Gateway Kids SF Books

What were the kids’ books that got you into Science Fiction? At Aurealis, we’ve done a quick survey and here’s a decade by decade breakdown of some of the most influential kids SF books.

• 1950s: any of Robert A Heinlein’s ‘juveniles’. Maybe some of the first real YA books.
• 1960s: Andre Norton was one of the strongest voices writing SF for young readers in the 1960s. Hugely influential.
• 1970s: John Christopher’s ‘Tripod’ trilogy converted a whole generation to SF.
• 1980s: Space Demons was read by just about all teens in Australia and was an introduction to proto-cyberpunk.