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Children's Sci-Fi Books

Picture Books

Aliens Love Dinopants (Underpants) by Claire Freedman

Ara the Star Engineer by Komal Singh

Baloney (Henry P.) by Jon Scieszka

Birthday on Mars! by Sara Schonfeld

Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman


Doll-E 1.0 by Shanda McCloskey

Earth to Clunk by Pam Smallcomb


Hedgie Blasts Off! by Jan Brett

Little Bot and Sparrow by Jake Parker


Little Robot Alone by Patricia MacLachlan

Love, Z by Jessie Sima

The Magic School Bus and the Science Fair Expedition (The Magic School Bus #11) by Joanna Cole


Mr. Wuffles! by David Wiesner

My Friend Robot by Sunny Scribens

My Teacher is a Robot by Jeffrey Brown


Robobaby by David Wiesner

Rox's Secret Code by Mara Lecocq


Star Wars ABC-3PO by Calliope Glass

Stop! Bot! by James Yang


Toys in Space by Mini Grey

Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg






1st and 2nd Grades

Happy Paws (Layla and the Bots #1) by Vicky Fang

Look Out! A Storm! (The Adventures of Otto) by David Milgrim

The Magic School Bus Rides the Wind (Magic School Bus Science Readers) by Anne Capeci

Midnight on the Moon (Magic Tree House #8) by Mary Pope Osborne


More of Monkey & Robot by Mac Barnett

The Phantom Menace (DK Lego Readers) by Hannah Dolan

Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Stupid Stinkbugs from Saturn (Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot #6) by Dav Pilkey

Robo-Rabbit Boy, Go! (Press Start! # 7) by Thomas Flintham


Space Cat by Doug Cushman

Too Many Jacks (A Jack Book #6) by Mac Barnett

Zita the Spacegirl (Zita the Spacegirl #1) by Ben Hatke







3rd and 4th Grades

Aliens for Dinner?! (Alien Next Door #2) by A.I. Newton

Among the Imposters (Shadow Children #2) by Margaret Peterson Haddix



AstroNuts Mission One: The Plant Planet (AstroNuts #1) by Jon Scieszka

A laugh-out-loud tale packed with science, adventure, and a whole lot of fun: AstroWolf, LaserShark, SmartHawk, and StinkBug are animals that have been hybridized to find other planets for humans to live on once we've ruined Earth. So off they rocket to the Plant Planet! Will that planet support human life? Or do Plant Planet's inhabitants have a more sinister plan? AstroNuts Mission One is a can't-put-it-down page-turner for reluctant readers and fans ready to blast past Wimpy Kid.


• This is an outer space adventure that allows young readers to learn about our planet and environment while laughing and having fun

• Features full-color illustrations throughout as well as a spectacular gatefold

• How-to-draw pages are included in the back to help further engage readers and inspire creativity



Better Homes and Gardens (Plants vs. Zombies #15) by Paul Tobin

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (Charlie Bucket #2) by Roald Dahl

The Colossus Rises (Seven Wonders #1) by Peter Lerangis


Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce




A boy who lives every day twice uses his ability to bring down bullies at his new school in Mike Thayer's humor-filled middle grade novel, The Double Life of Danny Day.


My name is Danny Day, and I live every day twice.


The first time, it’s a “discard day.” It’s kind of like a practice run. At the end of the day, I go to bed, wake up, and poof everything gets reset, everything except my memory, that is.


The second time, everything is normal, just like it is for everyone else. That’s when everything counts and my actions stick. As you could probably guess, “Sticky Day” Danny is very different from “Discard Day” Danny.


When Danny’s family moves across the country, he suddenly has to use his ability for more than just slacking off and playing video games. Now he's making new friends, fending off jerks, exposing a ring of cheaters in the lunchtime video game tournament, and taking down bullies one day at a time ... or is it two days at a time?




The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza (The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza #1) by Mac Barnett

As seen on The TODAY Show! New York Times bestselling Mac Barnett and Caldecott Honor award-winning illustrator Shawn Harris turn their massively popular The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza live cartoon into an action-packed and hysterical graphic novel series—perfect for fans of Dav Pilkey, Raina Telgemeier, and Jeff Kinney. A Kids' Indie Next List Pick and an Indie Bestseller!


Something terrible is happening in the skies! Rats are eating the MOON!

There’s only ONE hero for the job, a bold and fearsome beast bioengineered in a secret lab to be the moon’s savior and Earth’s last hope! And that hero is . . . a cat. A cat who will be blasted into space!


Accompanied by the imperious Moon Queen and LOZ 4000, a toenail clipping robot, the First Cat in Space journeys across a fantastic lunar landscape in a quest to save the world. Will these unlikely heroes save the moon in time? Can a toenail-clipping robot find its purpose in the vast universe? And will the First Cat in Space ever eat some pizza?





The Forbidden Stone (The Copernicus Legacy #1) by Tony Abbott





Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

An absolute delight of a madcap story for the young (and young-at-heart) by New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman, with equal parts pirates and piranhas, adventure and aliens, oddity and love.


"I bought the milk," said my father. "I walked out of the corner shop, and heard a noise like this: t h u m m t h u m m. I looked up and saw a huge silver disc hovering in the air above Marshall Road."


"Hullo," I said to myself. "That's not something you see every day. And then something odd happened."

Find out just how odd things get in this hilarious story of time travel and breakfast cereal, expertly told by Newbery Medalist and bestselling author Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Skottie Young.




The Fourteenth Goldfish (The Fourteenth Goldfish #1) by Jennifer L. Holm






Hatch (The Overthrow #2) by Kenneth Oppel

Fans left desperate for more at the end of Bloom will dive into this second book of the Overthrow trilogy--where the danger mounts and alien creatures begin to hatch.


First the rain brought seeds. Seeds that grew into alien plants that burrowed and strangled and fed.


Seth, Anaya, and Petra are strangely immune to the plants' toxins and found a way to combat them. But just as they have their first success, the rain begins again. This rain brings eggs. That hatch into insects. Not small insects. Bird-sized mosquitos that carry disease. Borer worms that can eat through the foundation of a house. Boat-sized water striders that carry away their prey.


But our heroes aren't able to help this time--they've been locked away in a government lab with other kids who are also immune. What is their secret? Could they be...part alien themselves? Whose side are they on?


Kenneth Oppel expertly escalates the threats and ratchets up the tension in this can't-read-it-fast-enough adventure with an alien twist. Readers will be gasping for the next book as soon as they turn the last page...




Houdini and Me by Dan Gutman

Harry has always admired the famous escape artist Houdini. And when Houdini asks for help in coming back to life, it seems like an amazing chance...or could it be Houdini's greatest trick of all?


Eleven-year-old Harry Mancini is NOT Harry Houdini--the famous escape artist who died in 1926. But Harry DOES live in Houdini's old New York City home, and he definitely knows everything there is to know about Houdini's life. What is he supposed to do, then, when someone starts texting him claiming that they're Houdini, communicating from beyond the grave? Respond, of course.


It's hard for Harry to believe that Houdini is really contacting him, but this Houdini texts the secrets to all of the escape tricks the dead Houdini used to do. What's more, Houdini's offering Harry a chance to go back in time and experience it for himself. Should Harry ignore what must be a hoax? Or should he give it a try and take Houdini up on this death-defying offer?


Dan Gutman is the award-winning author of series including My Weird School, The Genius Files, and the baseball card series, including Honus & Me. He uses his writing powers for good once again in this exciting new middle grade novel.



Hello, Nebulon! (Galaxy Zack #1) by Ray O'Ryan

Emperor of the Universe (Klawde, Evil Alien Warlord Cat #5) by Johnny Marciano



March of the Mini Beasts (The DATA Set #1) by Ada Hopper

Danger! Action! Trouble! Adventure! Introducing The DATA Set, a brand-new chapter book series for young readers.


What would happen if your next-door neighbor were a mad scientist?


Gabe, Laura, and Cesar live on a quiet cul-de-sac. They are the whiz kids of Newtonburg Elementary and each specializes in their own subject. In fact, everyone in town lovingly refers to them as the Data Set. However, their quiet days of learning take a sudden turn for the exciting when they meet Dr. Gustav Bunsen—a mad scientist who throws the kids into a wild spiral of adventures.


When Dr. Bunsen’s latest invention, a growth ray, hits several tiny animal toys, the mini beasts don’t just grow, they come to life! The DATA Set love their new tiny pets…until they continue to grow. Now there’s an actual elephant in the room—not to mention a chimp, a giraffe, and a dinosaur. When the beasts wander off, it’s up to the DATA Set to track them down. But will they catch the mini beasts before they grow big enough to start trouble in town?


With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, The DATA Set chapter books are perfect for beginning readers!




No Ordinary Thing by G. Z. Schmidt

Twelve-year-old Adam is whisked away from his imperfect but quiet life with the arrival of a stranger and a magical promise in this time travel mystery.


It's 1999 and Adam doesn't mind living at his uncle's bakery, the Biscuit Basket, on the Lower East Side in New York City. The warm, delicious smells of freshly baked breads and chocolate croissants make every day feel cozy, even if Adam doesn't have many friends and misses his long dead parents very much.


When a mysterious but cheerful customer shows Adam a snow globe and says that adventures await him, it's too strange to be true. But days later, an unbelievable, incredible thing happens. Adam finds a similar looking snow globe and immediately travels back in time, first to Times Square in 1935, then a candle factory fire in 1967.


But how are these moments related? What do they have to do with his parents' death? And why is a tall man with long eyebrows and a thin mustache following Adam's every move?


In her debut novel G. Z. Schmidt has crafted a world filled with serendipity, mystery, and adventure for readers of Roald Dahl and Lemony Snicket.



Pi in the Sky by Wendy Mass

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe (Sal and Gabi #1) by Carlos Hernandez



Sanity & Tallulah (Sanity and Tallulah #1) by Molly Brooks

It can get pretty dull living on a small, out-of-the-way station like Wilnick SS. Best Friends Sanity Jones and Tallulah Vega do their best to relieve the monotony of every day space life by finding adventures, solving mysteries, and taking turns getting each other into and out of trouble. But when Sanity's latest science project-an extremely-illegal-but-impossibly-cute three-headed kitten-escapes from the lab and starts causing havoc, the girls will have to turn the station upside down to find her-before the damage becomes irreversible!


Readers will be over the moon for this rollicking space adventure by debut author Molly Brooks.





Sink or Swim: Exploring Schools of Fish (The Magic School Bus Rides Again #1) by Judy Katschke




Sneaks by Catherine Egan

Men in Black meets middle school! A school project takes an alien turn when three kids uncover a secret society whose aim is to keep sneaks--mischievous interdimensional sprites--from slipping into our universe!


When Ben Harp sees his teacher's watch crawling across the hallway, he thinks he must be dreaming.


But no, he’s just seen his first Sneak—an interdimensional mischief-maker that can borrow the form of any ordinary object.


He figured this school year would be bad—his best friend moved away, the class bully is circling, and he’s stuck doing a group project with two similarly friendless girls, Charlotte and Akemi. Still, he wasn’t expecting aliens!


And he certainly wasn’t expecting that the woman he and Charlotte and Akemi are assigned to interview for their “living local history” project would be a Sneak expert. Or that she’d foist an old book on them to keep safe . . . and then disappear.


Now Ben, Charlotte, and Akemi are trying to understand a book that seems to contain a coded map while being pursued by violent clothes hangers, fire-spitting squirrels, and more. The Sneaks want that book! And they want something else, too: to pull a vastly more dangerous creature into the world with them.


Can three misfit kids decode the book in time to stop an alien takeover? And if they do, will they get extra credit on their group project?




Stanley in Space (Flat Stanley #3) by Jeff Brown

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda (Origami Yoda #1) by Tom Angleberger




The Time-Travelling Caveman (Children's Cirlce Stories #4) by Terry Pratchett

Imagination is an amazing thing.


It can take you to the top of the highest mountain, or down to the bottom of the deepest depths of the sea.

This is where it took Doggins on his Awfully Big Adventure: a quest full of magic and flying machines. (And the world's best joke - trust me, it's hilarious.)

It took three young inventors to the moon (where they may or may not have left a bottle of lemonade) and a caveman on a trip to the dentist.

You can join them on these adventures, and many more, in this incredible collection of stories . . .


From the greatest imagination there ever was.


Written for local newspapers when Terry Pratchett was a young lad, these never previously published stories are packed full of anarchic humour and wonderful wit.

A must-have for Terry fans . . . and young readers looking for a fix of magic.



A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet #1) by Madeleine L'Engle






5th and 6th Grades

Cats vs. Robots: This Is War (Cats vs. Robots #1) by Margaret Stohl

The City of Ember (Book of Ember #1) by Jeanne DuPrau



Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Yoon Ha Lee's space opera about thirteen-year-old Min, who comes from a long line of fox spirits.


But you'd never know it by looking at her. To keep the family safe, Min's mother insists that none of them use any fox-magic, such as Charm or shape-shifting. They must appear human at all times.


Min feels hemmed in by the household rules and resents the endless chores, the cousins who crowd her, and the aunties who judge her. She would like nothing more than to escape Jinju, her neglected, dust-ridden, and impoverished planet. She's counting the days until she can follow her older brother, Jun, into the Space Forces and see more of the Thousand Worlds.


When word arrives that Jun is suspected of leaving his post to go in search of the Dragon Pearl, Min knows that something is wrong. Jun would never desert his battle cruiser, even for a mystical object rumored to have tremendous power. She decides to run away to find him and clear his name.


Min's quest will have her meeting gamblers, pirates, and vengeful ghosts. It will involve deception, lies, and sabotage. She will be forced to use more fox-magic than ever before, and to rely on all of her cleverness and bravery. The outcome may not be what she had hoped, but it has the potential to exceed her wildest dreams.


This sci-fi adventure with the underpinnings of Korean mythology will transport you to a world far beyond your imagination.



Eager (Eager #1) by Helen Fox

Fuzzy by Tom Angleberger

Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar



The Giver (The Giver #1) by Lois Lowry

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Lunch Walks Among Us (Franny K. Stein, Mad Scientist #1) by Jim Benton






Last Gate of the Emperor by Kwame Mbalia and Prince Joel Makonnen

From Kwame Mbalia and Prince Joel David Makonnen comes an Afrofuturist adventure about a mythical Ethiopian empire. Sci-fi and fantasy combine in this epic journey to the stars.


Yared Heywat lives an isolated life in Addis Prime -- a hardscrabble city with rundown tech, lots of rules, and not much to do. His worrywart Uncle Moti and bionic lioness Besa are his only family... and his only friends.


Often in trouble for his thrill-seeking antics and smart mouth, those same qualities make Yared a star player of the underground augmented reality game, The Hunt for Kaleb's Obelisk. But when a change in the game rules prompts Yared to log in with his real name, it triggers an attack that rocks the city. In the chaos, Uncle Moti disappears.


Suddenly, all the stories Yared's uncle told him as a young boy are coming to life, of kingdoms in the sky and city-razing monsters. And somehow Yared is at the center of them.


Together with Besa and the Ibis -- a game rival turned reluctant ally -- Yared must search for his uncle... and answers to his place in a forgotten, galaxy-spanning war.






Masterminds (Masterminds #1) by Gordon Korman

The first book in the action-packed trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Gordon Korman is perfect for fans of Stranger Things and James Patterson.


Eli Frieden has never left Serenity, New Mexico...why would he ever want to? Then one day, he bikes to the edge of the city limits and something so crazy and unexpected happens, it changes everything.


Eli convinces his friends to help him investigate further, and soon it becomes clear that nothing is as it seems in Serenity. The clues mount to reveal a shocking discovery, connecting their ideal crime-free community to some of the greatest criminal masterminds ever known.


The kids realize they can trust no one—least of all their own parents.





The Missing (Final Kingdom Trilogy #1) by Steven K. Smith

The virtual world is calling...


Bryce would never have just left. Thirteen-year-old Zach knows that deep in his bones. Something terrible must have happened to his older brother. So when the green-eyed fox leads him to a hidden message from Bryce deep within their favorite game’s virtual universe, Zach knows he must act quickly.


Teaming up with his best friend, a skillful classmate, and Bryce’s girlfriend, Zach races into a real-world mission to decode his brother’s mysterious warning. But when a deadly Ranger leaves the computer-generated landscape to come after Zach and his friends, they may run out of lives before finding the truth. Can Zach discover the bridge between the worlds and bring Bryce back before he’s lost forever?


The Missing is the first book in the mind-bending Final Kingdom middle grade virtual adventure series. If you like Maze Runner, Ready Player One, Fortnite, and electrifying mysteries, you’ll love Steven K. Smith’s suspenseful story.




Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (Rats of NIMH #1) by Robert C. O'Brien

A Mutiny in Time (Infinity Ring, #1) by James Dashner

Starbounders (Starbounders #1) by Adam Jay Epstein


The Search for WondLa (The Search for WondLa #1) by Tony DiTerlizzi





Space Case (Moon Base Alpha #1) by Stuart Gibbs

It’s a murder mystery on the moon in this humorous and suspenseful space adventure from the author of Belly Up and Spy School that The New York Times Book Review called “a delightful and brilliantly constructed middle grade thriller.”


Like his fellow lunarnauts—otherwise known as Moonies—living on Moon Base Alpha, twelve-year-old Dashiell Gibson is famous the world over for being one of the first humans to live on the moon.


And he’s bored out of his mind. Kids aren’t allowed on the lunar surface, meaning they’re trapped inside the tiny moon base with next to nothing to occupy their time—and the only other kid Dash’s age spends all his time hooked into virtual reality games.


Then Moon Base Alpha’s top scientist turns up dead. Dash senses there’s foul play afoot, but no one believes him. Everyone agrees Dr. Holtz went onto the lunar surface without his helmet properly affixed, simple as that. But Dr. Holtz was on the verge of an important new discovery, Dash finds out, and it’s a secret that could change everything for the Moonies—a secret someone just might kill to keep...




The Strangers (The Greystone Secrets #1) by Margaret Peterson Haddix




The Wild Robot (The Wild Robot #1) by Peter Brown

Wall-E meets Hatchet in this New York Times bestselling illustrated middle grade novel from Caldecott Honor winner Peter Brown


Can a robot survive in the wilderness?


When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is all alone on a remote, wild island. She has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is--but she knows she needs to survive. After battling a violent storm and escaping a vicious bear attack, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island's unwelcoming animal inhabitants.


As Roz slowly befriends the animals, the island starts to feel like home--until, one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her.


From bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator Peter Brown comes a heartwarming and action-packed novel about what happens when nature and technology collide.






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