Some Days You Just Have to Laugh

What Do You Read When You Just Need Cheering Up?

Some science fiction is read for the laughs. This series is one: EarthCentAmbassador. Currently the 16 books are listed with Kindle Unlimited.The stories are based on the adventures of an Earth ambassador to Union Station where the sentient planets send their ambassadors. The first in the series is Date Night on Union Station, rated 5 star on Amazon. Most of the series is rated 4.5-5 stars.


What is unique about these books is that they are suitable for all ages. The author E. M. Foner claims he wrote the first book as a relaxing relief from the toils of writing his science fiction epic. His comedic and personable style can be enjoyed in the author bio on Amazon and in his blog. 

 Another series takes place in contemporary Earth-- the AI Diaries.

In the AI Diaries an AI travels to today's Earth to observe humans. The Turing Test is the first in the series.

In Meghan's Dragon, a teenager in this coming-of-age novel must mature into a mage and control her dragon. Foner states that his goal in writing this book is to explore the world of young adults who must face challenges as they interact with aliens and AI in adventures that are not world-shatteringly dangerous.
Enjoy the laughs!

And read these out loud to the kids. Or let them read these themselves. Have fun.

I am also a believer in using good science fiction to encourage reading, to encourage an interest in science, to expand the ability to imagine and conceptualize, and to foster discussions between teachers/parents and youth. As a science teacher, I have written about this in various blog posts and my websites. Check out some of these posts by clicking on the labels. 

Book Review: Haze by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

Haze by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

A Book Review by Valerie Cosrkey

A book suitable for a YA audience in content--easy-going, but interspersed with lively action; implicitly deeply philosophical; no obscenities, overt sex, or pathological-character action; and mild violence--Haze gently leads the reader to question the authority of a successful government's control over the lives of its citizens. It posits a near-Utopian society as the enemy of such a government. The main character is an enforcement agent with the rank of major who finds himself assigned to infiltrate and spy on the enemy culture.

The book reveals Agent Major Roget's character in a series of flashbacks to other missions he had accomplished on the home world of Earth. That is the bare bones of the story outline, but within this skeleton is fine storytelling that begins almost too gently to persuade one to finish the book until you realize that you really care about Roget and wonder what all the flashbacks are trying to tell you.

By the end of the book, and with no pedantic passages, you have had an education in democracy, political and governmental institutions, freedom vs. governance, and philosophy. However, the book is filled with wonderful 1-2 sentences of quotable remarks on these subjects, especially appreciated from a Humanist worldview. A discussion of this book in high school and college classes of history, government, and science would be enriching. There is much in the writing style, plot structure, themes and symbolism to make this book usefully instructive in a literature class. Yet the story itself is less than 200 pages long--just right for a mature YA audience. Like  Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, this book is easily read but deceptively deep.

A short quotation from the beginning of pages of the book expresses a secondary theme of the book. In the first chapter Kuang says, Full freedom is another word for chaos and mob rule.

(©2009; A Tor Book, Tom Doherty Associates, LLC; New York, N.Y.; p. 18.) 

Throughout the book, there is a tension between freedom and government, with examples of different levels of freedom and different governments maintaining control. This tension is a strong theme, probably the primary theme.

Why Teach with Science Fiction

I have posted 10 reasons for using science fiction to teach science to the blog Reading for the Future Reflections.

The article is based on a paper I co-wrote years ago, but is still relevant today.

There are many books on the value of Science Fiction. Of interest to school teachers are the works of Julie Czerneda that offer lessons on teaching with science fiction.
Search Amazon.com for czernadaStardust: Teacher's Guide (Tales from the Wonder Zone)
also 
Odyssey: Teacher's Guide (Tales from the Wonder Zone) and Packing Fraction &_Other Tales of Science &_Imagination (2002 publication)

More lessons and thoughts on using all types of speculative fiction with students k-12 are presented on the blog Reflections and in my website. Feel free to explore that webpage for more teaching tips.

Try Past through Tomorrow for Heinlein' short stories that are guaranteed to interest youth. There there is Wondrous Beginnings, an anthology of authors' first works. Mostly short stories that should interest your young adult readers. From Piper is Federation and from Asimov is  everything he wrote.

Looking for Sci Fi by Women Authors?

This cat sculpture
by Sue Lannen
reflects the several
sci fi cats
featured in the list.

This book list of YA science fiction features women authors. The types of sci fi ranges from military to romance to coming-of-age to epic to mixed types. Although suitable for YA, many are stories good enough for adults to enjoy, too.

Enjoy a good read. Then give the book to a teenager.

My Article on Robert J. Sawyer and his Books Wake and Far-Seer

I have posted an article on Robert J. Sawyer, science fiction author, on the RFF Reflections blog. I invite you to read it. He writes exciting tales of aliens and of computer networks.

Of his books displayed on his website, these are the ones I want to read first.

. .. Then I would want to read Calculating God followed by Illegal Alien. Then I would want to finish the trilogies and maybe start on the Hominids series.

I suspect that the ones listed above will be suitable for teens. Far-Seer has been reviewed as a YA novel.  Wake's main character is 15.

Check them out and tell me what you think.

My Book Review for Krysia Anderson's Misfit Leaves Home

Today I posted a book review for Misfit Leaves Home, a sci fi novella in Lynda William's Okal Rel Universe and written by teenager Krysia Anderson. The book review for this charming YA and middle school novella can be found in the Reading for the Future Reflections blog. Check it out.

The book is hard to find and must often be specially ordered even at the larger bookstores Barnes & Noble and Borders. But you can get it here!