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Note:
F = Adult fiction Y = Young Adult fiction J = Juvenile fiction
CS F = Adult books on tape CDB F = Adult books on CD |
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Future Worlds |
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Anderson, M.T. Feed, 2002. Y
In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble. |
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Dickinson, Peter. Eva, 1988. Y
After a terrible accident, a young girl wakes up to discover that she has been given the body of a chimpanzee. |
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Farmer, Nancy. House of the Scorpion, 2002. Y, J
In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patron, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States. |
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Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Among the Hidden, 1998. J
In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke, a third child, has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm, until he meets another "third." |
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Kilworth, Garry. The Electric Kid, 1995. J
Set in the year 2061, two children support themselves in a city dump and are pressed into the service of the criminal underworld until their unique talents foster their escape. |
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Lowry, Lois. Messenger, 2004. Y
Matty, a young member of a utopian community that values honesty, conceals an emerging healing power that he cannot explain or understand. Sequel to The Giver and Gathering Blue. |
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Shusterman, Neal. The Dark Side of Nowhere, 1997. Y
When a classmate dies, Jason begins to suspect that all is not well in his boring small town. It turns out that his family and many other folks in town are aliens from a conquering race. |
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Stephenson, Neil. The Diamond Age, 1995. SF
John Percival Hackworth, a brilliant nanotechnologist, has just made an illicit copy of a state-of-the-art interactive device whose purpose is to educate and raise a girl capable of thinking for herself. Unfortunately Hackworth's smuggled copy has fallen into the wrong hands. |
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Tolan, Stephanie S. Welcome to the Ark, 1996. Y
In the near future, a time of global violence, four gifted teens are put in a psychiatric home they call the Ark. In the Ark, they discover amazing powers within themselves, powers that can change the way other people behave. |
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Vande Velde, Vivian. Heir Apparent, 2002. Y
While playing a total immersion virtual reality game of kings and intrigue, fourteen-year-old Giannine learns that demonstrators have damaged the equipment to which she is connected, and she must win the game quickly or be damaged herself. |
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Vizzini, Ned. Be More Chill, 2004. Y
Badly in need of self-confidence and a change of image, high school nerd Jeremy Heere swallows a pill-sized super computer that is supposed to help him get whatever he wants. |
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| Other Worlds |
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Dickinson, John. The Cup of the World, 2004. Y
When Phaedra, a willful daughter of a baron, decides to marry for love, she sets off an unforseeable chain of events and a battle between good and evil. |
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Funke, Cornelia. Inkheart, 2003. J
Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service. |
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LeGuin, Ursula. Gifts, 2004. SF
When a young man in the Uplands blinds himself rather than use his gift of "unmaking"--a violent talent shared by members of his family--he upsets the precarious balance of power among rival, feuding families, each of which has a strange and deadly talent of its own. |
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Mahy, Margaret. Alchemy, 2003. Y
Seventeen-year-old Roland discovers that an unpopular girl in his school is studying alchemy and finds that their destiny is linked with that of a power-hungry magician. |
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McCaffrey, Anne. Freedom's Landing, 1995. SF
Kristin Bjornsen's normal life is irrevocably changed by the arrival of Catteni slaving ships, and in the wake of her people's capture, she begins a desperate fight for freedom. First in a series. |
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McDevitt, Jack. Moonfall, 1998. SF
A full-speed ahead tale of a comet's collision with the moon, where earth has established a colony. |
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Nix, Garth. Sabriel, 1996. Y
Sabriel, daughter of the necromancer Abhorsen, must journey into the mysterious and magical Old Kingdom to rescue her father from the Land of the Dead. First in a trilogy. |
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Pierce, Tamora. Trickster's Choice, 2003. Y
Alianne must call forth her mother's courage and her father's wit in order to survive on the Copper Isles in a royal court rife with political intrigue and murderous conspiracy. |
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Rubinstein, Gillian. Galax-Arena, 1995. Y
Kidnapped from an Australian train station, Joella, Peter, and Liane are taken on a rocket to the Galax-Arena, where children stolen from Earth perform death-defying stunts for the amusement of the inhabitants of the planet Vexak. |
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Sedgwick, Marcus. The Book of Dead Days, 2004. Y
With the help of his servant and an orphan girl, a magician named Valerian searches graveyards, churches, and underground waterways for a book he hopes will save him from a pact he has made with evil. |
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Shinn, Sharon. The Safe-Keeper's Secret, 2004. Y
Fiona is Safe-Keeper in the small village of Tambleham, where neighbors and strangers alike come one by one, in secret, to tell her things they dare not share with anyone else. |
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Westerfeld, Scott. The Secret Hour, 2004. Y
Upon moving to Bixby, Oklahoma, fifteen-year-old Jessica Day learns that she is one of a group of people who have special abilities that help them fight ancient creatures living in an hour hidden at midnight, creatures that seem determined to destroy Jess. |
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Yolen, Jane. Sword of the Rightful King: A Novel of King Arthur, 2003. Y
Merlinnus the magician devises a way for King Arthur to prove himself the rightful king of England--pulling a sword from a stone--but trouble arises when someone else removes the sword first. |
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| Magic & Magical Creatures |
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Bakker, Robert. Raptor Red, 1995. F
After her mate is killed, a female raptor embarks on a perilous yearlong odyssey as she copes with a flash flood, migrates to the ocean, finds a new mate, and produces a family of chicks. |
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Bell, Hilari. The Goblin Wood, 2004. Y
A young Hedgewitch, an idealistic knight, and an army of clever goblins fight against the ruling hierarchy that is trying to rid the land of all magical creatures. |
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Colfer, Eoin. Artemis Fowl, 2001. J
When a twelve-year-old evil genius tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll. First in a trilogy. |
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Hetley, James. The Summer Country, 2002. SF
Unbeknownst to her, Maureen is a powerful witch whose strange abilities have been attributed to mental illness in her own world. Maureen teams up with Brian to help him defeat his evil siblings in the Summer Country, where Maureen's magical prowess is strongly envied. |
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Paolini, Christopher. Eragon, 2003. J CS, Y
In Aagaesia, a fifteen-year-old boy of unknown lineage called Eragon finds a mysterious stone that weaves his life into an intricate tapestry of destiny, magic, and power, peopled with dragons, elves, and monsters. First in a trilogy. |
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Pratchett, Terry. The Wee Free Men, 2003. SF
A young witch-to-be named Tiffany teams up with the Wee Free Men, a clan of six-inch-high blue men, to rescue her baby brother and ward off a sinister invasion from Fairyland. |
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Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 2003. SF, J
When the government of the magic world and authorities at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry refuse to believe in the growing threat of a freshly revived Lord Voldemort, fifteen-year-old Harry Potter finds support from his loyal friends in facing the evil wizard and other new terrors. Book five of the popular series. |
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Wrede, Patricia. Sorcery and Cecilia, Or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, 2003. Y
In 1817 in England, two young cousins, Cecilia living in the country and Kate in London, write letters to keep each other informed of their exploits, which take a sinister turn when they find themselves confronted by evil wizards. |
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| Military |
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Card, Orson Scott. Ender's Game, 1991. SF, Y
When aliens attack the Earth and almost destroy the human race, the government prepares for the next encounter with "art of war" training games. The first of a series. |
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Skurzynski, Gloria. Virtual War, 1997. J
Coogan, 14, is the Champion, genetically-engineered for just one purpose-to win the Virtual War for the Western Hemisphere Federation and claim the prize, the last uncontaminated land on Earth. |
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| Time & Parallel Travel |
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Goodman, Alison. Singing the Dogstar Blues, 2003. Y
In a future Australia, the saucy eighteen-year-old daughter of a famous newscaster and a sperm donor teams up with a hermaphrodite from the planet Choria in a time travel adventure. |
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Gould, Steven. Jumper, 1992. Y
An adventure and romance story full of ethical challenges about a 17-year old young man with innate teleporting ("jumping") talent. |
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Gaiman, Neil. Coraline, 2002. J
Looking for excitement, Coraline ventures through a mysterious door into a world that is similar, yet disturbingly different from her own, where she must challenge a gruesome entity in order to save herself, her parents, and the souls of three others. |
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Hautman, Pete. Mr. Was, 1996. Y
Jack uses a magic door in his grandfather's house to travel back in time fifty-five years. His mission: to prevent his mother's murder at the hands of his father. |
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Lawrence, Michael. A Crack in the Line, 2004. Y
Sixteen-year-old Alaric discovers how to travel to an alternate reality, where his mother is alive and his place in the family is held by a girl named Naia. |
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L'Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in Time, 1962. Y, J, J CS, CDB J, CS F
Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work on time travel for the government. |
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Paulsen, Gary. Transall Saga, 1998. Y, CS F
Mark's solo camping trip to the desert begins as any other camping trip, until a mysterious beam of light appears. The trip turns into a terrifying and thrilling adventure when the light beam transports Mark into another time, and what appears to be another planet! |
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Pullman, Philip. The Golden Compass, 1995. Y
Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North. First in a trilogy. |
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Sleator, William. The Boy Who Reversed Himself, 1986. Y
When Laura discovers that the unpopular boy living next door to her has the ability to go into the fourth dimension, she makes the dangerous decision to accompany him on his journeys there. |
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Willis, Connie. To Say Nothing of the Dog; or, How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last, 1998. SF
Time traveler Ned Henry goes from 2057 to 1888 and finds another time traveler's mistake. He must correct this mistake before it alters the course of history. Part time-travel, part mystery, part comedy of errors. |
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| Post-Holocaust, Nuclear, and Other |
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Brin, David. The Postman, 1985. SF
Stealing a dead postal worker's jacket transforms Gordon Krantz into a symbol of hope in a stricken, post-nuclear holocaust world. |
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Nix, Garth. Shade's Children, 1997. Y
When the Change happened, everyone over 14 vanished, leaving the children at the mercy of the Overlords and their half-human, half-mechanical creatures. A group of runaways escape and become Shade's children, seeking to turn back the Change and defeat the evil Overlords. |
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| Classics |
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Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 1980. SF
Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway. Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend, researcher Ford Prefect. Together they hitch a ride to parts unknown, encounter creatures unheard of, and take part in comic adventures unparalleled. The first in a trilogy. |
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Asimov, Isaac. Foundation, 1951, SF
The future of the Galactic Empire is in jeopardy and only one man, Hari Seldon, a psychohistorian and mathematician, is willing to risk all for the future. The first in a series. |
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Atwood, Margaret. Handmaid's Tale, 1986. F
Near the end of the 20th century, birth control and the effects of nuclear fallout have caused fewer births, creating a world in which women are categorized in terms of whether or not they are able to bear children. No-one dares to defy the law in the hope for a better world until Offred, a Handmaid. |
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Bradbury, Ray. Farenheit 451, 1953. SF
Fireman Guy Montag loves to rush to a fire and watch books burn up. Then he meets a seventeen-year old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid, and a professor who tells him of a future where people can think. And Guy Montag knows what he has to do.... |
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Christopher, John. The White Mountains, 1967. J, Y
Will Parker and his companions make a dangerous journey toward an outpost of freedom where they hope to escape from the ruling Tripods, who capture mature human beings and make them docile, obedient servants. The first in a trilogy. |
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Clarke, Arthur C. 2001: A Space Odessey, 1968. SF
Two frightened austronauts, three frozen hibernauts, and a talkative computer named Hal ride on the spacecraft Discovery, hoping to unravel the mystery of a crystal monolith left on the moon by alien intelligence. |
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Dick, Phillip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, 1982. SF
It's 2021 and bounty hunter Rick Deckard is stalking a group of androids who have returned from space with short life spans and murder on their minds. The basis for the movie "Blade Runner." |
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Heinlein, Robert. Starship Troopers, 1959. SF
A recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the universe and into battle with the Terran Mobile Infantry against humankind's most frightening enemy. |
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O'Brien, Robert C. Z for Zachariah, 1974. CS F
Seemingly the only person left alive after a nuclear war, Ann Burden is relieved to see a man arrive into her valley until she realizes that he is a tyrant and she must somehow escape. |
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Tolkien, J.R.R. The Fellowship of the Ring, 1954. J, J CS, SF, CDB F, CS F
The first book of the classic Lord of the Rings trilogy. |
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Wells, H.G. War of the Worlds. SF
Classic tale of an alien landing. |
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| Short Stories |
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Asimov, Isaac. The Complete Stories, 1992. SF |
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Bradbury, Ray. Bradbury Stories : 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales 2003. F |
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Clarke, Arthur C. Tales from Planet Earth, 1990. SF |
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Dick, Philip K. Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick, 2002. SF |
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Faerie tales. Martin H. Greenberg and Russell Davis. eds., 2004. Y |
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The Faery Reel : Tales from the Twilight Realm. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds., 2004. Y |
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Firebirds : An Anthology of Original Fantasy and Science Fiction. Sharyn November, ed., 2003. Y |
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LeGuin, Ursula K. The Birthday of the World and Other Stories, 2002. SF |
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The Nebula Awards, v. 29 and 33. SF NEBULA |
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The Norton Book of Science Fiction. Ursula K. LeGuin and Brian Attebery, eds., 1993. SF ANTHOLOGY |
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Year's Best Sci Fi, 1990 and 1994. SF YEAR'S |
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