Elizabeth Moon (a bit violent, but stirring adventure and moral heros.) Her Deed of Paksenarrion, Once a Hero & Rules of Engagement, and Sassisanak Warriors series are great. Her main characters are warriors, so expect some violence. Others in the series of Harris Serano and Esmay Suiza and Kylara Vatta might be a bit too violent. I leave the parent to decide. Watch out for the torture of Pax in the last book of the Deed of Pak. omnibus. The other Gird novels in this series are good reads, too, and contain even less violence than the ones that I have recommended--and offer for sale--because they are my favorites.

Buy a few here.

James White, especially the Sector General Series. These novels are grouped into omnibuses. Buy a few here. I offer 3 of the omnibuses and one novel --in case you want to try a sample first. All are suitable for youth, but written for adults. Be prepared to laugh, cry, cheer and problem-solve along with the characters.

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David Weber (some are bit violent, but stirring adventure and moral heros.) The Prince Roger stories wirtten with John Ringo and tell about the journey of a stranded army's journey acorss an alien planet's contentinent to reach the single spaceport for the journey home. The Honor Harrington series begins with On Basilisk Station, a stirring novel of how a new ship captain gains the trust and respect of her crew and defeats an enemy invasion. There are many more by Weber that I would recommend. They are fun and thought provoking. The space battles draw upon the maneuvers of famous American and British sea and air battles. The political maneuvering is rich in irony and fun

Buy a few here.

Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, especially the ones in the Liaden Universe. I love them all, but some are a bit violent and contain adult sexual situations--mostly between lifemates, although with no overt sex scenes. Consequently, I have presented only two as appropriate for a teacher to recommend to a student. I could be overly cautious in this judgement, especially in not recommending Carpe Diem. I feel awful about depriving students of the chance to experience the Clutch Turtles and the wizards Pricilla and Anthora. Then again, parents can decide on the others. The two most suitable for youth are Balance of Trade and Pilot's Choice. Also, I have not yet read all of their books, just the other 5 about Shan and his siblings.

Buy two here.

Isaac Asimov

Robert Heinlein: juvenile books political allegories only-Not Methusela's Children, or The Cat thatWalks through Walls, but those written earlier are great. The two not recommended are too adult for youth--rated for sexual themes.

Paul Anderson

Larry Niven

Frank Herbert, especially Dune

A.C. Crispin

David Brin, especially the Uplift Wars series books 2, 4-5 and the Practice Effect

many others to come -----OK, OK, so I got tired of typing a list. Get books by these and other authors with books appropriate for youth from my Science Fiction Book Store.

As a teacher I realize the difficulty that reading science fiction presents for students and adults. Some have judged the reading level of most SF to be 11th grade or higher. That reading level should challenge most high school students. But, then, that is the point, to some extent.

A large number of scientists and engineers today claim to have read a book by Clarke or Heinlein or Niven or Pournelle that turned them on to science. Another factor is that having examples of technological and science-oriented experiences, even if vicariously lived through reading, gives the student a set of examples to hang the difficult science concepts on in his mental tree of developing knowledge. It helps bridge the gap between the totally abstract concepts of science and the more concrete realm of applications of the concepts.

My favorite authors have some science in their background education and use this knowledge to construct logical worlds. Some are good educators, too, and lead the reader through a problem-solving scenario that works to train the follower to think like a scientist.

I see other values in reading science fiction. As with all speculative fiction, science fiction allows the reader to imagine what if. Extreme consequences can be the results of extreme situations, with no damage done to political correctness since the time is not now and the characters are in no way real. As in all literature, social issues and personal concerns can be explored. In science fiction, the explorations can range through more possibilities than plain fiction because the world can be defined to fit one's imagination, not what is real.

I see society experimenting with new class definitions, social contracts and political entities in science fiction; thinking outside the box to generate answers to current social problems and learning to live more comfortably with new technologies. I call science fiction the myths of the future in that they serve the same purposes of the Ancient Greek myths in shaping our thoughts to deal with our changing world along side man's constancy of motives and desires and needs.

And, SF is fun to read!