Science Fiction Favorites of the NPR Audience

This ceramic coaster
by Cie McCullough
represents the castles
of many of the magical
kingdoms on the  final list.

This summer, NPR asked for nominations for the top 100 science-fiction, fantasy books. It received 6000 nominations and settled on a list of finalists. This list was posted in the blog npr books on 8/2/11. Many of the nominees are suitable for youth. Many are classics of the genre. Many are rooted in magic. Some have been the basis of movies.

On the same day, npr books posted the list of 100 winners. For several of these, the series took the winning, with one book of the series posted.

I did not vote. I kick myself for that because of my top 20 favorite authors, only 4 made the final list. Of the 6000 nominees, only half of my favorite authors had a book or series nominated.

Of the winners, I would say most are suitable for youth. However, NPR plans another list for YA books, so did not include specifically YA books on the list. I suppose that is why the Harry Potter books were not included.

Check out both lists. Save a copy for future reference in your personal files. Do send me a list of the ones chosen in either list that you think are suitable for youth in the comments to this post. And add the books that you think should have been included. Comment away!