Help!! My mom is a teacher.....

...in a very conservative, private school. She is trying (bless her!) to enrich the school library and her room's enrichment bookshelf with some fantasy/sci-fi for the kids who have shown an interest in that, but because of the conservative nature of the school she needs some help.

She is looking for books that have:

1 - not too much sex
2 - not too much bad language
3 - no overt references to killing God, God being evil, etc. (sorry, the His Dark Materials trilogy doesn't make the cut

but she also wants good stories, and something that is fairly well written.

She offered Harry Potter for one of her extra reading choices this semester and, predictable, some parents freaked out - but she is really committed to giving the kids a wider range of stuff to read, which I think is great.

Does anyone have any brilliant ideas? I've been a lurker in this group for a while, and I KNOW you all have read just about everything.

Thanks in advance for your help!! =)

Can you tell us what age group she is teaching? That might help.

Also, just for the record, there is no talk of 'killing god' in His Dark Materials. That quote came from Philip Pullman well after the book became a best seller.

HAH! Yes, sorry. Don't let the dork post this early in the morning, obviously.

She teaches high school English, so mainly 9-12th grade, but she has several students who have some learning issues, so read at a younger level.

So far I've come up with Coraline and Stardust by Neil Gaiman, and then I'm stumped.

Stardust does have the F-bomb in it, but just once, I think.

Does she have the standards... you know, The Hobbit and LotR?

Dark is rising ? this was a group read, so if you follow the links from the GD page you'll get a good idea of the story.

Alan Garner's works are fairly clean.

Wizard of Earthsea

All of these might be a bit old.
James Dasher's recent work seemed to get reasonable reviews, though I've not read it myself.

NOt sure what to suggest on the SF front, Asimov maybe - "I robot" would have the advantage of leading to film/book comparison lessons

#6 you got in before me.

I at least will admit to having got to SF through reading my dad's Asimov books and nearly all that I can think of are very clean. I also learnt quite a lot of science through his non-fiction stuff so there's a reasonable link. I'm aware that he doesn't seem to be very fashionable these days but he would seem to fit the bill.

Stardust does also have sex in it, though I don't think it was particularly explicit.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories is fabulous, although possibly a bit young for most of them. (I'm guessing 9th-12th grade is something like 14-18?)

Terry Pratchett's Discworld series would probably qualify. Although they're not great literature, they satirically address a lot of topical stuff, especially in later books.

C.S. Lewis's Cosmic Trilogy would certainly suit the conservatives down to the ground, though some people find the religious overtones a bit overbearing, especially in the last book of the three.

I guess she's thought about Jules Verne's sci fi? Journey to the Centre of the Earth is cool.

Hopefully they're of *some* help....

Try the Robin Hobb books like the Assassin's Apprentice trilogy. They are really interesting, pacy, well-written and from memory there is no swearing and only one (not very explicit) sex scene.

For SciFi, you could go with the classic "Hard SF" - hard being 'technology focused.' Things such as Clarke and Asimov...

Just in general look for things published before 1965. ;)

I'd be wary of Alan Garner - there are a lot of references to 'the old gods' within a recognisably our world setting, potentially far more subversive than dear tame Harry. That's not to say that I didn't love them and you might get away with it if the parents haven't heard of/don't read their children's books but...
For the slightly older ones how about James Barclay's legends of the Raven (there 6 books I think)
Also try some of the Irish myths - Lady Gregory's classic versions are nicely cleaned up.
I will think some more..

Any thing by David Eddings would probably fit.

Robin McKinley? I was thinking maybe Hero and the Crown & Blue Sword -- or maybe The Princess Bride. The Xanth books are mostly pretty tame, at least the earlier ones. And (although I don't know if they'd qualify as "great" literature,) Robert Asprin's Myth I.N.C and Phule's Company are fun. Anne MaCaffrey?

Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time Quintet of books as well. I can't remember sex or swear words in any of them... they might be 'too' young, but I think I still enjoyed them in high school...

wow... it's been a while though...

The Harper Hall Trilogy by Anne McCaffrey Dragonsong, Dragonsinger and Dragondrums. I Would have thought Robin Hobb and David Eddings Would be a bit long for younger teenagers though.

Artemis Fowl and some of Eoin Colfer's other works, though it's about a criminal mastermind who is 12 trying to steal from Faries, maybe not.

Diane Duane, So you Want to be a Wizard

Isobelle Carmody Especially Obernewtyn

Nancy Springer, The White Hart is the first one.

Mercedes Lackey, Firebird and Black Swan are based on russian Fairy Tales, the 500 Kingdoms are brill, and anything in Valdemar is OK, but probaly not the Tregarde or Elemental Masters.

When I was younger I always looked for anything with the point Fantasy or SF logo on it, they were always very ligh and safe, lots of famous writers started out here, Stan Nichols for one. and Patricia C. Wrede, there were others like Jenny Jones, Peter Beere and Susan Price for Fantasy and Graham Marks for SF who weren't so good, but they were still enjoyable. The format was published by Scholastic and this is what the US covers looked like http://www.listal.com/book/book-enchantments-patricia-c-wrede

There is Christopher Pike but though he did some SF he is more Horror.

And, well there is Eragon, (Christopher Paolini) - not much to it, and very cliched and naive- perfect introduction.

And last but not least - the most wonderful childrens stories of all time (I think so anyway) -The Narnia Chronicles by C. S. Lewis - and it's even a christian allegory, all seven of them (not that you notice at that age though)

I wouldn't suggest the Valdemar books by Lackey for a conservative school. Sex, while not graphic, is suggested, if not mentioned, in just about every book and homosexuality is accepted.

The 500 Kingdom books would be fine as would the books in the Elemental Masters series starting with The Fire Rose.

Some other suggestions:

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
Curse of Chalion trilogy by Bujold
Seventh Son by Card
The Rift War Saga starting with Magician: Apprentice by Feist
Redwall by Jacques
The Temeraire series by Novik

I agree with Littleknife about Alan Garner. Though I haven't read those books in 30 years or so I still have vivid memories of the norse gods (and others) being present... I think maybe the kids could take it but if the parents found out she'd be in for a hot ride :-(

And if HP is out of bounds because of the 'magic', so would Earthsea. Sadly enough, because that one is a real classic.

Anyway, I read a lot of the 'old' sf stuff when I was in that age. Like Have spacesuit will travel, Islands in the Sky and A fall of moondust, Caves of Steel and The naked sun (and a lot of other stuff that wouldn't qualify, like The sixth column and Tunnel in the sky, or Space cadet which I still enjoy but it's wildly misogynistic).
Oh, Dolphin island I also liked and in my memory that would be appropriate.

#16 - You're right, I totally forgot about the gay stuff in valdemar - I thought the Elemental masters were a bit political in a way.

And being from England I totally didn't realise that this is for 14 to 18 yr olds, I was thinking 10 to 14 so the Artemis Fowl are definalty too young, and CS lewis too, but Robin Hobb and Eddings would be good, as well as David Gemmell, Tad Williams and Terry Brooks, Especially Magic Kingdom for sale, Sold. Pretty much all high fantasy is language and politics free but there are some like Jacqueline Carey which are heavy on the sex. There is loads of stuff but just trying to think which ones have too much sex in - I don't usually remember those bits.

'Doc' Smith might just get in under the radar, though I have to admit it's about 25 years since I actually read the Lensman series, and they were old then.

Inventing, you gave me a vivid flashback to my schooldays (welcome to the GD, by the way; do please join in to some of the maddest fun conversations on the planet). The Old School claimed to be very progressive and Liberal (for South Africa in the early 1960's), and could point to a science teacher deported, another who became a monk (we got through 13 of them in 5 years) ... I'm trying to remember which teacher was one of the first people the apartheid government held in solitary confinement ...

Anyway. I don't recall the school library having anything much under 50 years old. (The music collection included some original-pressing Clara Butt records from before WW 1, which would now be worth a fortune if the'd survived the tender ministrations of a group of which, sad to say, I was a part). But ... the day-boys' common-room had a collection of books, too, presided over by the school chaplain no less. The backbone of this collection was some of the scummiest pulp sf ever published, so awful that it would belong on the "most hated" thread if I could remember any of the titles. And I read every one of them.

So in summary: even in that environment, there's hope for your mom if she puts her mind and those of some of her brighter pupils to, er, bending the rules a bit.

I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury?
Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede?
Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde?
Virtual War by Gloria Skurzynski?

Top of my head - in addition to many others already mentioned.

Oh, also: Beatnik Rutabagas from Beyond the Stars by Quentin Dodd. A Hoot!

My mom's a Catholic School Principal so I frequently preview YA books for her. Lots of good stuff mentioned already...

Someone mentioned the new James Dashner Journal of Curious Letters and it is fully appropriate. Might be better for jr. high but lower level high schoolers would probably enjoy it too. The Land of Elyon books by Patrick Carman are really good too for that age range.

Also, I know "Christian Fiction" gets kind of a bad wrap and I'll be the first to admit that some it is pretty bad, but like any genre there are a few authors who make it worthwhile. Some gems I'll mention are This Present Darkness by Frank E. Peretti and The Circle Trilogy (Black, White, Red) by Ted Dekker are really good urban fantasy thrillers with a Christian message. And I'd also recommend Blink by Ted Dekker too (it has a sequel but I haven't read it).

C.S. Lewis and Tolkien of course. Redwall. Another Christian Fiction author that my kids loved is Sigmund Brouwer. He wrote a medieval series, a time-travel and a life on Mars series that were great. I liked them too. He also wrote some great mystery series. I think Elantris by Brandon Sanderson would meet your criteria. I've not read his Mistborn yet, but my daughter is and she's loving it. I also thought To Ride Hell's Chasm by Janny Wurts was great.

Part of the problem with fantasy for many, is the element of magic. I've explained to some who question these selections that the author has created a different world with a different way of doing things. It doesn't apply to our world, hence the title, fantasy. Doesn't work for some, but it helps others to relax a bit.

Discworld, one of my favorites, plays loose and fast with the idea of God in that world, but then, it plays loose and fast with many other ideas too. I like this because it makes me examine my own ideas, but it can be difficult to explain. I sympathize with your mom, I run the library in our church and reading can be a very personal thing.

Dragon's Bait
The Hollow Kingdom
Wise Child
East
The First Book of Pellinor: The Naming

Brandon Sanderson is very good and inoffensive, with christian ideals, but it might be offensive by virtue of the fact that he's Mormon - not to me, my parents are Mormon - but I understand that Catholics and some christians don't consider them christian? Also Orson Scott Card - Also brilliant but has some Mormon mythology in some of his books (as does Battlestar Galactica, but that doesn't stop it being popular).

Sorcery & Cecilia and its sequel The Grand Tour by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer would be right on target. Others include:

The Lions of Al-Rassan - Kaye
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld -McKillip

Dragonkeeper and its companions The Garden of the Purple Dragon and one I can't remember the title of by Carole Wilkinson are new and imaginative.

The Ranger's Apprentice series is possibly a bit young, but they're really quite popular.

The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones, and the other Chrestomanci books.

The Stainless Steel Rat is a series of comic SF novellas ideal for teenagers. It vaguely condones theft, but does involve punishment and consequences.

Depending on the quality of work your Mom is looking for, you can't really go wrong with Star Wars for inoffensive content but is also something a lot of kids will identify with immediately. If she's amenable to Star Wars, I recommend most of the books by Timothy Zahn (no touchstone for Zahn?!?), except for Allegiance (I haven't read it yet, so I can't recommend it. There is also the X-Wing series and the New Jedi Era. Currently, the Legacy of the Force series is being published. The first installment, Betrayal wasn't great, but was good, and is also a big set up for everything else, so the series may pick up once I get to the other installments.

There was also a fantasy book by Stephen King, Eyes of the Dragon, which I remember enjoying a lot when I was younger.

Ditto on the Dragonriders of Pern stuff. They're a good way to go. I also enjoyed the Thieves' World books as a teen. And, more currently, there are all the Dragonlance books. R.A. Salvatore is usually a solid choice there.

How come we've all forgotten Douglas Adams and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? That's hilarious, as is the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, but IMHO his writing went downhill after that, so I'd suggest getting those 2 and posting a notice saying something like "Want to read the rest? Get them yourself!" Which also means that the one and only sex scene in the series isn't in the library.

Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe is a Japanese fantasy book, but only the hardest hearted Pearl Harbour veteran would oppose its great story and unique look at how the Rising Sun does Fantasy. Also useful for students examining Japanese values.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret isn't purely Fantasy, but it is inoffensive to anybody and would easily pass the "Christian Library" board. Really, how offensive could a story about an orphan boy and an automaton be?

If this school is as conservative as you guys say it is, then H.P. Lovecraft would be out of the question apart from a useful study of 1920s-30s racial attitudes in literature that would be useful in comparison to To Kill a Mockingbird. Let's be honest, shall we? It's one thing for kids to be told how black people were represented in books, it's quite another to provoke discussion of these issues by examining why Lovecraft might have called Negroes "hybrid spawn" in The Call of Cthulhu. Learning from Lovecraft about racial representations will do wonders for kids who need to be shown how badly represented black people were in the 30s, and could easily be justified that way.

Scholastic's Bionicle series is a good bet too. This series is what enabled my son to turn the corner on chapter-book acceptance. The stories all feature the standard good vs. evil type of storyline, but the heroes are a group of 6 good robots who protect small robot villagers, and who all have minor character flaws(i.e., not enough of a team player, impulsivity, lack of confidence, etc.) they must work through to succeed.

I don't see any Clifford D. Simak listed above; he wrote a lot of lighthearted material. The Goblin Reservation might offend the English department (Shakespeare comes back and lectures on "How it was I Did Not Write the Plays,"), but most of his books were thought-provoking in subtle ways. City won a Hugo or Nebula or something similar.

I would second the recommendation of Mistoborn with the understanding that it is a violent book with a bit of gore. There are two scenes of mass executions. A couple hundred women and children are beheaded above fountains, their blood running into the water, and a minor character is hung by having a meat hook shoved through his jaw. Other than that, however, it is an excellent book.

Eewww. My daughter just finished and really liked it, she commented on the gore too.

I like the Dragon Spell series by Donika K. Paul.

I really like the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. It's a modern take on classical mythology, but the "gods" are not set up as objects of worship, so I would not think it would be problematic. It has a lot of action. I like to recommend it to kids, especially boys, who have finished Harry Potter and are sure they will never again find a book or series that they will enjoy reading.

The Ranger's Apprentice series is exactly what you're looking for. No sex, no foul language, and it really appeals to all ages. My students have loved it..and so did I.

Someone up there mentioned The Lions of Al-Rassan. I think it's a GREAT book (I really love it!) but it's a) about religion and conflicts based in religion (both 'belief'/'faith' and 'practice' aspects) and loyalty/identity, and b) there's a bit of explicit sex in it as well.
Not much magic, though.

So. I don't think it fits the bill - a lot, and I do mean a LOT, of parents are going to be upset about that one. But possibly the students would benefit from reading it. She could try to sneak it in, but I suggest her reading it first because I think she is going to have to a) discuss it with the students, and b) defend it from parental attack.

Several people mentioned Brandon Sanderson but I didn't see that they listed his YA book: Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians. It's funny and nothing that I can think of should offend. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Why is Brandon's touchstone not working?

37> to follow up on The Lions of Al-Rassan, there's some pretty gruesome descriptions of the actions of some marauding soldiers in there too. Not very "proper".

I still defend my notion of comparing H.P. Lovecraft's attitudes towards non-white people in the 1930s with To Kill A Mockingbird.

#39 - Oh yes, I had kind of repressed that to the back of my mind... yes, the raid at the village; ouch! Very repulsive. And it's done by people of the 'catholic' faith.
In fact it's so horrible I tend to black those scenes out of my memory.

And then later there's some horrible stuff done by the 'muslims' as well... So; Lions have explicit sex, explicit violence, and discusses faith and loyalty and friendship and love.
Don't sounds suitable, even if it's one of my top fave books ever.

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham is classic science fiction that shouldn't raise anyone's hackles.

>37 Busifer: and 39 Clearly I should go back and re-read The Lions of Al Rassan because I honestly don't recall *anything* like that. If my memory is really that far off, then you are right that it ought not to be included on the list, based on the sex and violence.

I would like to thank everyone for the wonderful recommendations. I didn't mean to post a hit-and-run question - my husband's sister had a baby on Sunday, several weeks early, so I've been busy buying blue booties. =)

My mom has had her classes read the Tolkien books, as well as the Chronicles of Narnia, and they ate them up. She has also done some Bradbury (Dandelion Wine, I think) and Farenheit 451. She is not a huge reader of fantasy/sci-fi herself, so now she feels lost trying to make recommendations. I did talk her into reading The Lions of Al Rassan last year, and it was the first fantasy novel she read all the way through in a long time. She specifically mentioned it when she asked me for help, and said that she wished she could tell her kids to read it, but she would probably get in trouble.

I really do appreciate the help - thanks again!

She might be able to add Ender's Game. If I remember correctly, there's some nudity including a student with a holographically enlarged phallus, but it just might make the cut. Orson Scott Card is a bit of a conservative (mormon), and although I might not agree with him on many things, maybe a conservative private school would appreciate him. At the least they'll like his sympathtic portrayal of supresed religions in the Ender books that many conservatives might identify with.

A cautionary note: War for the Oaks is one of my five most favorite books but there is sex in it--and with a critter who is a dog part time. There are folks out there who object to what they call "bestiality."

If I recall correctly, Gordon Dickson's Dragon Knight tales are humorous and don't have anything objectionable in them.

Another one I just thought of which I don't think has been mentioned yet is the Inkworld Trilogy from Cornelia Funke. It start with Inkheart, then Inkspell and will finish later this year with Inkdeath.

They are about the adventures of a young girl/teenager and some characters that have been brought to life from a novel. I haven't read them myself, but I work in a bookshop and they are very popular with younger teenagers. They also appear to be very wholesome (ie. no swearing, sex etc). They do have "magic", as do most fantasy books, but it is not Harry Potter style magic which perhaps accords too closely with "witchcraft" rather than magic.

There is a movie based on the first book due to be released a the beginning of next year so no doubt there will be demand for these books anyway.

I just have to add that I get a giggle everytime I see this thread in my list. I imagine my daughter saying such a thing many times in her childhood: Help!! My mom is a teacher! (And my dad too!) Poor thing, there was never any escape for her.

#48 - LOL! I have that same reaction. :) Since I taught my kids at home, there was never any escape! Poor things.

#48 & 49 -- I clicked on the thread to say the same thing: since I just finished my degree (thank you, thank you) and can now sub, my 5th & 1st graders say it with horror "Help us!!! Dad's a teacher..." but my 7th grader seems almost too eager to get me in one of his classes, as if he has his own lesson to teach...

When I was in the 7th grade my father was in dental school so my mum had to take whatever teaching job she could find in the area. This entailed teaching math and general science--neither of which was her major (she had her degree in English and Latin). The result was that Papa helped her with her studies every night before doing his own.

I had the misfortune to be in that math class and, since anything with numbers was my downfall, my grades were none too good. She told me, years later, that even though my grades wouldn't have been stellar, I deserved higher than she gave me. It was a small school and she had to avoid the appearance of favoritism. Still don't like math!

I substituted in classes my grandson attended. Luckily for all involved the seventh grade kids and I all behaved in a reasonably admirable manner. No one's reputation was irreversibly damaged. I know my grandson was glad when he made it to High School and I made it to the point of not substituting any more.

I was subbing for a PE teacher @ the Middle School where my nephew went to school one day & they were lined up for attendance except that there was another kid on the spot that Mark was supposed to be in. When I called his name the other kid said 'present' & i said no you are not him; i'm his aunt & he is right behind you & probably put you up to this! Mark was standing there grinning while his friend was about to 'strangle' him. 8^)

I've only just started reading it so cant comment much on the content, but Dragonkeeper by Carole Wilkinson has won a few literary awards including the Childrens Book Council of Australia's Younger Readers Book of the Year, so I think it'd be appropriate.

If you wanna know what its about here's the blurb from the back of the book:
Ancient China, Han Dynasty. A slave girl saves the life of an ageing dragon and escapes her brutal master. pursued by a ruthless dragon hunter, the girl and the dragon make an epic journey accross China carrying a mysterious stone that must be protected. This is the story of a young slave girl who believes she is not worthy of a name but finds within herself the strength and courage to make this perilous journey - and do what must be done

I got there first, Seanie. };p~~ See #26... Mwahahaha! But of course, it's a great recommendation. I love the three of them. You know it's a trilogy, right?

Ooops, soz I'd read this thread before & didnt re-read it before i posted *blushes*

& yup I know its a trilogy, I'm up to chapter 6 of the 1st book & really enjoying it so far :)

I read Dragonlance Chronicles at around 14 years old (9th grade). I don't remember there being any bad language and there was nothing overtly anti-religion or sexual either.