The local high school is considering redoing their selections for their 9th grade Sci Fi unit and I’m privileged enough to be able to provide suggestions. Currently they have a choice of Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E Pearson, Scythe by Neil Shusterman, and Unwound also by Shusterman.
It doesn’t have to be explicitly YA, but definitely YA accessible, and preferably something that will keep a 9th grader interested and isn’t just a fluffy book but challenges thinking/perceptions like good Sci Fi can. My goal is something near 300-ish pages but if it’s a faster read more is ok.
TiA
Maybe something by Eoin Colfer? I havent read his stuff in a decade and a half so maybe it is for too young an audience but I loved Artemis Fowl books and his other works too. If some language and violence isnt a deal breaker, why not the expanse series by James SA Corey? Pretty good light-hard-sci-fi if that makes sense
Love the Expanse but it’d be a hard sell to the teacher considering how much violence and sex is in there. It’s not excessive for a book for adults but for YA? Torture, abuse, some of the intimacy scenes are more descriptive… again, love the series but I wouldn’t give it to a bunch of 14 year olds as required reading.