Science Fiction for Girls?
Nov. 13th, 2006 10:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tylikToday I was passing through the SF section of the University bookstore, and ran across a woman who was trying to find books for her ten year old daughter, who is a very strong reader. The criteria were: Science Fiction, the more science-y the better, strong female characters, and romance not dominating the plot and please keep the sex in the background.
I was surprised how hard it was to think of anything. (Grr. I really don't have the stomach to recommend Anne McCaffrey.) And I was surprised how many of the authors that fit that criteria were ones I'd read years ago, that were no longer in print.
Andre Norton. Sydney J Van Scyoc. Vonda McIntyre, Ursular K Le Guin (though the older Hainish novels I was looking for were not available)...
I pointed the mother to Shinn's "Heart of Gold" (she liked the biotech elements) and Barnes' "Orbital Resonance" (with a note that when Barnes is writing for more of a YA audience he's excellent, but if she likes his stuff keep an eye on what she's looking at, because in his more adult stuff he's one sick bastard). I pointed her towards "Dreamsnake" because I had really liked it... All of these struck me as being aimed at a rather older audience... but then, they're more age appropriate than much of what I was reading at ten. I wanted to say "Give her a copy of Cyteen in a couple of years..."
Who am I missing? And not just for ten year olds, but for young teens?
I was surprised how hard it was to think of anything. (Grr. I really don't have the stomach to recommend Anne McCaffrey.) And I was surprised how many of the authors that fit that criteria were ones I'd read years ago, that were no longer in print.
Andre Norton. Sydney J Van Scyoc. Vonda McIntyre, Ursular K Le Guin (though the older Hainish novels I was looking for were not available)...
I pointed the mother to Shinn's "Heart of Gold" (she liked the biotech elements) and Barnes' "Orbital Resonance" (with a note that when Barnes is writing for more of a YA audience he's excellent, but if she likes his stuff keep an eye on what she's looking at, because in his more adult stuff he's one sick bastard). I pointed her towards "Dreamsnake" because I had really liked it... All of these struck me as being aimed at a rather older audience... but then, they're more age appropriate than much of what I was reading at ten. I wanted to say "Give her a copy of Cyteen in a couple of years..."
Who am I missing? And not just for ten year olds, but for young teens?
