Some of our favorite science fiction stories for school-age children.
Older Elementary
Meg Murray and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government. Look for more Time Quintet titles.
Alcatraz Smedry adventures: book 01
On his thirteenth birthday, foster child Alcatraz Smedry receives a bag of sand which is immediately stolen by the evil Librarians who are trying to take over the world.
In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm, until another "third" convinces him that the government is wrong. First in the Shadow Children series.
Trix’s life in boarding school as an orphan charity case has been hard but when an alluring young Ringmaster invites her, a gymnast, to join Circus Galacticus she gains an entire universe of deadly enemies and potential friends, along with a chance to unravel secrets of her own past.
In a future where electronic surveillance has taken the place of love, a veterinarian is putting computer chips in animals to control them, and those creatures choose young Zane, who understands their speech, to release captives and bring them to a technology-free safety zone.
Gideon trilogy: book 1
Ignored by his father and sent to Derbyshire for the weekend, twelve-year-old Peter and his new friend, Kate, are accidentally transported back in time to 1763 England where they are befriended by a reformed cutpurse.
While playing a total immersion virtual reality game of kings and intrigue, fourteen-year-old Giannine learns that demonstrators have damaged the equipment to which she is connected, and she must win the game quickly or be damaged herself.
Bullied in school and called "Piggy MacFartland," twelve-year-old Iggy longs to travel to another planet and live among extraterrestrials, until an explosion transports him to a dangerous alternate reality.
At nearly fifteen years of age, Joey Harker learns that he is a Walker, able to travel between dimensions, and soon joins a team of different versions of himself, each from another dimension, to fight the evil forces striving to conquer all the worlds.
Lion boy trilogy: book 1
In the near future, a boy with the ability to speak the language of cats sets out from London to seek his kidnapped parents and finds himself on a Paris-bound circus ship learning to train lions.
Eleven-year-old Sam finds himself involved in a dangerous adventure when he and his new friends, brother and sister Ben and Zara, set off for the Arctic to try and rescue the siblings' great-uncle and five other professors from the mad scientist holding them prisoner.
In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, and to glimpse Unknown Regions. First in The Books of Ember series.
Clone codes trilogy: book 1
On the run from a bounty hunter who arrested her mother for being part of a secret society devoted to freeing clones, thirteen-year-old Leanna learns amazing truths about herself and her family as she is forced to consider the value of freedom and what it really means to be human in 2170 America.
In 2194 in Zimbabwe, General Matsika's three children are kidnapped and put to work in a plastic mine, while three mutant detectives use their special powers to search for them.
Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives. Gathering Blue and The Messenger are companion novels.
Seems: book 1
When twelve-year-old Becker Drane is recruited by The Seems, a parallel universe that runs everything in The World, he must fix a disastrous glitch in the Department of Sleep that threatens everyone's ability to ever fall asleep again. First in The Seems series.
Thirteen-year-old Rowan and his eleven-year-old sister Nina, still bereft by the death of their mother the year before, experience an unusual adventure through time when they come to stay with their two eccentric great-aunts in a small town on the Mainecoast.
Clockwork dark: book 1
Steampunk! Drawn by the lodestone his father gave him years before, twelve-year-old orphan Ray travels south, meeting along the way various characters from folklore who are battling against an evil industry baron known as the Gog. First in The Clockwork Dark series.
In an overpopulated world where all signs of nature have been obliterated and a wall has been erected to keep out plague-ridden animals, twelve-year-old Mika refuses to believe that his twin sister was killed after being abducted, and continues to search for her in spite of the dangers he faces in doing so.
When twelve-year-old Johnny and his sister arrive on Orbis in a space ship of orphans, he finds he has a unique ability to communicate with computers. Look for more Softwire titles.
When someone uses futuristic technology to play pranks on twelve-year old Dorso Clayman, he and his best friend set off on a supposedly impossible journey through space and time trying to stop the gamesters who are endangering the universe.
Twelve-year-old Gratuity Tucci has a hard time writing an essay on "The True Meaning of Smekday" due to her complex life after Earth was overtaken by aliens and her mother was kidnapped and taken to Happy Mouse Kingdom in Florida.
Tripods series: book 1
Young Will Parker and his companions make a perilous journey toward an outpost of freedom where they hope to escape from the ruling Tripods, who capture mature human beings and make them docile, obedient servants. First in The Tripods trilogy.
Younger Elementary
Weird planet: book 1
When their spaceship crash lands on Earth, Ploo is captured by the Army and taken to the mysterious Area 51. While her brothers, Lek and Klatu, try to rescue her, Ploo uses her ESP to make a new friend. First in the Weird Planet series.
A young girl's life with her father on their farm in England is changed when she befriends a talking hare that is really a shape-changing alien.
While trying to hypnotize his dog for the third grade science fair, Brian accidentally makes his best friend Josh think he's a cat.
Franny K. Stein, mad scientist: book 1
Franny K. Stein is a mad scientist who prefers all things spooky and creepy, but when she has trouble making friends at her new school she experiments with fitting in--which works until a monster erupts from the trashcan. First in the Franny K. Stein, Mad Scientist series.
Andrew lost: book 1
When ten-year-old Andrew invents a shrinking machine, he does not expect to be sucked into the machine along with his cousin - and end up in a dog's nose! First in the Andrew Lost series.
Ricky Ricotta, a small mouse, saves a giant robot from his evil creator, Dr. Stinky, and in turn, the robot protects Ricky from the bullies at school and it saves the city from Dr. Stinky's plan to destroy it.
For his eleventh birthday Ben receives an offer of a ride to the planet Cham with an alien named Iku, and when the appointed meeting time arrives he is not sure if he faces an exciting opportunity or horrible danger.