Larklight by Phillip Reeve

Told from the viewpoint of Art Mumby, this is about the adventures that he and his sister Myrtle have across space. Set in the Victorian era and written as if the Victorians were right about everything that they thought about how science was going to advance (steam power for everything, alchemy, inhabitable planets, etc...) I really enjoyed this book.

The Roar by Emma Clayton

The Roar by Emma Clayton

The blurb: Post apocalyptic distopia, "mutant" psychics, Etc. Etc.

What it starts to look like: Enders Game/Neon Genesis Evangelion meets Carrie,
then edited until it looks PG(read: no aliens), if still depressing.

Plot Holes: Yes.
To name but a few:

• No space colonies(despite the bad guy having a space station)
• No underwater colonies
• The twin in the beginning not leaving anything identifying during her escape and capture(she has telekinesis for crying out loud)
• None of the "mutant" kids pulling a Carrie(except one, and he gets stopped by a glance)
• Convincing via television hoax * nearly two thirds of the planet to evacuate to the remaining third.

Premise: Great, 4 stars, could make for some excellent fanfiction.
Execution: Terrible, 1.9 stars, not as bad as it could have been, but there are better uses of my time.

*Spoiler, highlight to show.

Zita the Space Girl by Ben Hatke

This is a book I heard of through the grapevine - and I loved it, loved it, loved it. It seems that where comic books are available, children will read them - I enjoy the format myself, but often the values are less than stellar, even while the color, format, and adventure draw you into the story. This is about a girl with real courage - not just the earth-saving kind, but the "fess up when you're wrong" kind, the "fix it if you did wrong" kind - and the being kind kind. Without sacrificing story. So I loved it. And all the sci-fi, amazing creatures and funny and/or beautiful bits are just cream.

Andy Buckram's Tin Men by Carol Ryrie Brink

This book was another yard sale find from my elementary school days. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful - it's the story of a boy who decides to make some "tin men" to help him with his work, and all that follows.
Remarkably, the author managed to make it sound exciting and ingenious, without overstating what each of the robots could do. (I don't know if it would have been possible with the technology when the book was written, but most of it would be now.) Just the book to inspire an interest in mechanics, electronics, building, and innovation. Well-written and delightful. Good enough to read aloud.

The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron

I first met this book, tagging along with my mother to yard sales of a Saturday morning. It was in a box of books in my price range - presumably ten cents or so - an proved to be one of those rare and delightful finds which I enjoy revisiting every few years, and am now reading to my children.
Science fiction from the time when science was definitely cool, this is the story of a boy (two boys, really- David and his best friend, Chuck) who answer an ad in the newspaper to design and build a boy-sized spaceship. The reward, as described in the ad, is the chance for an adventure and to do a good deed.
I don't want to spoil it, so I won't say more about the plot. It's good enough to read aloud; the science is very cleverly done, so that it remains... if not likely, within the realm of the imaginable. From a homeschooling perspective, this is a wonderful launch pad for a discussion about what is possible, what is not, and what we just don't know with regards to space, space travel, other planets, earthly and other biology.