# SteamPunk/CyberPunk/Dystopian/Hard-SF Recommendations for a Precocious 6th Grader



## ElRay (Aug 19, 2015)

I know we've got the Official What Are You Reading Thread: but I'm looking for some specific recommendations.

The oldest girl is close to finishing Marissa Meyer's "The Lunar Chronicles", so we're looking for the next series. The big problem is that many of the books that are "on topic" theme/plot-wise are too adult socially.

She's read all the typical "young adult" series already: Rich Riordan's Percy Jackson novels & the Greek spin-offs, Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Spirit Animals, The Warriors (the one with the cats), etc.

She'll love Dune, when she's older, but concubines, sexually hedonistic Harkonnens, selective breeding Bene Gesseritt (we won't even talk about the Honored Matres yet), are not the way to go yet. Likewise, Heinlein's "Friday" will be good, just not for about a decade.

I looked at the Heinlein juveniles, but many haven't aged well. Podkayne of Mars isn't bad, until it ends in an essentially "She should have stuck with the boy" ending (unless I can find a copy with the original "valiant hero dies" ending. The Menace from Earth has it good parts, but there still too much focus on "gotta get the boy"/female rivalry. And the later stuff, that does better with the female characters, is definitely too adult. 

I know these themes are "realistic", but we don't need to focus on that crap now, and, most importantly, she doesn't want to either. Her comment about Divergent/Insurgent was, "It's like Hunger Games, but with romance and kissing. It's for kids that like Twilight."

I thought "Clockwork Angles" would be great -- it's spot on theme/plot-wise (finding a happy medium between enjoying the now vs. planning for later, excess-order vs. self-serviing-anarchism, embracing the suck for something you want down the road, etc.), but there was still two "she took him to her tent and made him a man" segments that were inappropriate.

We want the as much organization as needed, but no more, self-reliance, self-determination, dream-big, multi-curturalism, proud of your heritage, but work as part of a mutually-beneficial-group, take care of things yourself, but don't be afraid to ask for help, etc. themes from a lot of Heinlein's works, but none of the fetishist, pre-Oedipal, examples of sexual freedom, females still need a man to truly fix things, etc. that exists in a lot of his later works.

Maybe it is time for "Tunnel in the Sky", 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". At least in the latter one, they realize that the self-aware computer system is really female 

Of course, anything with cyborgs, robots, engineering, fixing problems that nobody in charge sees, etc. are pluses.


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## asher (Aug 19, 2015)

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, maybe?

I'm guessing any Philip K. Dick is too much right now for you guys.


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## Skyblue (Aug 19, 2015)

The Golden Compass? It's been a while since I read it, but from what I remember it might fit the bill.

Are we only doing SF by the way? Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett might have good stuff (Well, they obviously do, but I'm talking about making sure she's the right age for it) 

Anyway, great job on educating her  Oh how I miss my days of sitting on my bed and discovering awesome books into the night...


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## ElRay (Aug 19, 2015)

asher said:


> Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, maybe?


I'm not familiar with this. We'll check it out.


asher said:


> I'm guessing any Philip K. Dick is too much right now for you guys.


A lot would be good, but unfortunately, she's not into short stories. She's liking the longer stuff where things that happen at the beginning, or a previous book, are important.

I've described a number of PKD stories (Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep, We'll Remember for You Wholesale, etc.), but nothing has grabbed her.

The one that surprised me was the lack of interest in the Anne McCaffrey Dragon Riders of Pern, but I think it's because she's in much more of a tech focus. Similarly, Ursula Le Guin didn't grab her. Oh, maybe I can try her Hainish Cycle books/stories. They at least involve space travel.


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## ElRay (Aug 19, 2015)

Skyblue said:


> The Golden Compass? It's been a while since I read it, but from what I remember it might fit the bill.


That's a bit SteamPunk-ish/dystopian. I've only seen the movie. I forgot it's a series.


Skyblue said:


> Are we only doing SF by the way? Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett might have good stuff (Well, they obviously do, but I'm talking about making sure she's the right age for it)


Right now, that's a big focus. Tech and Super Heroes. Thor & Captain America were the big two for a long time, but now Ant Man, The Fantastic Four, Big Hero Six have taken the front. She likes Iron Man, but thinks Tony Stark is a bit of a jerk. The scary thing is that her sister loves Tony Stark and The Hulk.

She's getting to grasp that style of humor. She gets some of the Monty Python, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, etc. jokes I make. I'll have to see what I have around.


Skyblue said:


> Anyway, great job on educating her  Oh how I miss my days of sitting on my bed and discovering awesome books into the night...


Fortunately, we haven't needed to push. The youngest (3rd grade) likes to read, but it's more "social" stuff Magic Treehouse, Thea Stilton, etc. and isn't too keen on books she can't read in one sitting. Fortunately, she'll sit and read for 30-60 mins, but once the book is done, she's done for a bit. Maybe she'll go for PDK?


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## asher (Aug 19, 2015)

Snow Crash isn't really dystopian so much as satire-corporatopian? A good deal of it's rather tongue in cheek. And one of the main characters is a 14-16 year old hoverskating hacker girl, so that should help 

Stephenson and William Gibson's works should probably be a decent bet, though I can't give you specifics.

Looking into Cory Doctorow's Little Brother might be good too.

How about handing her the first volume of Gaiman's Sandman, if she's down with graphic novels? I'd guess Watchmen or V for Vendetta are too adult right now though. Maybe also Gaiman's American Gods?


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## ElRay (Aug 19, 2015)

asher said:


> ... And one of the main characters is a 14-16 year old hoverskating hacker girl, so that should help



OK. That alone sounds like enough to get her started. 

EDIT: Wikipedia says:_... The book presents the Sumerian language as the *firmware programming language for the brainstem*, which is supposedly functioning as the BIOS for the human brain. According to characters in the book, *the goddess Asherah is the personification of a linguistic virus*, similar to a computer virus. *The god Enki created a counter-program* which he called a nam-shub that caused all of humanity to speak different languages as a protection against Asherah (a re-interpretation of the ancient Near Eastern story of the Tower of Babel). ..._​This seems up her alley. The negative reviews seem to be the ones that missed the satire.


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## asher (Aug 19, 2015)

It's all kinds of wonderful 

The first main character is named Hero Protagonist, ffs!


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## Dusty Chalk (Aug 20, 2015)

I'll second Snowcrash -- it has a doggy! And yeah, the girl is awesome. I'm pretty sure I remember it being safe for tweens.

Would also recommend Diamond Age -- the girl is the central figure, but it gets pretty dark


Spoiler



her father dies early


don't remember if there's anything inappropriate.


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## ElRay (Aug 20, 2015)

Dusty Chalk said:


> ... but it gets pretty dark ...



That's not bad in itself, we're already dealing with the moody-pre-teen nonsense from time to time, so I'd rather avoid fueling any "Why bother doing anything." teenage angst. We want to fuel the "you have control of your life" emotions.

Ray


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## ElRay (Aug 20, 2015)

asher said:


> ... The first main character is named H*i*ro Protagonist, ffs!



I'll have to bounce that off her. If she gets the pun, then she's ready 

I did describe the set-up of "Tunnel in the Sky" and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" to her. They clicked. Especially the part of more memory, more sensors, more controls, etc. being added to a computer until it becomes self-aware. I didn't touch on the "colonial revolt" part. That can be a surprise.


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## Edika (Aug 20, 2015)

The Dispossessed by Le Guin has a more SciFi theme and I thought was a quite interesting read. Maybe a bit too heavy for that age though.


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## ElRay (Aug 20, 2015)

Edika said:


> The Dispossessed by Le Guin has a more SciFi theme and I thought was a quite interesting read. Maybe a bit too heavy for that age though.



The whole "Left Hand of Darkness"/"Hanish Cycle" books/stories will be good, but I think she needs a bit. I know I have "The Word for World is Forest" original novella around here somewhere, and I think I have something that has some of short stories set in the same universe.


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## Dusty Chalk (Aug 21, 2015)

ElRay said:


> We want to fuel the "you have control of your life" emotions.


Well, then I have to recommend Diamond Age all the more strongly, because that's the whole point behind that one. For example, there's a scene early on where she takes on a bully larger than herself from things she's learned from the book. So yeah, dark, but empowering.

Read it yourself, first -- it's a great read, you won't be disappointed -- there's a lot of people that actually rank it higher than Snowcrash.


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## ElRay (Aug 21, 2015)

Dusty Chalk said:


> ... Read it yourself ...



Aw, shucky-darn, I'm going to have to read good books I've missed reading the past decade+, in order to take care of my kids.  It's sad, the only "for fun" reading I've done since the kids were born has been traveling.

That's the way this is looking. I'm going to have to "read ahead".

I think we'll start with "Tunnel in the Sky" and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" (and then Podkayne of Mars -- if she responds well to the first two, and I can find a version with the origin ending). That way I'll have some time to pre-read the other suggestions.

Ray


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## ChristopherG (Sep 29, 2015)

I too would rank Diamond Age over Snow Crash, but both are excellent.

So glad to hear you are exposing her to the work of The Dean. Heinlein gets so much [email protected]#$ these days from critics on the left who seem to view ideas like self reliance, honor, responsibility to be relics of the past. Yeah, people have been listening to these a-holes since the 70's and look at the world it has brought us.

The thing with his juvies you have to remember is that most of them were written as serials for publications such as Boy's Life magazine. 

Just FYI, you want the 93 or the 95 Baen editions. I find them in used book shops now and then. If I find one I will send you a message.


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## Baelzebeard (Sep 29, 2015)

The Maze Runner series was OK. Nothing spectacular, but fairly entertaining. Definitely for the same demographic as the Hunger Games books. There's no overt sexuality, but there is a fair bit of violence/blood.


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## TechDeathWannabe (Oct 5, 2015)

Etiquette & Espionage, female main character, steampunk, and my little sister (13,) loves the series.

Or, Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld, which has some fun Darwinism vs Industrial aspects. (Also steampunk, and has more romance themes, but it isn't a lovey-dovey romance, romance just plays a part.)

And more explicit and 15-17 audience range, but if she likes darker comedy with some sci-fi influences, (or if you do,) Croak, by Gina Damico. Or less comedy, more darkness and badassery, Anna Dressed In Blood. Not necessarily 6th grade material, but that's not my decision.


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## ElRay (Oct 5, 2015)

Thanks all. We just took a semi-unexpected segue. It was scholastic book club order time and she picked:
Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 -- She was intrigued by it being "old" and that the firemen burned to books.
The Eye of Minds by James Dasher -- The author who wrote Maze Runner, etc. The Eye of Minds is a cyberpunk "crime" drama.
The Fault in our Stars by John Green -- Admittedly, this was mostly because the actress in the movie version played Tris in the Divergent series.
The first totally caught us off guard. The last one caught us by surprise too, but it's actually good for her because it's outside her typical genres.

We'll hit others from this thread the next time around.


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## Ralyks (Oct 7, 2015)

Don't know how late to the part I am, but add me to recommending Snow Crash. Quite possibly my favorite book ever.


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## Bearitone (Oct 7, 2015)

I was in 7th grade (I'm 21 now) when I read the Gamadin series and I liked It a lot back then. Its about these kids that find an alien space ship which leads them to full on gunfights with the NSA and the military using alien technology. They learn that the ship belonged race of aliens "The Gamadin" that guarded the galaxy from total destruction. Since the Gamadin are now extinct (you find out why later) the kids that found the ship must become the new Gamadin. You watch these kids turn into bad-asses by the end of the second book. Never read the third book. 

I also really liked the Artemis Fowl series around that age. A genius prodigy named Artemis (He's such an evil little sh!t, but it makes the book great) stumbles across "fairy" technology and basically wants to extort it for money and power. He has a badass butler, Hands, that's basically a Hitman. Tons of really cool characters


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## Skyblue (Oct 7, 2015)

Wait- What about Ender's Game? All 3 main characters are kids, and I can't really think of anything too hardcore for children there...


Spoiler



Maybe that one time he kills the spanish guy? It was in self defense though, and he does feel ....ty about it


.
Some awesome Sci-Fi stuff there- the whole Military academy and the battle room, pure badassery. 

Also since I got reminded of the Golden Compass I started reading the trilogy again- I really think it could work for her (judging by what you described). How I wished as a kid I could have a Daemon myself!


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## TechDeathWannabe (Oct 7, 2015)

Forgot about Artemis Fowl, but that's a good one. 

It's a long shot, but is she into horror? More importantly, are you okay with her reading somewhat dark material? The Monstrumologist series is really good, IMO. (I believe the author is Rick Yancey..)

Silly question, since you said 6th grade, and obviously we don't need'a suggest anything really explicit or controversial, but could you give some guidelines of what you're okay with, and what you'd rather avoid, etc?


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## ElRay (Oct 8, 2015)

Baelzebeard said:


> The Maze Runner series was OK. Nothing spectacular, but fairly entertaining. Definitely for the same demographic as the Hunger Games books. There's no overt sexuality, but there is a fair bit of violence/blood.



She did pick-out: The Eye of Minds by James Dasher


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## ElRay (Oct 8, 2015)

TechDeathWannabe said:


> Forgot about Artemis Fowl, but that's a good one.


That's been on our bookshelf for about two years. It's never grabbed her.


TechDeathWannabe said:


> It's a long shot, but is she into horror? ...


Not her cup of tea. Dr. Who is about as scary as she'll go. Action-suspense is OK


TechDeathWannabe said:


> Silly question, since you said 6th grade, and obviously we don't need'a suggest anything really explicit or controversial, but could you give some guidelines of what you're okay with, and what you'd rather avoid, etc?


Controversial is OK. Divergent/Insurgent/Luna Chronicles is about as Romancey as she'll go. Sex as a obligation/tool/weapon, even if not explicit is not on the radar. Disappointingly, "Clockwork Angels" crossed over the line with a couple of "She took him to her trailer and made a man out of him" references. The glacier crossing bit in Le Guin's "Left Hand of Darkness" is also a bit too much right now.


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## ElRay (Oct 8, 2015)

Skyblue said:


> Wait- What about Ender's Game? All 3 main characters are kids, and I can't really think of anything too hardcore for children there...
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> ...


This one is tough on a number of levels, and none of them regarding the tactical use of violence. The big issue is that OSC is a ignorant, intolerant, lying, hypocritical, seditionist, homophobic, bigot who puts his money and writing position into denying people their civil rights. We have seen the movie at no profit to OSC, and they liked it, but there's been no desire to re-watch it. I was a bit surprised. I have the anniversary edition of the book, we might try it after the current queue is exhausted.


Skyblue said:


> Also since I got reminded of the Golden Compass I started reading the trilogy again- I really think it could work for her (judging by what you described). How I wished as a kid I could have a Daemon myself!


We may have to re-visit this one.

Ray


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## Dcm81 (Oct 8, 2015)

I might be totally off here as I was never a big reader and it might not be the right genre/topic. The one book for young adults that has stuck with me after roughly 20 years (not much of the content, just that I loved it) was "The Season of Passage" by Christopher Pike. I don't know if it will be fitting for her age and, as was usual for Pike, it's also horror, but it's main setting is a mission to Mars.


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## ElRay (Oct 8, 2015)

Dcm81 said:


> ... Christopher Pike ...



Up there with R.L. Stein and V.C. Andrews. She hasn't been much for the genre. Never wanted to read Goosebumps, Lemony Snicket, etc. The fact that it's a space trip might be good. On the other other hand, the wife & I might not be ready for nightmares, etc. We'll have to see.


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## Skyblue (Oct 8, 2015)

ElRay said:


> This one is tough on a number of levels, and none of them regarding the tactical use of violence. The big issue is that OSC is a ignorant, intolerant, lying, hypocritical, seditionist, homophobic, bigot who puts his money and writing position into denying people their civil rights. We have seen the movie at no profit to OSC, and they liked it, but there's been no desire to re-watch it. I was a bit surprised. I have the anniversary edition of the book, we might try it after the current queue is exhausted.We may have to re-visit this one.
> 
> Ray



I completely understand that. I was lucky enough to read it before knowing anything about OSC so my enjoyment of the books was unspoiled by the author. Considering your daughter most likely doesn't know anything about him as well, it might be better for her to try him now rather than later on in life after she finds out what a sh*tty person he really is.


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## ChristopherG (Oct 15, 2015)

IMHO teaching a child to judge the merits of a piece of "art" by the merits of the artist is a mistake. It is bad enough that this is the prevailing attitude in what passes for intelligencia these days. OSC holds some pretty backward ideas in his noggin but I enjoyed several of his books and his work as an editor is second to few.


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## Explorer (Oct 16, 2015)

Just to note that Snow Crash has sex, rape prevention devices and so on. I do highly recommend The Diamond Age, or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, but it might be a bit down the line.

Young adult fiction is a place where such young adults can be exposed to certain concepts in a safe manner so they can think about them. Many library systems have reading lists with recommendations for young adult literature, and just doing a search on things like "steampunk young adult" should yield quite the reading list, which can then be winnowed down through research.

One of the young adult steampunk series I quite enjoyed is known by various names, including the Mortal Engines Quartet, the Predator Cities Quartet, and the Hungry Cities Quartet, by Philip Reeve.

I have also read and enjoyed the Jackelian series by Stephen Hunt, starting with The Court of the Air.

I heartily concur with recommendations of His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman starting with The Golden Compass.

I've limited my recommendations purely to steampunk.

Incidentally, on either Amazon Prime or on Netflix Streaming, there might still be a film entitled The Asphyx, an older horror film which is steampunk before it had a name. You should watch it first to see if it is appropriate.

Also filmwise, I highly recommend Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. An understandable villain, complex moral issues, and a thoroughly steampunk aesthetic make this a great family viewing choice.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Seltzer, made into the film Hugo by Martin Scorcese, is a wonderful work both in book and film form. I think I'd recommend seeing the film first, and then reading the book, and then doing some research of the real world characters introduced.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec is steampunk and Egyptology, written and directed by Luc Besson (of The Fifth Element, and numerous other films). I *think* it's available in an English dub.

Oh! And one of the great steampunk films of all time... George Pal's The Time Machine. 

(And, as a related recommendation to you adults, I also highly recommend Safety Not Guaranteed, even though it's not steampunk.)

Going slightly older, there's the anime series The Last Exile, rated TV14, but the Miyazaki films Castle in the Sky and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind are both rated PG. (I also would put Kiki's Delivery Service in a possible steampunk world.)

If any of these recommendations wind up pleasing someone, I'll be glad.


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## Dusty Chalk (Oct 17, 2015)

I don't think Ender's Game is even remotely child-friendly -- it talks about genocide, and the perpetrator is traumatized for life, as well he should be. I actually think that's the point -- in this particular story, children are exploited for their children-ness to perpetrate violence just _because_ high school is so hard.

I mean, it's a great book, but just because there are children in it, doesn't mean it's a children's book.

In rethinking Snowcrash -- there is one sex scene, sort of, but ... you'd be surprised what kids know at that age, and I think it's handled maturely and well -- I think -- so it's not a detriment at all. I'd have to reaffirm any recommendation I may have made towards this book. Definitely second the recommendation.


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