84 Books Like Man, True Man

I love reading sci-fi YA books and this book was really talking to me. Peaceful contact or not?

Reading this book by the author – her first – it reminded me of the much-loved movie Avatar, which I also love.

Like in the movie, when Captain Melissa and her crew finally arrived at the new planet, to contact the people living there, they looked peaceful. They find out, that they are telepathic, not only the people, the plants, and animals as well.

After the people of the planet perform a play, they find out, what was really going on there. Not everything you see can be trusted when you look behind the scenes. From the outside, it was all peaceful, but when you touch the plants, they speak to you.

In this one, we meet two orphans who become crime fighters with the powers that they acquire through some unusual rings they found. 

I connected with this book, because of the orphans. My husband and I have adopted Indian twin girls from Fiji.

But what will they choose? Doing good or evil? Greg and Rhonda try to overcome many problems, and some come from the public they’re trying to help. You get to meet the alien, Narsak, and must put an end to him before he destroys the planet.

This is a brilliant tale about a little egg that becomes a caterpillar and transforms into a beautiful Monarch.

I love animal stories, so I would always recommend this story to anyone.

He is asking his friends eating away on juice leaves, the sparrow, the toat, and the rabbit how he could get wings. He wanted desperately to fly.

The answer was: Just have patience and follow your instincts.

Matilda was doing so until she ate so many leaves that she changed once more and fell asleep. Waking up, she was amazed to see that she had wings. But they wouldn’t work, she had to keep flapping them until, finally, she flew off.

Matilda is not only a little butterfly story, it shows you that whatever you are going to do, have patience, follow your dream or instincts, and never give up.

I normally I don’t read mystery thrillers, but somehow this book got to me. I couldn’t stop reading, it held me captive till the end, even though I thought, right from the beginning, who the awful blood-thirsty killer might be. But still, I was pushed back again, could it really be him? There were so many different turns and twists, that you really couldn’t be sure of anything.

Mariah, the innocent schoolgirl was put into a dangerous twist; she nearly couldn’t get out again, shutting herself up to cope with the unexpected. And then you were transported into the mind of the schoolgirl killer. What a blood-thirsty individual, killing schoolgirls for practice then killing Mariah’s friend, only to get to her. Everyone longed for justice. But will justice come?

Very cleverly done, J.E. Spina. She put family values and support into the foreground.

I love science fiction which incorporates skilled protagonists against larger forces—the David/Goliath theme. Part of a space opera series about a political and military family from two different planets, there is political intrigue, battles, and an epic story.

Though technology and space play a role, the character development and portrayal are excellent: complex, realistic, and relatable. The protagonist, Miles, is brilliant but physically flawed. Much of the story is a well-written mystery as Miles, on an ambassadorial visit to a foreign planet, tries to uncover the culprit and purpose of a murder and the politics behind it. At the same time, he must try not to get caught by his hosts or punished by his own government, since he is only there as a representative. Highly recommended!

I have revisited Darkover Landfall often, but it never loses its hold on my imagination. It’s the Darkover novels’ origin story, telling what happens when an interstellar colonizing starship goes off course and crash-lands on an uncharted planet. In essence, this is Science Fiction, except that the earth-like planet has fantastic creatures, some of them with paranormal powers.

The castaways include a few hard-nosed scientific professionals who expect to lead many industrious generalists who plan to colonize a new world. All must recognize that the technology that brought them to Darkover will not sustain them unless they adapt, learn, and unlearn. It’s a story to make us wonder what we really need from our planet and each other.

Geomorphology (the study of landforms) is central to planetary science because landforms are readily observable. This book provides some of the best explanations of geomorphic processes and the formation of various surface features available.

Sometimes geomorphology can just be descriptive, but this treatment of processes is more rigorous than most, yet readable.

There are few textbooks in the emerging field of planetary science, and this book ranks among the most accessible. Although physics and astronomy-based, it also considers geologic processes and materials in a quantitative way.

I found the hundreds of exercises useful for understanding the concepts introduced in the text.

Restoree is a stand-alone novel by Anne McCaffrey of the Dragon Riders of Pern fame. The protagonist, Sara, is swept up in a mass kidnapping and carried away to a planet where she ends up in a new body. She is given the job of caring for a man who seems largely unresponsive. Sara and the reader slowly come to understand what’s happening and she makes a bold move to rescue herself, her charge, and the other restorees. Like all the best science fiction, Restoree is less about the trappings and more about the human story. 

This book recommendation is a bit unusual because it is not officially a children’s book, but I promise your kids will love it!

When I taught third grade, I had this book in my classroom, and it was a very hot commodity during independent reading time (although it wasn’t so much read as marveled at). With stunning, close-up images of all the planets, as well as moons, comets, asteroids, and more, this book will inspire your children to consider the magnificence of God’s creation and God himself as the one who created it all!

This is a book you’ll want to have out on a table, ready to be explored and discussed as a family. I guarantee you and your kids will be fascinated!