Peter is a normal 12-year-old kid living in a tiny New York apartment with his scientist parents. Thea lives in a mysterious underground world with her aunt. Peter has finally gotten the chance to go on an expedition to Greenland with his father and mother. He’ll get to participate in the adventures he had always heard about. Thea has started to worry about her secret home and its ability to sustain a growing population. As she tries to find a way to keep her people safe, Peter is trying to make sense of his new headaches and weird visions. First Light is Rebecca Stead’s first novel. People who like their science with a little bit of magic will like this book about two kids trying to save what is most important to them.

By Scott Westerfield

Tally wants nothing more in life than to turn 16 and have the operation that will turn her from an Ugly to a Pretty.  Then she can move to New Pretty Town and have the time of her life.  Then she meets Shay, who doesn’t want to have the operation.  They find out the operation changes more than just a person’s looks.

If I talk about Pretties and Specials, it will give away the ending, so all I’m going to say is that you should read all three books, preferably in a row!

The target audience for these books is slightly older than tweens, but my 10-year-old literary advisor read them and loved them, especially the science fiction details.

Nancy Farmer’s The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm is a thriller set in Zimbabwe in 2194. A high-powered government official’s over-protected children go on an adventure and end up deeper than they thought. When they disappear, their parents hire a misfit detective agency that always seems to be about half a step behind the kids. This is an interesting look at a potential future where plastic is a highly-prized commodity, but old spirits still do battle. It’s a very exciting book, but at some points, I started to get tired of all the scrapes the kids got into. However, the end was worth every minute.

The readers of this book might skew a bit young, but this book definitely tackles issues that are interesting to older readers. I especially love the juxtaposition of futuristic worries with spirit myths of the past.

A review by a New York 6th Grader
A review by another novelist
A review by a Washington girl
St. Charles (IL) public library says if you like this book, you’ll love the books on their list.

Ender was created to save the world. As a young child, he’s selected for a coveted position in Battle School, where he trains to defeat an enemy that is not what he thinks it is.

Feed by MT Anderson looks at life in a frightening near future, where people have the Internet imbedded in their head, and the hottest new thing are oozing lesions caused by environmental toxins. Titus is comfortable with his life until he meets a girl who decided to fight the feed.