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IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD
AS WE KNOW IT:
DYSTOPIAS & UTOPIAS
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Diary of Pelly D
L.J. Adlington (YA ADLINGTON) 282p MS/HS
Toni V unearths the diary of the once popular Pelly D and discovers the disturbing history of the war and ethnic cleansing that led to his job clearing a bombed-out plaza.
Feed
M.T. Anderson (YA ANDERSON) 237p HS
In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble.
Fire-Us Trilogy: The Kindling; Keepers of the Flame; The Kiln
Jennifer Armstrong (YA ARMSTRONG) 224p MS/HS
In 2007, a band of children join together to survive in a world where all the adults have been killed off by a virus.
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood (YA ATWOOD) 311p HS
In the near future, who will control women’s bodies?
Oryx & Crake
Margaret Atwood (FIC ATWOOD) 432p HS
Meet Snowman, starving to death and mourning the loss of his beloved Oryx and his best friend Crake. How did this come to pass?
Jennifer Government
Max Barry (YA BARRY) 336p HS
Jennifer Government must survive in a world where your worth and whole identity is determined by the company you work for and schools are owned and run by fast food restaurants.
Darwin’s Radio
Greg Bear (FIC BEAR) 430p HS
A thriller about human origins and destiny-while the world tries to survive the next step in evolution.
Looking Backward
Edward Bellamy (FIC BELLAMY) 276p HS
Julian West, a 19-century, young Bostonian suddenly finds himself in the year 2000.
The Angel Factory
Terence Blacker (YA BLACKER) 216p MS/HS
Thomas discovers that he was adopted and that his seemingly perfect family is part of an other-worldly organization.
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury (YA BRADBURY) 190p HS
Knowledge is power which is why we must burn all books.
The Postman
David Brin (FIC BRIN) 294p HS
In a post-apocalyptic America, a wanderer finds a postman’s jacket and rekindles hope.
A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess (FIC BURGESS) 192p HS
In an “Ultra-violent” world, high technology and authoritarianism only perpetuate this dystopia.
Parable of the Sower
Octavia Butler (FSF BUTLER) 299p HS
In the 21st century, empathic Lauren must flee America and become the hope for all.
Ender’s Game
Orson Scott Card (YA CARD) 357p MS/HS
Young Ender is taken from his family and taught military strategy along with other boys. The goal is to destroy the insectile aliens threatening Earth.
Obernewtyn Chronicles
Obernewtyn; Farseekers; Ashling
Isobelle Carmody (YA CARMODY) 253p HS
In a post-apocalyptic land, many children are born with enhanced mental abilities, then burned at the stake.
The Supernaturalist
Eoin Colfer (YA COLFER) 272p MS/HS
In futuristic Satellite City, fourteen-year-old Cosmo Hill escapes from his abusive orphanage and teams up with three other people who share his unusual ability to see supernatural creatures
City of Ember
Jeanne Duprau (YA DUPRAU) 270p MS/HS
The city of Ember is the last refuge of humans, but the city is decaying. Has Lina found the secret to save it?
The House of the Scorpion
Nancy Farmer (YA FARMER) 380p MS/HS
Matt is proud to belong to El Patron & thankful he's not an "eejit"...until he discovers the reason he exists.
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
Nancy Farmer (YA FARMER) 311p MS/HS
In 2194 in Zimbabwe, General Matsika's three children are kidnapped and three mutant detectives use their special powers to search for them.
The Longlight Legacy trilogy
The Dirt Eaters; Freewalker
Dennis Foon (YA FOON) 313p MS/HS
When Roan’s parents and village perish in a raid, he is taken in by warrior priests. Now he must decide between the peace that his family always believed in and his exceptional talent as a fighter.
Neuromancer
Wlliam Gibson (FSF GIBSON) 271p HS
So unique they had to name a genre after it; “cyberpunk”.
Shadow Children series
Among the Hidden; Among the Impostors; Among the Betrayed; Among the Barons; Among the Brave; Among the Enemy; Among the Free
By Margaret P. Haddix (YA HADDIX) 153p MS/HS
In a society that allows families only 2 children, a group of 3rd-borns tries to save themselves and others like them.
Siberia
Ann Halam (YA HALAM) 262p MS/HS
When Sloe was tiny, her papa disappeared and she and her mother went to live in a prison camp for her mother’s crime of teaching science.
Hole in the Sky
Pete Hautman (YA HAUTMAN) 179p MS/HS
In a world ravaged by a pandemic flu, Ceej and her friends must try to save the Grand Canyon from flooding.
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley (YA HUXLEY) 270p HS
In a world where people are cloned in large groups, you may have 40 identical twins, but what happens if you’re still different?
Children of Men
P.D. James (FIC JAMES) 256p HS
It’s 2021, and the human race is coming to an end. There will be no more children. But a small band of revolutionaries has a plan to save humanity.
The Dark Tower series
The Gunslinger; Drawing of the 3; Wastelands; Wizard & Glass; Wolves of the Calla; Song of Susannah
Stephen King (YA KING) 315p HS
In a world that darkly mirrors our own, good versus evil in this heroic fantasy.
The Stand
Stephen King (FIC KING) 1153p HS
After a superflu kills off most of humanity, the remainder must choose between God or the devil.
This Perfect Day
Ira Levin (FIC LEVIN) 309p HS
In a future world in which the great socialist dream has finally been realized, preferring one person to another is a sign of social maladjustment.
Gathering Blue
Lois Lowry (YA LOWRY) 215p MS/HS
Lame and orphaned, Kira is removed from squalor to live in the palatial Council Edifice.
The Giver
Lois Lowry (YA LOWRY) 180p MS/HS
Jonas becomes the receiver of memories and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.
The Messenger
Lois Lowry (YA LOWRY) 176p MS/HS
Matty, a young member of a utopian community that values honesty, conceals an emerging healing power that he cannot explain or understand.
The Secret Under My Skin
Judith McNaughton (YA MCNAUGHTON) 237p MS/HS
In 2368, humans exist under dire environmental conditions and one young woman is rescued from a workcamp and chosen for a special duty..
Shade’s Children
Garth Nix (YA NIX) 310p HS
In a world full of magic and fear, only the outcast nomads can save the people.
Found
June Oldham (YA OLDHAM) 199p MS/HS
Homeless in a 21-century countryside, Ren and three other teens, join together to care for an abandoned baby.
1984
George Orwell (YA ORWELL) 267p HS
Big Brother is watching, all the time, everywhere.
Life As We Knew It
Susan Beth Pfeffer (YA PFEFFER) 352p MS/HS
One night, you're worried about prom. The next, an asteroid has crashed into the moon, and all you can think about is survival.
The Last Book in the Universe
Rodman Philbrick (YA PHILBRICK) 223p MS/HS
A boy who lives on the fringes of his surreal future world sets out on a classic quest to save his ill foster sister.
Anthem
Ayn Rand (YA RAND) 105p HS
A future dark age in which individuals have no names, no independence, and no value.
Kirinyaga
Mike Resnick (FSF RESNICK) 293p HS
Koriba, an educated Kenyan, plans to build a utopian community on a terraformed planetoid.
How I Live Now
Meg Rosoff (YA ROSOFF) 208p HS
15-year-old Daisy finds herself in England staying with her Aunt and cousins when war breaks out.
Edenborn
Nick Sagan (FSF SAGAN) 336p HS
Deadly microbes have wiped out most of humanity. The few left want to rebuild society, but no one can agree about how or into what. And then the plague returns.
Truesight
David Stahler (YA STAHLER) 168p MS/HS
In a distant frontier world, Jacob is uncertain of his future in a community that considers blindness a virtue and "Seers" as aberrations.
Earth Abides
George Rippey Stewart (FSF STEWART) 373p HS
One survivor of a world-devestating disease, ventures on to a world without man.
Dies the Fire series
Dies the Fire; The Protector's War; A Meeting at Corvallis
S.M. Stirling (FSF STIRLING) 483p HS
When an electrical storm causes all technology to cease working, the people must find a way to survive without it.
The Gate to Women’s Country
Sheri Tepper (FSF TEPPER) 278p HS
A world where men and women separate themselves from each other.
The Visitor
Sheri Tepper (FSF TEPPER) 407p HS
Life and religion after a giant asteroid turns the Earth into a wasteland.
Memory Boy
Will Weaver (YA WEAVER) 152p MS/HS
Miles and his family must flee their home to live in the wilderness after a series of volcanic explosions.
The Time Machine
H.G. Wells (YA WELLS) 123p MS/HS
A scientist creates a time machine and travels 800,000 years into the future.
Pretties series
Uglies; Pretties; Specials
By Scott Westerfeld (YA WESTERFELD) 448p MS/HS
Tally is a bout to turn 16 and she can’t wait, not for her license….to turn pretty.
Bar Code Tattoo
Suzanne Weyn (YA WEYN) 252p MS/HS
Individuality vs. Conformity
Identity vs. Access
Freedom vs. Control
Fray
Joss Whedon (YA GRAPHIC WHEDON) 216p HS
In a world so poisoned that it doesn't notice the monsters on its streets, how can a street kid like Fray unite a fallen city against a demonic plot to consume humankind?
MS = Most appropriate for middle schoolers
MS/HS = Most appropriate for middle/high schoolers
HS = Most appropriate for high schoolers
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