RootAnn Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 I loved The Disappearing Spoon & was captured from the very beginning, but at the time didn't think some parts of it appropriate for my kids until upper high school at least. Apparently, I don't mind if a book is poorly written (see my love for Eragon!) if it interests me, I'm entertained, and it educates me. DH enjoyed it, too. However, we're both engineers and perhaps that is why it didn't seem to technically focused for us? That's the great thing about the WTM boards ... some of us have different tastes! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Following. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 When I hear The Handmaid's Tale I also think of Beggers in Spain. The latter is not so much dystopian as social fiction with a genetic engineering base. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 dp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spudboy Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 If you're doing "History of Science" as well as "Science Fiction", it might be interesting to dig up some of the 1950s "slide rules in space" novels. Some good examples are Robert A. Heinlein's Starman Jones and Farmer in the Sky (Don't worry--written when the author was still a Boy Scout and not yet NSFW). Good examples of how people can think about the future implications of scientific discoveries, as well as page-turning stories. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 If you're doing "History of Science" as well as "Science Fiction", it might be interesting to dig up some of the 1950s "slide rules in space" novels. Some good examples are Robert A. Heinlein's Starman Jones and Farmer in the Sky (Don't worry--written when the author was still a Boy Scout and not yet NSFW). Good examples of how people can think about the future implications of scientific discoveries, as well as page-turning stories. :lol: Thanks for the specific title suggestions - I've stayed away from Heinlein for my middle grade kid after running into a few myself that were distinctly R-rated! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spudboy Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 :lol: Thanks for the specific title suggestions - I've stayed away from Heinlein for my middle grade kid after running into a few myself that were distinctly R-rated! Anything before Starship Troopers should be fine -- that's the book he turned in that put an end to his YA career. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 Have Spacesuit, Will Travel is another Heinlein that is G rated. I plan on having my high schoolers read Starship Troopers during Government class because of the discussion on citizenship, who should be able to vote, and who should be able to run for office. But, in my house, it isn't a middle school read. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newhsmommy Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 I liked studying the early American History to modern times using many biographies for my daughter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 New category: Best time travel books for a 13 year old? Go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 New category: Best time travel books for a 13 year old? Go! You might consider Jack Finney's time travel novel much of which is set in New York in 1882. Time and Again "When advertising artist Si Morley is recruited to join a covert government operation exploring the possibility of time travel, he jumps at the chance to leave his twentieth-century existence and step into New York City in January 1882. Aside from his thirst for experience, he has good reason to return to the past—his friend Kate has a curious, half-burned letter dated from that year, and he wants to trace the mystery. But when Si begins to fall in love with a woman he meets in the past, he will be forced to choose between two worlds—forever. Praised as “pure New York fun†by Alice Hoffman, Time and Again is admired for its rich, painstakingly researched descriptions of life in New York City more than a century ago, and for the swift adventure at its core." There is also a sequel From Time to Time, Another book I love is Replay by Ken Grimwood. The latter is not time travel per se but see below. From the Library Journal's review on Amazon (on Replay): "The possibility of traveling back in time to relive one's life has long fascinated science fiction writers. Without a single gesture toward an explanation, this mainstream novel recounts the story of a man and a woman mysteriously given the ability to live their lives over. Each dies in 1988 only to awaken as a teenager in 1963 with adult knowledge and wisdom intact and the ability to make a new set of choices." It's been a while since I read the book, so I can't recall what, if any, adult content it might include. You'd probably want to pre-read. I also enjoyed the young adult book Jumper by Steven Gould and Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer. Regards, Kareni 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 Thanks, Kareni! I just put all those on hold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 You might also take a look at the anthology The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century Regards, Kareni 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 (Clearly I can't stop now ....) My daughter loved Timeline by Michael Crichton; however, she may have been an older teen then. Once again, you may wish to pre-read. Regards, Kareni 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 New category: Best time travel books for a 13 year old? Go! - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Twain) - A Swiftly-Tilting Planet (L'Engle) -- third in the Wrinkle in Time trilogy; I did find this one to be the most adult (not at all in topics, just in interest level), so it may click or it may be better to wait a few years No personal experience, but these look fun: - WARP series (Colfer) -- same author as Artemis Fowl series - The Chronos Files series (Walker) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Oh! Thought of another… Dianne Wynn Jones has a time travel book: A Tale of Time City. [However, I confess: I didn't get through more than the first 2 chapters, as the writing seemed so poor in comparison with other of Jones' works that I've enjoyed -- Howl's Moving Castle, e.g.] 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 I like your list Rose. I stole some of it. Thank you. : ) I did the same thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Time Warp Trio? (silly, history-related) Margaret Peterson Haddix's The Missing series? (history-related) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 Best time travel books for a 13 year old? Go! I haven't read it, but I just stumbled on a rave review for this book ~ All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill - Reviewhttp://never-anyone-else.blogspot.com/2014/08/all-our-yesterdays-by-cristin-terrill.html Kirkus Reviews "Time travel done right. Narrator Em and her boyfriend, Finn, escape from their totalitarian future, time traveling back four years to commit a heart-wrenching assassination of a loved one in order to prevent time travel from being invented and the future from turning so wrong. The future's hinted-at horrors are threatening but expertly backgrounded, avoiding dystopia-fatigue. The clever, accessible time-space treatment isn't weighed down by jargon. Em and Finn's proactive mission means the characters are the hunters instead of the frequently seen on-the-run teen protagonists. The other side of the storyline, taking place in the past that Em and Finn travel to and starring their past selves, is narrated by Marina (Em, in this timeline) and involves her brilliant yet interpersonally challenged best friend (and crush) James and his friend Finn, who annoys Marina, as they deal with a tragedy in James' family. The believable, complex relationships among the three characters of each respective time and in the blended area of shared time add a surprise: A plot ostensibly about assassination is rooted firmly in different shades of love. Perhaps richest is the affection Em feels for Marina--a standout compared to the truckloads of books about girls who only learn to appreciate themselves through their love interests' eyes. Powerful emotional relationships and tight plotting in this debut mark Terrill as an author to watch." (Science fiction. 12 & up) Copyright Kirkus 2013 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved. Regards, Kareni 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 I'm bumping to share my latest plan for literature, just because I'm super excited about it. I'm especially excited because although I have kind of arbitrarily divided it up into particular themes, they're all related and will build off each other. What a fun lit year we will have! Just for Fun - to kick off our year, because she loves musicals and has been in this one: The Music Man (Movies as Lit) with reading: But He Doesn’t Know the Territory: The Making of The Music Man For Discussing the elements of Story: The Rumpelstiltskin Problem - Vivian Vande Velde Science-correlated literature – Read along with Joy of Science topics: WARP series - Eion Colfer - time travelling FBI agent and Victorian boy hook up to stop a villain Itch series – Simon Mayo – adventure series about a 14 year old chemistry lover A Sound of Thunder – Ray Bradbury (after Chaos) – Chaos theory & Multiverses, time Remarkable Creatures – Tracey Chevalier (Mary Anning) (IR) – fossils/geology, woman scientists The True Adventures of Charley Darwin – Carolyn Meyer – Darwin’s voyage My Family and Other Animals – Gerald Durrell - Natural History, boy growing up on Greek island Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton – unintended consequences of genetic/environmental tinkering Literature for Study Unit 1: Themes: the clash of species/cultures; the Other 1. Enchantress from the Stars – Sylvia Engdhal 2. War of the Worlds – HG Wells 3. Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card 4. The Far Side of Evil – Sylvia Enghdal Unit 2: Courage, Coming of Age, the End of Authority 5. The Golden Compass – Phillip Pullman 6. The Subtle Knife– Phillip Pullman 7. The Amber Spyglass– Phillip Pullman a. Paradise Lost – Milton Unit 3: Scientists playing God/What it means to be human 8. The Tempest - Shakespeare 9. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley (1818) – scientist playing god, responsibilities of scientists 10. The Island of Dr. Moreau – H. G. Wells (1896) scientist playing god, responsibilities of scientists 11. The Adoration of Jenna Fox (after The Science of Self) – what does it mean to be human? The self, relationships Unit 4: Dystopia/Social Control/What does it mean to be human in a world with no gods? 12. Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury 13. Brave New World – Huxley 14. The House of Stairs – William Sleator – psychology & mind control 15. Watch The Matrix 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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