3d ago

Middle/high school dystopian novel recommendations

I'm working on a dystopian literature class, and I'm looking for one more book to add to the curriculum. The kids are about 13, and somewhat sensitive to more adult topics. That's one of the reasons I've chosen not to assign 1984.

I had thought to assign The Maze Runner, but after reading it, I was underwhelmed, especially as a standalone book.

The other books we're reading are:

The Giver The Hunger Games Lord of the Flies Matched Ender's Game Fahrenheit 451 The Minority Report

Any thoughts? Thanks!

28 comments

Orwell's Animal Farm would seem like a good way to go. Not having any Orwell in a dystopian literature class would seem like a miss, and Animal Farm's heavy parable style sets it apart from the others in the list.
Off beat suggestion: The Lorax by Dr Seuss. It might be interesting to study dystopia aimed at younger children as part of a full exploration of the genre.
Possibly somewhat on-the-nose, but It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis is fairly timely.
Back with the classics, perhaps The Trial by Franz Kafka. Very effective and highly distilled form of dystopian text, boiled right down to its elements.
Shout out to The Last Man by Mary Shelley, which is a contender for the first true dystopian novel (certainly one of the first worth remembering).

Cory Doctorow’s ‘Little Brother’ only has 1 sex scene and it’s a pretty good model for sex positivity, I guess. That aside, it’s definitely near-future dystopia. Not far off the mark from today.
Octavia E. Butler’s ‘Parable of the Sower’ may be a bit above their level, but I could see 13 and 14 year olds devouring it none the less. Hmmm… there might be a steamy sex scene in this one too.
Technically Ender’s Game is a dystopian sci-fi novel. The film omits some insanely important content like a video game that the cadets all use during downtime that explores their psyche.
It’s old, but was my first introduction to dystopian concepts: The Time Machine by HG Wells
Oh, my wife loved Z for Zachariah at that age and reading it as an adult was enjoyable for me. A classic post-nuke young adult book.
- Little Brother is pretty good!
  Parable of the sower does have some pretty graphic violence in it though from what I remember, if 1984 is considered not age appropriate I think that one would not be either.
  
  Oh yeah... there is that, lol. It's weird being from America where violence isn't viewed through a puritanical lens, but the human body very much is. I easily forget where the line is drawn with what level of violence is acceptable. The message of Parable stuck with me now more than 20 years more so than any memory of the specific gruesomeness they endure during the travel north. Thanks for reminding!

Uglies by Scott Westerfield might be a decent option. There is a recent movie based on it.
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau is really good too. Also has a movie I think, but it's older.
Tomorrow When the War Began by James Marsden. It's been a long time since I read it but I think it fits too. Maybe a little dark, and possibly more "survivalist" than "dystopian".

I read Ender's Game for almost every book report in middle school :)
More Sci fi than dystopian, but I still recommend

Wait, minority report was a book before it was a movie??
- It's a novelette, coming in at about 15,000 words. It's usually published as part of a collection of short stories.
  
  Ah thanks. I’ll add them to my TBR shelf
- I had no idea either. And I like to think I read as often as I have a chance.

Ray Bradbury also has a good array of short stories, at least one or two of which are sort of precursors to Fahrenheit 451
Edit: its been too long since i read Fahrenheit 451... just started (and finished) re-reading it for the second time in my life, in the last couple hours. i still think it might be one of the more likely dystopias that await us.
It feels appropriate, somehow, that my first read through was a pirated PDF copy of it from some random corner of the internet.
I'm left feeling oddly... hopeful. Like I've been reminded of a part of being human that is good.

My fuck censorship knee jerk response is Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits or Blood Meridian or some dime store pulp noir Raymond Chandler
A few more actual possible recommendations might be Judge Dredd/2000 AD, Burning Chrome by William Gibson (collected short stories), or most of Philip K Dick and Kurt Vonnegut Jr use dystopian tropes but you'd have to scan for adult content when choosing.

Brave New World, maybe? It's tough to discuss dystopia topics without also discussing adult topics.
Wool (Silo series) is a great book. It has a TV show adaptation too.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein is a short/funny book that might be palatable for the students
- I think Brave New World is really a cut above most of the other dystopian novels. The themes of conditioning and being overwhelmed with work, games, drugs and sex so much you don't care about anything else are incredibly relevant in the current era.

The Chrysalids https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chrysalids
~~The Giver https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giver~~ I missed that one in your list, whoops!
I read both of these in school around that age; they may be good options for you.
- Another vote for the Chrysalids!
  Also The Giver is part of a Quartet. The other books are equally as good but not as well known. Gathering Blue might be interesting for your students as well, OP

I remember among the hidden being really influential to me in gradeschool though we never read it for class

Animal Farm?

Around that age, I remember reading The White Mountains, it's worth considering

I don't think there's ever been a more appropriate time to assign 1984

Divergent
- Why? It's a terrible series, frankly.
- Divergent is closer to a hunger games x harry Potter crossover than anything else.

Ender's Game for sure was my first thought.
- The more you learn about OSC’s politics, the more you realize that Ender’s Game is genocide aplologia. https://redsails.org/creating-the-innocent-killer/
  
  I'm aware of OSC outside his books, but within Ender's Game there is an exploration of a topic. It is the height of hubris to present one interpretation of fiction as if it is the only one and true one. I never read the book as excusing the genocide, rather that the horror of it was a major point. Is Ender innocent of genocide if he didn't know he was committing it? I don't know, that's a thought experiment and discussion topic, but not one that I read excusing the genocide itself.
  I find the linked page leaning heavily on the moral judgements and particular language of Graff, a character who I never found trustworthy or to be taken at face value. He always seemed to be saying whatever he needed to say to smooth past uncomfortable situations so he could mold Ender as he wanted him to be. Like he was an authority figure in some kind of dystopia.

It of course depends on your students, but I'm just gonna chime in that I read 1984 in 9th grade, so I would have been 14 years old, only a year older than your students. It was admittedly an honors English class, but depending on their skill and maturity I don't think that you necessarily need to avoid it as an option. Maybe not as a take-home book for them to read on their own, but maybe as one to read in class to sort of guide them through and challenge them a bit.
I don't know much about "kids these days," it's been 20+ years since I was their age, and probably around 10 years since I reread 1984, but nothing in my memory sticks out as something I would have been too bothered by as an older middle schooler and honestly probably pretty tame compared to some of what we were watching and reading on our own time (if I recall, the original Saw movie came out around the same time and I remember seeing it)
Again, you certainly know your students better than we do, but I assume that "dystopian literature" isn't a required course but some kind of elective, and your students are signing up for it and probably wanting to experience some darker and more adult themes, otherwise they probably would have chosen a different class.

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