Good Reads

On the Jukebox: "My Happy Ending" by Avril Lavigne
Quote: "What we lack in brains, we make up for with good intentions." ~ Mom and Dad Save the World
Flair: My Heroine

About a week ago I was at lunch with a few friends and they asked me to recommend books for their kids. Let me just say that I much prefer to read books written for children or young adults because they are much cleaner and less graphic than adult books. I have a few lists on Amazon.com for kids of various ages. Today I thought I'd spotlight the genre of Science Fiction. One of the first sci-fi writers that I read was William Sleator. He has written quite a few series but I preferred his stand alone books and don't particularly care for his more recent work (which is geared to a more mature audience than tweens.) I read Into the Dream when I was in fifth grade. Sleator's early work is not scary or too intense. Here are my favorites by him.

Into The Dream
Paul has a recurring nightmare, about a small boy in awful danger. When he learns that his classmate Francine has it, too, the two of them join forces to solve the mystery and save the boy--before their bad dream becomes a terrifying reality.

Singularity
Sixteen-year-old twins Harry and Barry Krasner stumble across a gateway to another universe, where a distortion in time and space causes a dramatic change in their competitive relationship.

Interstellar Pig
Barney is all set to spend two weeks doing nothing at his parents’ summer house. But then he meets the neighbors, and things start to get interesting. Zena, Manny, and Joe are not your average folks on vacation. In fact, Barney suspects they’re not from Earth at all. Not only are they physically perfect in every way, but they don’t seem to have jobs or permanent addresses, and they are addicted to a strange role-playing game called Interstellar Pig. As Barney finds himself sucked into their bizarre obsession, he begins to wonder if Interstellar Pig is just a game.

The Green Futures of Tycho
When eleven-year-old Tycho discovers that the mysterious egg-shaped object he dug up in his garden is a time travel device, he can’t resist using his newfound power. Soon he is jumping back and forth in time, mostly to play tricks on his bossy older brothers and sister. But every time he uses the device, he notices that things are different when he gets back—and the futures he visits are getting darker and scarier. Then Tycho comes face-to-face with the most terrible thing of all: his grown-up self. Can Tycho prevent the terrible future he sees from coming true?