The Author’s List of Book Recommendations
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.