As the month of June comes to an end, we are celebrating the first anniversary of the Octavia Lab and Octavia E. Butler’s birthday by taking a glimpse into her life as a teenager and a list of great science fiction reads for teens!
Many of us look back on our teenage years as a painfully awkward time, and Octavia E. Butler may have felt the same way. As a teen, Octavia grew very quickly and ended up becoming six feet tall. She was painfully shy and avoided school activities.
Octavia had undiagnosed dyslexia and did not do particularly well in school. She recalls not even thinking of herself as particularly smart until eighth grade. During her education, there were a few teachers that took a special interest in Octavia and encouraged her to believe in herself.
Miss Peters, a seventh grade home economics teacher at McKinley Junior High, was the first teacher to read Octavia’s stories and encourage her writing.
In eighth grade, Octavia had a science teacher named Mr. Pfaff. His enthusiasm for the subject inspired Octavia and bolstered her existing love of science. Octavia shared her writing with Mr. Pfaff, and he actually typed the first story she ever submitted to a science fiction magazine. His willingness to take the extra time and effort to help her achieve her goals was something she remembered fondly.
When she entered the ninth grade, Octavia had her first African American teacher, Ms. Buggs. Ms. Buggs taught English, social studies, and drama. She understood Octavia’s fear of public speaking and instead allowed her to submit written reports. Octavia did eventually overcome her fear of public speaking by taking a class after she graduated from college. She realized that public speaking was essential to promote her books.
The encouragement and support Octavia received from her teachers left an impression on her life as she pursued writing and became an award-winning author. Below is a list of science fiction books for teens that are also sure to leave an impression!
Science Fiction for Teens
A gifted woman tries to find family and community in post-apocalyptic California.
Dana, a black woman living in 1970s Los Angeles, travels back in time to a pre-Civil War era plantation, where she saves a young white boy’s life. She learns that the boy is destined to become one of her ancestors, and as she’s pulled back and forth between her own time and the Antebellum South, she becomes dangerously entangled in the lives of slaves and slaveholders.
Matt discovers that when he starves himself he develops powers. Can he use them to find out what happened to his sister who was driven by school bullies?
Sunny lives in Nigeria, has albinism, and feels like there is nowhere she fits in. When she discovers that she has magical powers she meets others like herself and they set out to catch a criminal who also has powers.
King Saran banished magic from the island of Orisha eleven years ago. Now seventeen-year-old Zelie, with the help of her brother and the Princess, has an opportunity to restore magic.
Alex hates magic, but she comes from a family of brujas, and turns out to be the most powerful witch in a generation. When she does a spell to get rid of her powers her whole family disappears! With the help of a brujo will she be able to get them back?
In this alternate history novel the dead rise up from Civil War battles and begin to eat the living.
In the future, Taipei is plagued with pollution and viruses. The wealthy wear special suits to protect themselves and the poor die early deaths. A group of teens infiltrates Jin Corp, the company that creates the suits, and discover they may be creating the pollution as well.
Amani is abducted and forced to become a body double for the cruel Princess Maram.
Cassandra is in the family business of training sea monsters to protect ships as they cross pirate-infested waters. On a trip across the NeoPacific, Cassandra is abducted by a pirate queen who wants her to train a very special monster.
The world has conquered hunger, disease, war, and death. In order to keep the population under control, a group of Scythes are commanded to take lives. Citra and Rowan are assigned to be apprentice scythes and their failure could result in their death.
Sal has the power to reach through space and time and retrieve any object or person. But, what will this power do to the universe?