The Sword and Laser discussion

A couple weeks ago my third grader's teacher asked the kids to name some examples of science fiction. (they are learning about genres) I was happy to hear the teacher reject Star Wars as Science Fantasy. But it got my wife and I trying to think of examples of middle grade science fiction. I know of (and own) a bunch of young adult SF. But for middle grade I can only think of fantasy books - Chronicles of Narnia, some of the Roald Dahl books, The Hobbit, etc.

Does middle grade SF exist? What are some examples of good books for introducing kids to SF when they're not quite ready for YA yet?

I don’t think I’d call them “hard” SF but the Tom Swift books, the Heinlein juveniles (Tunnel in the Sky, The Star Beast, etc.) and the Asimovs’ Norby the Robot books come to mind, plus Asimov’s Lucky Starr series.

I bought some newer ones for my younger cousins a few years back, like Space Case and other Moonbase Alpha books.

I don’t know if the Uglies series is MG or YA, but those might count.

I think it's probably not as common as fantasy, but it's there. And I did a quick google search and found a LOT of stuff (no clue on quality as I haven't even heard of half that stuff). There's also the Heinlein juveniles, I think I've read one or two of those at one point. Here's the few I can think of off the top of my head (and a quick browsing through my bookshelves.

When You Reach Me is nominally sci-fi in that it involves time travel. it's a bit of a stretch though.

The City of Ember is definitely sci-fi, post apocalypse dystopian sci-fi at that. I haven't read any further.

I know that A Wrinkle in Time is currently considered fantasy by most people, but um... it has science-y bits. Mostly. In my head, I still consider it sci-fi because it's space and time stuff. It's not HARD sci-fi but handwave hand wave. (I do consider Star Wars science fantasy though)

The Tripods Trilogy is absolutely sci-fi. And was one of my favorite series as a kid.

Enchantress from the Stars, sounds like it's fantasy, but it's not. It's sci-fi from the POV of a low tech person. It might be more YA though? IDK, I read it when I was 10 so....

Here’s a Goodreads list: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

I’ve only read a couple of them, but they seem fairly Middle Grade-ish.

Two of my favorites from when I was a kid:

The Enormous Egg - triceratops hatches from a chicken egg

The Gismo from Outer Space - even in the 70s this felt really dated, but it has an “ET phone home” vibe

Perhaps some of Madeline L'Engle's stuff? I remember time travel.

Does Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and it's follow-up count?

It's very dated now, but Have Space Suit—Will Travel another of Heinlein juveniles is fairly hard sci fi and written at middle age level. I reread it a year or so back, and while it is of it's time, I really thought it was a fun read. But I really like competent hero stories, and I know not everyone does.

I think many in our group may have been the exception, and read SF intended for older folks when we were younger. So I distinctly remember reading the Foundation trilogy in 7th or 8th grade, and I believe The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy at about the same time. And I believe it was 9th grade when I had been given a subscription to Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. And from 6th grade on I was reading pop sci fi based on other properties (I was a huge fan of the Robotech novelizations).

Polish translation of 2 of 3 stories from Alice: The Girl From Earth by Kir Bulychev had been my gateway into sf. The third one (Alisa’s Birthday) I read much later, but it had been the first actual story (as in "not printed in a schoolbook") I read in Russian.

The Wild Robot (series)

^ I loved the Tripods books as a kid. Definitely that.

Regrettably, I have faint remembrances of other relevant books that I cannot identify. A Lunar adventure with an AI embedded in the complex. that let one of the MCs back in as the rest left, at great expense in air to itself. An entity, perhaps a professor, that could travel where he chose, but took a rocket ship from time to time so he could bring along companions. Of titles I haven't a clue. Loved them then. Now lost in the seas of time.

The fact that several people had to go back to the Heinlein juveniles is your answer. Yes, there's a relative dearth of hard SF for that grade level. Much of this is probably that kids of that age like don't know much science and so the concepts have to be fairly simple and intuitive. A juvenile Greg Egan isn't going to work.

Wrinkle In Time et al don't count, not if Star Wars is dismissed as science fantasy (which I agree with, actually).

I actually dislike the teaching approach as it can easily promote genre snobbery and is a "let's put everything in its precisely right box" mindset. There's value to classification but at that age I'd rather see a more inquisitive mindset promoted.

TBH, this is a great question for your librarians.

I think most of us chose Heinlein because we’re, y’know, old.

I found a lot of SF for various ages when I visited that part of Barnes & Noble, but I have no other reason than buying Christmas presents to go there. I like that the books were sorted by age and/or grade level and then genre, so you can pretty handily find what you’re looking for.

One of my cousins (son of the cake maker) is sports-obsessed, so I got him a book about football rather than sci-fi, but another loves astronauts and botany, so I got him the first Moonbase Alpha book. The choice for reading material at that age is far greater than when we were kids.

Awesome recommendations everyone. Having read the Uglies series, I think it's probably on the border between MG and YA. It's certainly not as YA as other books (you know, the ones trying really hard to be edgey - whatever that means to the author), but I do think it's a little heavy (thematically) for a younger kid.

I hear those of you who spoke of reading above their age. I was reading Michael Critchton before hitting middle school. But I would say that even a couple years more (5th grade vs 3rd) would make a huge difference in what I'd recommend to my oldest. In her case, based on the questions she asks me about the books she's currently reading - I think she could handle the vocab of older books, but wouldn't quite get some of the plots if they were involving things she just barely has a grasp of - like [that popluar YA trope] a dystopian government; she just barely gets the real-life government.

Sounds like Heinlein is the place to go. Also will check out The Tripods and Space Case.

Those that googled or pointed me to GR lists. Thanks for those resources. I wasn't trying to be lazy, just see if folks had books they could recommend based on actually knowing if they're any good. Wouldn't want to snuff a potential love of SF due to a bad book because I got it from a random web list.

My introduction to SF in middle school was the Monica Hughes Isis series of books.

The Keeper of the Isis Light
That is the first book in the series. After this I was hooked on SF. No idea if it still holds up.

I had to Google Middle Grade to find out what years you mean.

If I have it right, you mean Grades 5 to 8 (Which is late Primary School- 5&6 to early High School- 7&8 here)

I was definitely reading Asimov, Bradbury, Verne and the classics of the genre by that age. I didn't go near the kids section after about Grade 4. But I was a weird kid ;-)

Jules Verne is a good starting level Sci-Fi and also H.G.Wells

I would also recommend short story collections. I discovered many of my favourite classic sci-fi authors through their short stories.

The new Star Wars publishing initiative, The High Republic, has a couple middle grade novels coming out this year, one just today.

Star Wars: The High Republic – A Test of Courage (January 5, 2021) by Justina Ireland

The novel shows fifteen year old Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh as she escorts a group of children to visit Starlight Beacon, until a bomb disables their ship, and they must survive on a jungle moon.

Star Wars: The High Republic – Race to Crashpoint Tower (June 29, 2021) by Daniel José Older

Taking place at the same time as The Rising Storm, it features Padawans Ramjo Maram, a gifted mechanic from a small planet getting his first glimpse at the largest galaxy through the Republic Fair, and Lula Talisola from The High Republic Adventures.

^ FWIW I remember reading The Time Machine in grade school. Not sure I'd sic "War of the Worlds" on kids tho, it's got some advanced sociology along with the horror.

"From The Earth To The Moon" is subtly hilarious, but I don't think kids would get it. "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" was a slog for me, plus the politics is a bit advanced for kids.

Trike wrote: "I think most of us chose Heinlein because we’re, y’know, old."

Well, so am I, but I think it's telling that so far younger people haven't posted a lot of more contemporary examples that are hard SF.

This is really a great question for a librarian though. They keep up on awards, new releases and the like. That might be another place to check out - awards like the Newberry (http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/...) filtered by genre might turn up something.

The sequels (at least books 2 and 3) to A Wrinkle in Time were definitely more sci fi than fantasy, or so my memory tells me.

I think I read one of these long long ago...

I definitely recommend checking out the Newbery lists as well. They do tend to go more for fantasy when they go for genre fiction, but there are science fiction books that are either nominated or winners, and you can generally count on them being quality books. (I mentioned it in my first comment but When You Reach Me won quite recently, and as I said it's time travel, and I really enjoyed it)

I reckon Pournelle's Starswarm would be a good choice. It is marketed as YA, but would be an accessible laser read for middle graders.
Solid SF and a damn good story. (With centaurs and water beasties!)

Andre Norton had some books I remember reading in 6-8th grades. I particularly remember Breed to Come.