2018 Young Explorer's Adventure Guide

KIRKUS REVIEW

Worlds await young readers....

Imagine sneaking out of your habitat home on planet Skag3, defying your mother's orders, so that you can take an adventurous walk on this strange new planet, only to be chased back by a legless carpet of lime-green fur. Or maybe you're an extraterrestrial kid visiting Earth for the first time, longing for your Ocean home, while human beings mistake the sustainable connection you have to your home planet for an ancient religious belief. How about, instead of going to high school, because you're a genetically engineered teen, created without lungs, your job is to scan the Earth's destroyed, methane-filled atmosphere in your environmental pod. These are just a few of the page-turning stories in this annual showcase of sci-fi. This anthology offers new, vividly futuristic adventures featuring diverse characters, including humans from all over Earth as well as ET kids from other planets. One of the qualities that makes this yearly anthology such a treat to read is the wide range of futuristic possibilities that planet Earth and its occupants may encounter, realities that will keep readers wondering long after the book is closed. A few stories present poignant discourse about Earth's sustainability, mixing neatly with adventures that give kids agency to navigate and ponder their own realities in different worlds.

This stellar collection will appeal to both teens and grown-ups who dream of future worlds. (Science fiction. 12-adult)