My futuristic adventure story FloodWorld and its sequel DustRoad are set centuries from today, in a world reeling from the effects of climate change. I’ve always loved sci-fi stories, from intergalactic action to time-travel tales to speculative fiction about humanity’s future. Here are five of my favourites for younger readers.
I never miss an opportunity to tell readers about this amazing, underappreciated five-book series that I adored when I was young. It’s about four kids who get left behind on Earth when their parents fly off to start a new colony, and decide to build their own spaceship out of a hollow asteroid and go after them. The stories don’t always make complete sense – the bad guy is a weird alien dictator called the Octopus Emperor, who can control evil dust – but the characters are amazing: Makenzi, Vawn, Ispex and Tsu are maybe my favourite group of heroes in sci-fi.
A smashing classic read for Lower Key Stage 2. As you’d expect from a former Poet Laureate, this story about a mysterious metal giant who befriends a farm boy is gorgeously written and hauntingly strange.
The origins of the Iron Man are never fully explained – he just arrives one night, starts feasting on farm equipment, and after some initial misgivings is accepted into the local community.
The book was seen a few different editions and we recommend this version, superbly colour-illustrated in metallic hues by Chris Mould. It has also been turned into a really lovely animated film.
Beth is twelve. She and her family, along with lots of other families, are on their way to colonise a new planet in outer space. It is twenty-six light-years away and travelling at normal speed would take them almost 300,000 years to get there – which is why they ‘jump’ through folds in space. During jumps, everyone on board is put into a special sleep, during which the ship copies their memories and replaces them when they wake, because the act of jumping wipes everything.
One day, however, something goes wrong and Beth is woken to be told by the ship’s onboard computer that she’s now Captain. The ship has been damaged and needs repairs, but without any trained crew she needs to make her way to safety (which is seven light-years away).
Orion Lost is a fast-paced sci-fi thriller set in deep space. It has beautiful descriptions of the vastness and loneliness of space. Alastair Chisholm’s writing is so crisp and clear, you can really picture the story as it unfolds.
A thrilling and fast-paced fantasy full of twists and turns!
I’m always amazed by the sheer scale of Philip Reeve’s imagination. Having created giant mobile cities in the Mortal Engines books, he turned to interstellar sci-fi for this story set in a multi-planetary universe linked by the Great Network, a web of wormholes travelled by huge, hyper-intelligent trains.
Railhead introduces an exciting sci-fi world and is a good book for Year 8 children looking to engage with fantasy stories and thrillers. The plot is wildly complicated yet super exciting, drawing in everything from god-like computer brains to swarms of sentient insects, and Reeve’s writing is, as always, very sharp and funny.
Imagine London in the future, when rising sea levels have submerged half of the city. Privileged citizens live in the central zone, protected by a huge wall. Meanwhile the less fortunate scrape a living in The Shanties, a squalid area of flooded tower blocks and rickety boardwalks. In this fractured world, the only thing that unites the inhabitants from inside and outside the wall is their fear of a different race: The Mariners.
FloodWorld is pacily written with lots of easy-to-read dialogue which is interleaved with more challenging and descriptive language, making it a good book for moving readers on to more demanding reads. Kara provides a strong female role model: clever, courageous and tough, but warm and honest too.
The narrative of FloodWorld also has a very cinematic feel, which is not surprising for a writer who used to be a film critic. Behind the gripping action sequences lie thought-provoking themes of environmental responsibility, truth, prejudice and power. If you are teaching pupils about the environment, you could use this book to introduce the implications of rising sea levels or the importance of marine conservation. It also raises questions about how we view people from unfamiliar societies and whether violence is ever justified.
review
Year group(s) the book is most suitable for:
Year group(s) the book is most suitable for:
Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Would you recommend the book for use in primary schools?
yes
Curriculum links (if relevant)
Curriculum links (if relevant)
Any other comments
Any other comments
