Best Children's Dystopian Sci-Fi Books

The greatly anticipated final book in the New York Times bestselling Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins's groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year. While I didn't know every detail, of course, the arc of the story from gladiator game, to revolution, to war, to the eventual outcome remained constant throughout the writing process. In the novel, you never leave Katniss for a second and are privy to all of her thoughts so you need a way to dramatize her inner world and to make it possible for other characters to exist outside of her company. Q: Are you able to consider future projects while working on The Hunger Games , or are you immersed in the world you are currently creating so fully that it is too difficult to think about new ideas? A: I have a few seeds of ideas floating around in my head but--given that much of my focus is still on The Hunger Games --it will probably be awhile before one fully emerges and I can begin to develop it. Q: The Hunger Games is an annual televised event in which one boy and one girl from each of the twelve districts is forced to participate in a fight-to-the-death on live TV. A: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle Lord of the Flies by William Golding Boris by Jaapter Haar Germinal by Emile Zola Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury Grade 7 Up Following her subversive second victory in the Games, this one composed of winners from past years, Katniss has been adopted by rebel factions as their symbol for freedom and becomes the rallying point for the districts in a desperate bid to take down the Capitol and remove President Snow from power. But being the Mockingjay comes with a price as Katniss must come to terms with how much of her own humanity and sanity she can willingly sacrifice for the cause, her friends, and her family. Collins is absolutely ruthless in her depictions of war in all its cruelty, violence, and loss, leaving readers, in turn, repulsed, shocked, grieving and, finally, hopeful for the characters they've grown to empathize with and love. Mockingjay is a fitting end of the series that began with The Hunger Games (2008) and Catching Fire (2009) and will have the same lasting resonance as William Golding's Lord of the Flies and Stephen King's The Stand .

The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Reviewed by Megan Whalen Turner. If there really are only seven original plots in the world, it's odd that boy meets girl is always mentioned, and society goes bad and attacks the good guy never is. Rather less 1984 and rather more Death Race 2000 , hers is a gripping story set in a postapocalyptic world where a replacement for the United States demands a tribute from each of its territories: two children to be used as gladiators in a televised fight to the death.Katniss, from what was once Appalachia, offers to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, but after this ultimate sacrifice, she is entirely focused on survival at any cost. Every generation projects its fear: runaway science, communism, overpopulation, nuclear wars and, now, reality TV. When Katniss is sent to stylists to be made more telegenic before she competes, she stands naked in front of them, strangely unembarrassed. Grade 7 Up -In a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives. Collins's characters are completely realistic and sympathetic as they form alliances and friendships in the face of overwhelming odds; the plot is tense, dramatic, and engrossing.

The first book in the blockbuster phenomenon The Maze Runner series now features chapters from the highly-anticipated series conclusion, The Fever Code, the book that finally reveals the story of how the maze was built! The Maze Runner and Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials are now major motion pictures featuring the star of MTV's Teen Wolf , Dylan O’Brien; Kaya Scodelario; Aml Ameen; Will Poulter; and Thomas Brodie-Sangster. Praise for the Maze Runner series: A #1 New York Times Bestselling Series. A USA Today Bestseller. A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of the Year. An ALA-YASLA Best Fiction for Young Adults Book. An ALA-YALSA Quick Pick "[A] mysterious survival saga that passionate fans describe as a fusion of Lord of the Flies , The Hunger Games , and Lost . ”— Romantic Times “James Dashner’s illuminating prequel [ The Kill Order ] will thrill fans of this Maze Runner [series] and prove just as exciting for readers new to the series.”— Shelf Awareness , Starred. Unfortunately, the question of whether the teens will escape the maze is answered 30 pages before the book ends, and the intervening chapter loses momentum. That said, The Maze Runner has a great hook, and fans of dystopian literature, particularly older fans of Jeanne DuPrau's The City of Ember (Random, 2003), will likely enjoy this title and ask for the inevitable sequel.— Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System, OH END Praise for the Maze Runner series: A #1 New York Times Bestselling SeriesA USA Today BestsellerA Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of the YearAn ALA-YASLA Best Fiction for Young Adults BookAn ALA-YALSA Quick Pick "[A] mysterious survival saga that passionate fans describe as a fusion of Lord of the Flies , The Hunger Games , and Lost . ”— Romantic Times [ STAR ] “James Dashner’s illuminating prequel [ The Kill Order ] will thrill fans of this Maze Runner [series] and prove just as exciting for readers new to the series.”— Shelf Awareness , Starred. " Take a deep breath before you start any James Dashner book.

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana. Here, she offers an appropriately sweet, fluttery Snow White-esque voice for Winter; a deliciously purring, cooing "popular mean girl" voice for Queen Levana; a French accent for Jacinl and many, many more. Even background characters who appear for just a line or two get distinctive voices, such as an Australian-accented guest at the wedding banquet. Soler's pacing is excellent, and she skillfully navigates listeners through Meyer's 23-hour story."

NOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES. When Count Olaf appears on the scene disguised as Coach Genghis (covering his monobrow with a turban and his ankle tattoo with expensive running shoes), the Quagmires resolve to come to the aid of their new friends. Snicket disarms us again with his playful juxtapositions--only he can compare bombs with strawberry shortcake (both are as dangerous to make as assumptions), muse on how babies adjust developmentally to the idea of curtains, or ponder why the Baudelaire orphans would not want to be stalks of celery despite their incessant bad luck as humans. There is the usual array of stupid/evil adults including the ridiculous Vice Principal Nero, who mimics everything that Klaus and Violet say and employs baby Sunny as his secretary because she is too young to attend class.

It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger. They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem. A Wrinkle in Time is soon to be a movie from Disney, directed by Ava DuVernay, starring Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling. The Polly O'Keefe books The Arm of the Starfish. Dragons in the Waters. A House Like a Lotus. And Both Were Young. Camilla. The Joys of Love. Spurred on by these rumors, Meg and Charles Wallace, along with their new friend Calvin, embark on a perilous quest through space to find their father. In doing so they must travel behind the shadow of an evil power that is darkening the cosmos, one planet at a time. Young people who have trouble finding their place in the world will connect with the "misfit" characters in this provocative story. "Two children, accompanied by an older boy, go on a search for their missing scientist-father-a dangerous search that takes them through space by means of a 'tesseract,' or wrinkle in time, to the dark planet Camazotz, whose puppetlike inhabitants are controlled by IT, a disembodied brain.