|
SHU |
Unwind
(age 14+) by Neal Shusterman survival ... science fiction Publisher comments: Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed, but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away. In Unwind, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award winner Neal Shusterman challenges readers' ideas about life, not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to be alive. |
|
HER |
The Dune Chronicles (age 14+) by Frank Herbert adventure ... action ... science fiction Catalog: Opposing forces struggle for control of the universe when the archenemy of the cosmic emperor is banished to a barren world where savages fight for water. title: Dune title: Dune Messiah title: Children of Dune title: God Emperor of Dune title: Heretics of Dune title: Chapterhouse, Dune |
|
CAR |
The Ender Saga (age 14+) by Orson Scott Card adventure ... action ... science fiction Publisher comments: In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut, young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training. Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister. Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives. title: Ender's Game title: Speaker for the Dead title: Xenocide title: Children of the Mind title: Ender's Shadow title: Ender in Exile title: Shadow of the Hegemon title: Shadow Puppets title: Shadow of the Giant |
|
ASI |
Foundation Series (age 14+) by Isaac Asimov science fiction ... adventure ... action Publisher comments: For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Sheldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future--to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save mankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire--both scientists and scholars--and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the Galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for a fututre generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation. But soon the fledgling Foundation finds itself at the mercy of corrupt warlords rising in the wake of the receding Empire. Mankind's last best hope is faced with an agonizing choice: submit to the barbarians and be overrun--or fight them and be destroyed. title: Foundation title: Foundation and Empire title: Prelude to Foundation title: Foundation and Earth title: Second Foundation title: Foundation's Edge |
|
DOC |
Little Brother
(age 14+) by Cory Doctorow science fiction ... adventure ... action Publisher comments: Marcus, aka "w1n5t0n," is only 17 years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works, and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school's intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems. But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they're mercilessly interrogated for days. When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself. |
|
PEA |
The Adoration of Jenna Fox
(age 14+) by Mary Pearson identity ... adventure ... science fiction Publisher comments: Who is Jenna Fox? Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a coma, they tell her, and she is still recovering from a terrible accident in which she was involved a year ago. But what happened before that? Jenna doesn't remember her life. Or does she? And are the memories really hers? This fascinating novel represents a stunning new direction for acclaimed author Mary Pearson. Set in a near future America, it takes readers on an unforgettable journey through questions of bio-medical ethics and the nature of humanity. Mary Pearson's vividly drawn characters and masterful writing soar to a new level of sophistication. |
|
AND |
Feed
(age 14+) by M. T. Anderson identity ... humor ... fantasy ... science fiction Publisher comments: For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon...a chance to party during spring break and play around with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who knows something about what it's like to live without the feed...and about resisting its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desires. M. T. Anderson has created a brave new world...and a hilarious new lingo...sure to appeal to anyone who appreciates smart satire, futuristic fiction laced with humor, or any story featuring skin lesions as a fashion statement. |