The Author’s List of Book Recommendations

Book cover of Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Ender’s Game

Book Category:
Category

Grade Level:
5 and up

Author:
by Orson Scott Card

To make sure humans win the next encounter, the world government has taken to breeding young military geniuses — and then training them in the arts of war. The early training of kids identified as five to twelve-year-olds takes the form of “games.” Ender Wiggin is a genius among geniuses; he wins all the games. He’s smart enough to know time is running out. But is he smart enough to save the planet? From Amazon Review.

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Book cover of Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

Gregor The Overlander (Underland Chronicles, Book 1)

Book Category:
Category

Grade Level:
3 and up

Author:
by Suzanne Collins

In this accessible, almost-cinematic fantasy, eleven-year-old Gregor and his two-year-old sister fall into an amazing underground world. Taken in by people who have lived beneath the earth for centuries, Gregor learns about the giant-sized talking creatures that also reside there, including bats, cockroaches, and vicious rats. From School Library Journal.

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Book cover of Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Uglies (Uglies Series #1)

Book Category:
Category

Grade Level:
Grade

Author:
by Scott Westerfeld

Tally Youngblood lives in a futuristic society that acculturates its citizens to believe that they are ugly until age 16 when they’ll undergo an operation that will change them into pleasure-seeking “pretties.” Anticipating this happy transformation, Tally meets Shay, another female ugly, who shares her enjoyment of hoverboarding and risky pranks. From School Library Journal.

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Book cover of Pendragon by DJ MacHale

The Merchant of Death (Book 1 of the Pendragon series)

Book Category:
Category

Grade Level:
Grade

Author:
by D.J. MacHale

Bobby Pendragon, 14, thinks he’s a pretty normal kid, worried about his next basketball game and his almost-girlfriend. But then Uncle Press changes everything by telling Bobby that he is a Traveler, capable of transporting through time via magical flumes. This first trip sends him to Denduron, a medieval realm in the middle of a revolution. From Publishers Weekly.

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Book cover of Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl, Book 1)

Book Category:
Category

Grade Level:
Grade

Author:
by Eoin Colfer

Described by its author as “Die Hard with fairies”—this book follows the adventures of Artemis Fowl, a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind, as he kidnaps a fairy for a large ransom of gold.