Best Science Fiction Books for Children

Cryptid Hunters (Marty And Grace) Start here

by Roland Smith

Cryptid Hunters is Jurassic Park for tweens. It's got all the action and adventure of the blockbuster, and it's got dinosaurs! When Marty and Grace's parents disappear in South America, they are sent to live with t...

City Of Ember (Book Of Ember) Start here

by Jeanne Duprau

The ultimate destination for the main characters, who have been living in an underground city, is a kind of restored eden.

The first in the Books of Ember series, The City of Ember was adapted into a movie in 2008. This book is a great intro to the dystopian genre that is so popular in young adult fiction. Lina and Doon are 12 in the u...

The True Meaning Of Smekday (Smek) Start here

by Adam Rex

The True Meaning of Smekday has been compared to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for kids. With the same zany humor, Rex delivers not one alien invasion but two in this clever tale. Smekday, formerly known as...

A Wrinkle In Time (Time Quintet) Start here

by L'engle, Madeleine

An award winning, YA series of books that present, at least in part, a Christian world-view.

With a foot in both Science Fiction and Fantasy, A Wrinkle in Time is a bridge between reality and fantasy, a meeting place for adult and child readers alike.  Meg leads the adventure with her younger, gifted brother a...

Found (The Missing) Start here

by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Found is an intriguing mystery with a splash of time travel thrown in. The first book in The Missing series, Found starts out with a plane that mysteriously appears on a runway with no pilot or flight crew, only 36...

Eager (Eager) Start here

by Helen Fox

Eager is similar to Asimov's classic, I, Robot, but definitely geared toward children. When the Bell family robot, Grumps, begins malfunctioning, they begin to search for a new one. Gavin and Fleur are saddened but...

The Wonderful Flight To The Mushroom Planet (Mushroom Planet) Start here

by Eleanor Cameron

Sci-fi is a genre with very few :classics:, particularly for children, but The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron would definitely be one of them. Cameron is the namesake for the middle-grade...

Among The Hidden (Shadow Children) Start here

by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Among the Hidden is the first of the Shadow Children series, and it's a great introduction to dystopian sci-fi literature which is a very popular trend in YA literature with books like the Hunger Games. Among the H...

Alcatraz Vs. The Evil Librarians (Alcatraz) Start here

by Sanderson, Brandon

Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians takes similar ideas from the Harry Potter series and turns them on their head in a madcap adventure. Like Harry Potter, Alcatraz Smedry is an orphan, who, on his 13th birthday, rece...

N.e.r.d.s

by Michael Buckley

It's a well-known trope that nerds, and the kids that are picked on today, will become the leaders of tomorrow. N.E.R.D.S. takes that trope and runs with it. Instead of becoming leaders tomorrow, the N.E.R.D.S., or...

The Homework Machine (The Homework Machine) Start here

by Dan Gutman

What kid wouldn't want to read a book about a machine that does your homework for you? And what parent in their right mind would let them? Don't worry, parents. The Homework Machine dangles this prospect enticingly...

Attack Of The Fluffy Bunnies

by Andrea Beaty

What do you get when you cross alien invasion sci-fi, with B-rated horror references, and the witty wordplay of A Series of Unfortunate Events? It's Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies. In a story that mocks everything ab...

Lunch Walks Among Us (Franny K. Stein, Mad Scientist) Start here

by Jim Benton

Lunch Walks Among Us is the first of the Franny K. Stein books. Franny K. Stein is a child mad scientist who has a snake for a jump rope, and a laboratory in her bedroom. On her first day of school, kids don't know...

The Little Prince

by Antoine De Saint-exupéry

A much loved classic of children's science fiction is The Little Prince, which has been translated to over 250 languages and adapted for stage, screen, ballet, and even opera. The Little Prince tells the story of an...

Aliens For Breakfast

by Stephanie Spinner And Jonathan Etra

Adapted into a TV movie, Aliens for Breakfast is a whimsical sci-fi introduction for beginning readers, and it's exactly as silly as the title implies. It all starts when Richard's family gets a sample of a new cer...

Mars Needs Moms

by Berkeley Breathed

Much different from its 2011 film counterpart, Mars Needs Moms is a simple, heart-warming story with vivid, cartoonish illustrations that young readers will pour over as the pages are turned. Milo doesn't think tha...

Captain Raptor And The Moon Mystery

by Kevin O'malley

A cross between a picture book and a graphic novel, Captain Raptor and the Moon Mystery is the 2006 Golden Duck award winner that will captivate young readers who love dinosaurs. What's more awesome than space-trav...

If You Decide To Go To The Moon

by Faith Mcnulty

Fans of hard science fiction and space travel will appreciate the mix of fact and fiction in If You Decide to Go to the Moon. With true-to-life facts, If You Decide to Go to the Moon, tells the story of an imaginary...

We’re Off To Look For Aliens

by Colin Mcnaughton

We're Off to Look for Aliens offers children a story within a story. The 2009 Golden Duck Award winner kicks off when the mailman delivers sci-fi writer dad's new book, We're Off to Look for Aliens, a small book th...

Aliens In Underpants Save The World (Love Underpants)

by Claire Freedman

Who knew that underwear could save the world? That's exactly what happens in Aliens in Underpants Save the World. In the sequel to the popular, Aliens Love Underpants, Claire Freedman's underwear-stealing aliens re...

Ufo Diary

by Satoshi Kitamura

UFO Diary is the story of an alien who accidentally finds Earth. This quiet book puts a unique spin on the alien invasion subgenre of science fiction in that the entire story is told from the point of view of an un...