Picture Books
Duffield, Katy. Aliens Get the Sniffles Too! When Little Alien is sick, Mama and Daddy alien use an arsenal of lunar decongestants and meteor showers to make him feel a little better.
Gall, Chris. NanoBots. A young inventor accidentally creates a group of tiny robots that employ their unique abilities and teamwork to become incredibly useful–and maybe even change the world. Includes author’s note on the science and uses of nano-robotics.
Grey, Mini. Toys in Space. A group of toys, left out at night for the first time, begins to be afraid but the WonderDoll distracts them by weaving a story of lost toys, space travel, and a strange alien.
McCanna, Tim. Bitty Bot. All of the bots in Botsburg are powering down for the night…but Bitty Bot isn’t tired! Bitty decides to build a rocket and go on a space adventure instead of going to sleep.
Scieszka, Jon. Robot Zot! On a mission to conquer planet Earth, tiny but fearless Robot Zot and his mechanical sidekick leave a path of destruction as they battle kitchen appliances.
Timmers, Leo. Franky. Sam is sure that robots live on a faraway planet, but when his parents don’t believe him, he builds his own robot, Franky, and Franky is soon visited by some unexpected guests.
Van Dusen, Chris. Randy Riley’s Really Big Hit. Randy Riley, a science genius who loves baseball but is not very good at it, needs to use both his interests to save his town from a giant fireball that is heading their way.
Beginning Readers
Angry Birds. Angry Birds. (Series)
Arnold, Ted. Fly Guy and the Alienzz. Buzz is filming a movie about aliens from Outer Space, who capture Fly Guy and Buzz Boy–and our two heroes must outsmart the aliens, with some help from Dragon Dude and Fly Girl.
Cazat, Denys. Minnie and Moo and the Potato from Planet X. Minnie and Moo come to the aid of a visitor from outer space.
Cushman, Doug. Space Cat. When Space Cat and Earl the robot encounter trouble with their space ship, they crash-land on an alien planet to search for more fuel.
LEGO. LEGO. (Series)
Star Wars. Star Wars. (Series)
Wrecks, Billy. I am Baymax. Baymax explains who he is and how he and his friends fight the evil Yokai in the city of San Fransokyo.
Children’s Fiction
Ball, Nate. Alien in My Pocket. (Series) Fourth-grader Zack McGee’s life is turned upside-down when Amp, a tiny alien, crash-lands in his bedroom, then causes trouble at school while trying to get parts to repair his spaceship.
Benton, Jim. Franny K. Stein. (Series) Franny K. Stein is a mad scientist who prefers all things spooky and creepy, but when she has trouble making friends at her new school she experiments with fitting in–which works until a monster erupts from the trashcan.
Clark, Henry. What We Found in the Sofa and How it Saved the World. Finding a rare zucchini-colored crayon leads twelve-year-old River Monroe and his friends on an adventure with their eccentric neighbor to save Earth from invading interstellar storm troopers.
Dashner, James. Infinity Ring. (Series) Time has gone wrong, and best friends Dak Smyth and Sera Froste, together with the young Hystorian Riq, must use the infinity ring to travel back to one of the Great Breaks–a mutiny on the Santa María–to correct history and defeat the SQ.
DuPrau, Jeanne. The City of Ember. (Series) In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.
Emerson, Kevin. Chronicle of the Dark Star. (Series) While waiting to leave Mars before it burns up just like the Earth before it, Liam and his friend Phoebe discover some facts about time and space and realize that the human race is just one of the races trying to survive in space.
Farmer, Nancy. The House of the Scorpion. (Series) In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patrthn, the 140-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States.
Forester, Victoria. The Boy Who Knew Everything. In the wake of a prophecy that says they have the power to bring about great change, genius Conrad Harrington III teams up with Piper McCloud, the girl who could fly, to try to save the world and themselves.
Gibbs, Stuart. Moon Base Alpha. (Series) In 2041 twelve-year-old Dashiell Gibson is a resident of Moon Base Alpha, and at the moment he is faced with a number of problems: coping with the nasty Sjoberg twins, finding out how the commander of the base has managed to disappear from a facility no bigger than a soccer field, and dealing with the alien Zan who communicates with him telepathically from afar–and who is hiding a secret which may threaten the whole Earth.
Gravel, Elise. Olga and the Smelly Thing from Nowhere. Discovering a smelly creature in her garbage can that she names after herself, Olga befriends and studies the eccentric Olgamus using the scientific method, the practices of Jane Goodall, and other scientific concepts.
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. The Missing. (Series) When thirteen-year-olds Jonah and Chip, who are both adopted, learn they were discovered on a plane that appeared out of nowhere, full of babies with no adults on board, they realize that they have uncovered a mystery involving time travel and two opposing forces, each trying to repair the fabric of time.
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Under Their Skin. (Series) Twelve-year-old twins Nick and Eryn investigate why their mother and new stepfather are keeping secrets, why they are forbidden to meet their stepsiblings, and most important, why their lives are in danger.
Holm, Jennifer L. The Fourteenth Goldfish. Ellie’s scientist grandfather has discovered a way to reverse aging, and consequently has turned into a teenager–which makes for complicated relationships when he moves in with Ellie and her mother, his daughter.
Hopper, Ada. The DATA Set. (Series) Three second-graders who love science get thrown in a wild spiral of adventures after meeting their reclusive neighbor, Dr. Gustav Bunsen. When Dr. Bunsen’s growth ray hits a crate of animal figurines, the toys not only start growing, but also come to life.
Hughes, Ted. The Iron Giant. The fearsome iron giant becomes a hero when he challenges a huge space monster.
Kloepfer, John. Galaxy’s Most Wanted. (Series) When thirteen-year-old Kevin Brewer and his camp buddies summon an alien to earth, they know they’ll win a blue ribbon in the science competition–but they don’t expect to find themselves in the middle of an interstellar war.
Korman, Gordon. Masterminds. (Series) A group of kids discovers they were cloned from the DNA of some of the greatest criminal masterminds in history for a sociological experiment.
L’Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in Time. (Newbery) (Series) 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 for the government.
Lowry, Lois. The Giver. (Newbery) (Series) Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.
Mass, Wendy. Pi in the Sky. Joss, the seventh son of the Supreme Overlord of the Universe, must team up with a human girl to re-create Earth, when the planet is accidentally erased from existence.
Sanders, Ted. The Box and the Dragonfly. Horace F. Andrews, armed with a strange wooden box, and Chloe Burke, wearing a mysterious dragonfly pendant, become entangled in a secret and ancient society striving to protect powerful devices from the evil Riven.
Scieszka, Jon. Frank Einstein. (Series) In his Grandpa Al’s garage workshop, child genius Frank Einstein tries to invent a robot that can learn on its own, and after an accident brings wisecracking Klink and overly expressive Klank to life, they set about helping Frank perfect his Antimatter Motor until his archnemesis, T. Edison, steals the robots for his doomsday plan.
Searles, Rachel. The Lost Planet. Waking up on a distant planet, Chase Garrety is horrified to learn that he has no memory of his life and finds himself under the protection of a mysterious benefactor who requires him to complete an important mission before time runs out.
Service, Pamela F. Alien Agent. (Series) While at a resort on a vacation trip his uncle won, Zack begins wondering if his cousin has been telling the truth for years–that he really is an alien prince sent to Earth for protection, and who is now being chased by enemy aliens disguised as bald, fat men.
Stead, Rebecca. When You Reach Me. (Newbery) As her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1970s television game show, “The $20,000 Pyramid,” a twelve-year-old New York City girl tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space.
Tobin, Paul. Genius Factor. (Series) Sixth-grade genius Nate Bannister, with his talking car Betsy and super-powered pets Bosper the Scottish terrier and Sir William the gull, teams up with his friend Delphine to stop the Red Death Tea Society from unleashing angry bees on the city of Polt.
