As we celebrate the upcoming Star Wars holiday of May the Fourth, we are sharing some books that take place in outer space for middle grade readers! Some of these books take place in the galaxy we know while others are in a galaxy far, far away. The titles featured below can be found on Hoopla or Libby either as an audiobook, eBook, or both. To find more titles, please search the Handley Regional Library System catalog using the search term #youthspacefiction--many of these titles can be found on Libby and/or Hoopla as well!
Archie Takes Flight by Wendy Mass-- It is finally Take Your Kid to Work Day, and Archie Morningstar is thrilled he gets to ride along in his dad's taxi cab. But there's only one catch—well, okay two: They have to leave at midnight, and his dad's primary customers are aliens, since he drives an intergalactic space taxi! This book can be found on Libby as an eBook.
Last Day on Mars by Kevin Emerson--It is 2213, and Earth has been incinerated by the sun, which started going supernova billions of years before it should have. The last humans live on Mars, but even that is temporary as the sun is still expanding. Everyone is preparing for a 150-year journey to Aaru-5, a new star system with habitable worlds. Every spaceship has left but one, the Scorpius, which is waiting for Phoebe, her friend Liam, and their parents who are conducting last-minute terraforming tests needed for the move. Disaster strikes when an explosion injuries the adults and the Scorpius leaves without them. Now Liam and Phoebe have to use newly discovered alien technology—that changes everything they know about the nature of time and space—to catch up to the ship and relay important information that humanity needs to survive. This book can be found on Hoopla as both an audiobook and an eBook.
Space Case by Stuart Gibbs--Twelve-year-old Dashiell “Dash” Gibson, like the other kids living on Moon Base Alpha, is famous for being one of the first people to live on the Moon—and he is bored. The base is cramped and all he has to do all day is homework and virtual reality games. Then one day something interesting happens: base scientist Dr. Holtz is found dead on the lunar surface. Dash suspects foul play, but no one believes him. He will have to investigate the death himself. This book can be found on Libby as an audiobook and an eBook.
Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee--Min, a thirteen-year-old girl with fox magic, stows away on a battle cruiser and impersonates a cadet. Her objective is to solve the mystery of what happened to her older brother in the Thousand World Space Forces, as he has been accused of abandoning his battle cruiser to search for a mystical object called the Dragon Pearl. In her quest to find her brother and clear his name, Min has to use her fox magic to fight off gamblers, pirates, and ghosts. This book can be found on both Libby and Hoopla as an eBook.
The Planet Thieves by Dan Krokos--On a routine voyage aboard an Academy spaceship, thirteen-year-old Mason Stark and his fellow cadets are attacked by the Tremist, an alien race who have been at war with humanity for the last sixty years. This book is found on Hoopla as an audiobook.
Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce--Twelve-year-old Liam is so big for his age that everyone thinks he is an adult. It's difficult to just be a kid when you are already growing facial hair – everyone expects more from you. When Liam decides to use his looks to his advantage and enter the Greatest Dad Ever Contest, he finds himself on a runaway rocket ship high above the earth. This book can be found on Hoopla as an audiobook and an eBook.
Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke--Ambitious young Zita, whose thirst for adventure quickly gets the better of her. While playing with her friend, Joseph, Zita finds an unusual device in a meteor crater and unknowingly activates it. Before they know it, the two friends find themselves on a strange alien world, where Joseph gets captured by a group of doomsday cultists looking to use him as a sacrifice. This places Zita in a difficult position, because not only does she have to save Joseph, but she has to find a way for them to get home as well. This book can be found on Libby as an eBook.