Reddit mentions: The best teen values & virtues fiction books

Adult Dystopian Recommendations:

• Oryx and Crake – Jimmy/Snowman coasts through life fueled mainly by ennui. His only rebellion is to be mediocre when his advantages in society (white, upper (maybe middle) class, Western male) have him poised for success. Glenn/Crake deliberately turns himself into the Big Bad in order to correct the wrongs he sees in society. Whether his main issue is with human nature, sucking the planet dry, socially stratified capitalist society, willful ignorance, or insatiety and curiosity is unclear. Oryx sees it all and accepts them all, knowing that she’s too unimportant to do anything except pick up the pieces and provide comfort in the meantime.
  
  
• The Year of the Flood – The world and especially capitalist society is stacked against you, but resourcefulness and an open mind will serve you well.
  
  
• The Handmaid’s Tale – Quiet rebellions like memory and record-keeping can be subversive also. But it’s only actions that set the stage for change. And the people you (maybe?) save will interpret everything differently from your intentions anyways.
  
  
• Never Let Me Go – Is it truly a dystopia when only a small group is affected? If you’re thinking of reading this, do not under any circumstances watch the movie trailer. The slow build to “something is not quite right” is part of the charm.
  
  
• Into the Forest – Literary fiction. More about acceptance and regression to a [“natural”](#s "and feminist, which apparently means incestuous but Deep! and Thematically! incestuous") state.
  
  
• Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress – Historical fiction about Chinese reeducation camps, but still pretty dystopian. Bourgeois teenage boy questions his educated, upper-class roots and teaches peasant love interest about Western literature. [She](#s "abandons him for a capitalist dream because the lesson she took from it was that love was worthless. Basically, they both take away the worst parts of each other’s starting philosophies and smash them together.")
  
  
• Wild Ginger – If historical fiction is happening, why not another Cultural Revolution one? If you keep your head down, you might just survive long enough to grow up and really see the hypocrisy – stuff even greater than what you saw as a kid.
  
  
• 1984 – Isn’t this more about how the system will break you and leave you a husk of your former self if you trust anyone completely? So you should be smart and skeptical and never assume things are in your best interest just because someone’s telling you so.
  
  
• Brave New World – Have to admit, at 12 this had me thinking that maybe fascism wasn’t such a bad idea after all. The despair and existential crisis aspects weren’t hitting me then: I just noticed how happy almost everyone else was.
  
  
• The Road – All about bleakness and futility and carrying on because the hope of family’s the only good thing left?
  
  
• Fahrenheit 451, where the people in charge are corrupt specifically concerning that thing you're fighting against.
  
  
• World War Z – I’m almost hesitant to call this dystopian, because even though it’s about a freaking zombie apocalypse, it’s uplifting to hear all the stories of human resourcefulness and ingenuity and the mental strength you didn’t think was there. Of course, some of the stories covered are “logical responses” gone bad.
  
  YA-ish Dystopian Recommendations:
  
  
• Feed – It doesn’t work out for the only [person](#s "(Violet)") who truly fought the system (she’s beaten down so horribly that it’s heartbreaking that even the reader wants to look away), but she does technically inspire one other person to at least notice what’s going on in the world, even if it’s probably too late.
  
  
• Hunger Games – Katniss is really only involved because she has nowhere else to go. Side characters have real motivations for being involved, but she really is a figurehead along for the ride and that’s OK. The story is about that and how she copes.
  
  
• The Selection – cough Popcorn cough. America is highly motivated by money (For her struggling family, of course). Ignoring the love triangle stuff, her ideal is to move from serfdom to literally any other [political system.](#s "And this never happens. The political buildup you see in The Selection and The Elite is stomped all over in the vapid cheesecake of the love hexagon finale.")
  
  
• Incarceron & Sapphique – Finn’s rebellion is that he just wants out to someplace that must be better. Claudia lives in artificial luxury and rebels mostly just for personal rebellion, not anyone else’s sake.
  
  
• The Giver – Probably more MG, but how did running away from one collective society automatically become “capitalism is best?” Jonah runs away because he’s learned enough to make his own moral decisions about one of the helpless members of his society (and artificial protection sounds socialist to me). I can’t remember reading the sequels.
  
  
• The Book Thief – Again, MG and historical fiction about a bombed out German town in WWII, but I think a setting like that qualifies it as dystopian. Technically, Liesl fights the system by stealing (possibly forbidden) books from the wealthy and by not reporting the Jew in the basement, but that last one is just showing loyalty to her new family. Her entire upbringing predisposed her to not trust the System, especially a War System, anyways.
  
  Other Dystopias:
  
  
• Matched and Delirium will be considered together because they are the same damn book, right down to the Boy-Who-Could-Have-Been-Chosen-If-Not-For-Rebellion! and the protagonist’s government-approved hobby. Delirium has better writing. Matched is easier to read and has more likable characters. We get it, teenagers should be allowed to date who they like and mommy and daddy non-biological guardians shouldn’t say no. Also, it sucks to have a guidance counselor Make A Schedule for you in order to prepare you for an office job equivalent that’s full of busywork but one of the few respectable positions left. The horror! Seriously, in what world is that rebelling against socialism? You know, that thing that promotes trade schools and equal rights for everyone, even the people you don’t personally like?
  
  
• Divergent – I’m going to let someone else handle that one because urgh. I know a lot of people like it, and it’s YA, so someone else, please support, qualify, or refute.
  
  I’d also be curious to hear what /u/bethrevis has to say about the societies on Godspeed and elsewhere and where they fit into this opinion piece.
  
  Guys, I think I just wrote an English essay. And probably put more work into it than I did in high school. And I won’t even get an A because it’s the internet and we deal solely in lolcats.
  
  But tl;dr: Adult dystopias (that I’ve read) tend to be about the futility of existence or the necessity of self-sacrifice to get a result. The YA dystopias I liked were a little more hopeful (usually) and didn’t support this opinion piece’s thesis. The ones I didn’t like made me understand the hate for dystopias.

Sarah Dessen's books are good summer reads. She just released a book recently, but I would start with The Truth About Forever.

The Divergent series by Veronica Roth was also really good and has a similar feel to The Hunger Games.


I love reading books! If I happen to win, I would love a paperback version of The Giver. Thanks for the contest! :)

Matched and Delirium seem to be popular among that crowd, but I wouldn't get her both as they are the same damn book premise, right down to the MC's government-approved hobby. Delirium has better writing. Matched is easier to read and has more likable characters. Divergent is also popular, but it's awful.

On the other hand, Feed and Uglies, which were already mentioned, are excellent. I didn't care much for the Uglies sequels, but Feed is one of my favorite books.

If the theme is media in particular, Feed is the most relevant of those above. Little Brother is another dystopia that relies heavily on media involvement and should possibly be required reading, but it doesn't scream John Green to me.

Definitely Feed by M.T. Anderson. It's told from the perspective of an adolescent living in a future where we have colonized other planets, and everybody has brain implants that basically fulfill the roles of Facebook, Amazon, Grooveshark, etc. Kids can even download viruses into their brains which get them high like drugs would.

The protagonist finds himself having to navigate a glamorous world of instant gratification where everybody talks in Youtube comments, and the unplugged "real world" of a poor but well-educated teacher's daughter that he likes. Published in 2002, it has a lot of spot-on predictions about the social role the internet is fulfilling. Simple language, but challenging themes. Should be required reading for all kids these days, but it's the kind of book a 14-year old would completely get into. The first sentence:

"We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck."

Happy birthday! What's the most exciting thing that happened in your 23rd year on this planet?

I'm excited to turn 24 in 2 years. By then I'll hopefully have a job teaching and making money. crosses fingers lol

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Don't feel like you need to 'challenge' him with hard stuff. If it's interesting, he'll read it. A few books I remember reading between age 10 and 14 that were enjoyable were:

• The Giver by Lois Lowry is great for young adults.
  
  
• Farenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
  
  
• Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls
  
  
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (though to be honest, a lot went over my head the first time through - still loved it)
  
  
• The BFG, by Roald Dahl
  
  
• Boy - Roald Dahl.
  
  A lot of my friends at the time loved the Redwall books by Brain Jacques. I didn't get into them, but your son might.
  
  

I sincerely hope one will be Feed by MT Anderson. It's a revamped Fahrenheit 451; a dystopian world where people have computers in their brains which deliver television and the internet right to them. It's a very unknown book, but one of my favorites. It's a bit hard to get into, since the book uses some weird lingo used in that society. But as the novel progresses, it gets slightly more terrifying. Great read, hope it will be taught.

Get those kids some books!

oh lawd, this is going to be LONG
for advanced readers,

Enders Game

The Giver

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

The Harry Potter Series

The Heir Apparent

Farenheit 451


A lot of these books can be read young and then reread when older to get more meaning

For younger beginning readers

Dr Seuss, I really remember Green Eggs and Ham, Go Dog go, and One Fish two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish


Oh and surprise me, i really like SciFi/Fantasy and have read the Dune Series and ASoIaF, but the Modern High Power Rocketry Book would be very very appreciated.

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Amazon Smile Link: Feed


|Country|Link|Charity Links|
|:-----------|:------------|:------------|
|USA|smile.amazon.com|EFF|
|UK|www.amazon.co.uk|Macmillan|
|Spain|www.amazon.es||
|Mexico|www.amazon.com.mx||
|France|www.amazon.fr||
|Germany|www.amazon.de||
|Japan|www.amazon.co.jp||
|Canada|www.amazon.ca||
|Australia|www.amazon.com.au||
|Italy|www.amazon.it||
|India|www.amazon.in||




To help add charity links, please have a look at this thread.

This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting). The thread for feature requests can be found here.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Giver-Readers-Circle-Laurel-Leaf/dp/0440237688 Easily one of the best book series I read during my young teens at school. I really hope the movie doesn't disappoint.

Currently whipping through Harlan Coben's latest thriller, Missing You and Bob Dylan's Chronicles Vol. 1.

Up next, a few nostalgic re-reads I received from the reddit book exchange, Number the Stars and The Giver.

How about you? What are you reading and looking forward to reading?

Great discussion. Any discussion involving books is good stuff!

This is the first book that made me start questioning life. I mean if the leaders in his world could do so many awful things under the guise of harmony, what could my own leaders being doing? I'd like to read this book because I still love dystopian society books.

Happy Birthday!

• $5 or less
  
  
• 4$ or less
  
  
• 3$ or less
  
  
• 2$ or less
  
  
• 1$ or less
  
  Are you feeling 22? Because I'm not... haha

Divergent Series book Although, it's actually called Four.

Does that work? If not, let's go with Daria!

Thanks for the contest! I love this idea.

The Giver. It's excellent, well-written and thought provoking (it won a heap of awards). It's technically YA, but it's also a bit controversial and quite dramatic at times. Maybe you read it first (it's a quick read and you may appreciate it yourself anyway) and see if you think she's ready for it.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

Under 4

Under 3

Under 2

Thanks for the contest! Let's make a deal! :)

I think you would enjoy the book Feed. You can get a good look at the first chapter on amazon to see why I thought of it..

Veronica Roth wrote 4 books before Allegiant that takes place from the POV of Four. I guess she was getting herself ready to write in his POV for Allegiant. They're like one or two chapter "side books" that sell for like 1.99 a piece.

Heres one of them:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Transfer-Divergent-Insurgent-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00DG261BG/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1383201515&sr=8-5&keywords=veronica+roth

Definitely This series I've been wanting to read the books but haven't got them yet, I know they're good though.

For the lazy, here's an Amazon link for The Giver: http://amzn.com/0440237688

"In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community's Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy. With echoes of Brave New World, in this 1994 Newbery Medal winner, Lowry examines the idea that people might freely choose to give up their humanity in order to create a more stable society. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be, and boldly decides he cannot pay the price."

Ok. Five is too young for this, but The Giver. I remember this book being the turning point in my life when I feel in love with books.

Edit: everyone has hit all my knee jerk suggestions. I'll have to think on this!

My favorite book in the world. It's part of a 3 book set, I recently found out. I have read the second, Gathering Blue and absolutely loved it too. Just bought the third last week.

Still pretty sure this is Feed by M. T. Anderson.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003KVKW9U/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

I just don't think that there are THAT many well-known books for young adults with this premise.

You might try some Kurt Vonnegut novels. Many delve into sci-fi topics, while others are absurdly realistic, and are written in straightforward language while exploring some really interesting ideas. My favorite, Galapagos, tells a tale about an apocalypse and human evolution over a million years.

The Giver by Lois Lowry is technically considered YA, but it's so amazing it doesn't matter. I still read it every few years as an adult, and I only just found out it is part of a set of four. Another book that is technically YA but is really smart and has a lot of depth is A Wrinkle in Time and the books that follow it. They are stories about imperfect and relatable characters that touch on topics such as cellular biology, time travel and ethics.

Reminds me a lot of The Giver :)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Giver-Quartet-Lois-Lowry/dp/0440237688

3. My favorite book to movie adaptation is Harry Potter! While there were a few things different, it was really well done and magical!
   
   
4. My least favorite adaptation was City of Bones... I mean they really screwed up this movie! They left out so much and changed so many things that I really don't know how they're going to make the next movie!
   
   E-books:
   
   Glimmer
   
   Paper Towns
   
   The Giver
   
   Four: The Transfer
   
   Thank you for the contest!

Sometime I like to imagine the lives of people before moderd media. I with more vocabulary and better able to adapt to the world. Only because they did not have all of these 'things' that surround us. I love the internet, but I know that I read more before it.

Sometimes i think, I belive that the world is heading for a future like the book Feed by M.T. Anderson. That would be sad.

I liked Feed. Here's the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Feed-M-T-Anderson/dp/0763622591/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322792845&sr=8-1

Well then, let the corporations whose products you use pay for your doctors' bills in order to assure they have a customer in the future!

(Thanks to a previous Reddit thread, I've read (and recommend) Feed.)

My item! Coupon time.

My favorite sandwich I guess... veggies on sourdough, with mustard.

Here they are lol

Looks like this guy token up!

• Dune by Frank Herbert.
  
  
• Riverworld by Philip Jose Farmer - somewhat of a longshot, but something made me think of it.
  
  
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
  
  
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.
  
  
• Battle Royale by Koushun Takami.
  
  
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
  
  
• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand .
  
  
• Neuromancer by William Gibson.
  
  
• The Running Man by Stephen King.
  
  You might even get a kick out of The Hunger Games or Divergent... And of course 1984 :)

Ok, I have The Giver on my book wishlist. You can buy it used for 4.89 with 3.99 shipping making it 8.88!

The giver , http://www.amazon.com/Giver-Readers-Circle-Laurel-Leaf/dp/0440237688/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376178450&sr=1-1&keywords=the+giver .

While not directly related, you may also enjoy Feed by M. T. Anderson

I constantly see references that remind me of this book years later (e.g. Google Glass, lab-grown meat, outsourcing schools, individual ad targeting, etc). One of those odd books that just sticks with you.

The book Feed was one that I absolutely hated reading for a class, as the style of writing was atrocious, and then I realized...that was the point. It's a pretty short book, and a really interesting reality to consider.

Edit: Amazon link for the curious

The Giver

Most likely so influential because I read it at age 11, but I think it's still appropriate for an adult audience.

I thought that was just the plot to the best-selling book, The Giver.

Edit: Dammit, that was already said....I guess there's at least a link to the book on this comment.

As a young adult: The Tripod Trilogy/Quadrilogy

As an adult: The Giver and The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963

This it?

The Giver by Lois Lowry

http://www.amazon.com/Feed-M-T-Anderson/dp/0763622591

It reminds me of this.

> Down the road contact lenses or implants should be a progression of this idea.

I think I read that book...

Why do I feel this will turn in to what happens in this book.

Has anyone ever read the book FEED?

http://www.amazon.com/Feed-M-T-Anderson/dp/0763622591

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003KVKW9U/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

• The 5th Wave - After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.
  
  Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, ad on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother--or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.
  
  
• The Giver - Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world.
  
  When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does Jonas begin to understand the dark secrets behind this fragile community. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.
  
  

It sounds like The Fragile Flag, by Jane Langton, part of The Hall Family Chronicles.

>When Georgie Hall decides to walk from Concord, Massachusetts, to Washington, D.C., with a letter to the President and an old flag capable of producing magical visions, no one doubts that she has the will or ability to do it. Along with her stepcousins Eleanor and Eddy, Georgie begins the Children's Crusade to stop the President from building a globally fatal nuclear bomb, known as the Peace Missile. But 450 miles is a long way to walk, and even as the Crusade picks up members along the way, its marchers can't help but wonder if their actions will make a difference, or if it is already too late....

• Where the Wild Things Are
  
• Tikki Tikki Tembo
  
• The Giver
  
• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
  
• The original Winnie the Pooh books
  
• Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
  
• Number the Stars
  
• Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
  
• Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore
  
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
  
• The Rainbow Fish
  
• The Stinky Cheeseman and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
  

Ahh, here it is. I thought no one but me was making this comment.

Here it is, right at the bottom.

I agree with you, anyhow. I just realized how soon Feed was going to happen. Terrifying. I want augmented reality, but just me, no company.

Here's my last 5 I've bought. I haven't finished any of them, but started them all lol. (on a side note I'm not sure how to do links but I tried.

• Fallen by: Lauren Kate
  Lady Lazarus by: Michele Lang
  The Twelve by: William Gladstone
  Wicked Witch & Curse by: Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie
  Ink Exchange by: Melissa Marr
  
  Fallen by: Lauren Kate
  Lady Lazarus by: Michele Lang
  The Twelve by: William Gladstone
  Wicked Witch & Curse by: Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie
  Ink Exchange by: Melissa Marr