear Weapons, Science Fiction |
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Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening Ten years after the disappearance of superhumans--both heroes and villains--thirteen-year-olds Danny and Colin begin to develop super powers, making them the object of much unwanted attention. The first in a new series. Sequels: The Gathering, The Reckoning. subjects: Heroes, Adventure and Adventurers, Science Fiction |
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Rash In a future society that has decided it would “rather be safe than free,” sixteen-year-old Bo's anger control problems land him in a tundra jail where he survives with the help of his running skills and an artificial intelligence program named Bork. awards: NY Times Notable Children's Books: 2006 subjects: Self-Control, Individuality, Football, Artificial Intelligence, Science Fiction |
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Shift In fifteen-year-old Adrian Havoc's world, HomeState rules every aspect of society and religious education is enforced but Adrian, refusing to believe that the Apocalypse is at hand, goes north through the Deadlands and joins a group of insurgents. subjects: Despotism, Religion, Environmental Degradation, Insurgency, Family Life, Science Fiction |
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Siberia After spending two years at a prison school, thirteen-year-old Sloe sets off on a trek across frozen wastelands, tending to the secret “seeds” of wild animals her mother left in her care, trying to reach a new life for all of them. awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2006 subjects: Endangered Species, Survival, Political Prisoners, Science Fiction |
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The Sky Inside Martin lives in a “perfect world” under the protective dome of suburb HM1, where every year a new generation of genetically-engineered children is shipped out to meet their parents. And it's all about to come crashing down because a stranger has come to take away all the little children, including Martin's sister, Cassie, and no one wants to talk about where they have gone. Martin has a choice either to remain in the dubious safety of HM1, or to break out of the suburb into the mysterious land outside. subjects: Genetic Engineering, Suburban Life, Sisters, Missing Children, Dogs, Science Fiction |
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Storm Thief With the help of a golem, two teenaged thieves try to survive on the city island of Orokos, where unpredictable probability storms continually change both the landscape and the inhabitants. awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults: 2007 subjects: Golem, Islands, Science Fiction |
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The Tomorrow Code Two New Zealand teenagers receive a desperate SOS from their future selves and set out on a quest to stop an impending ecological disaster that could mean the end of humanity. subjects: Environmental Disasters, Science Fiction, New Zealand |
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Uglies Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that? Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there. But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. Sequels: Pretties, Specials. subjects: Beauty-Personal, Teenage Girls |
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Unwind In a future world where those between the ages of thirteen and eighteen can have their lives “unwound” and their body parts harvested for use by others, three teens go to extreme lengths to uphold their beliefs--and, perhaps, save their own lives. subjects: Fugitives From Justice, Survival, Revolutionaries, Science Fiction |
List updated January 2010—Patti Cook
