The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet

 Cameron, E., & Henneberger, R. (1954). The wonderful flight to the

Mushroom Planet. Boston: Little, Brown.

This science-fiction adventure story is about two boys who find and ad in the newspaper asking for two young boys to build a spaceship. They meet the advertiser, a mysterious scientist who send them off into space with a hen. They find the mushroom planet and quickly meet some residents of the mushroom planet, small men with large heads and slightly green skin. They look oddly similar to the mysterious scientist. They tell the boys that their planet has had a crisis and that everyone is slowly dying of a mysterious sickness. The boys meet up with the king of the planet, the Great Ta, and end up solving the natives' problem, before returning to Earth.

This story would be a fun way to introduce a engineering unit in science. A teacher could have them build their own spaceships. 

Running Out of Time

Haddix, M. (1995). Running out of time. New York: Simon & Schuster

Books for Young Readers.

Jessie Keyser is a 13-year-old girl from the village of Clifton, Indiana, in the 1840s. During a village-wide outbreak of diphtheria, Jessie's mother reveals it is actually the year 1996, and Clifton Village is a tourist attraction. She secretly sends Jessie out of the village to retrieve a cure for the disease from a man, Isaac Neeley, who did not think Clifton should be a tourist attraction. As Jessie escapes underground, she is almost caught by guards and almost loses the package of food and money her mother gave her. She stays overnight in a restroom until she is able to leave the tourist area. Once she makes it to town, Jessie is frequently confused by the technological advancements of the modern world. After meeting with Neeley at a KFC, she returns with him to his apartment, where Jessie is faced with a dangerous situation.

Later, Jessie convinces local newspapers and radio stations to attend a press conference on the steps of the Capitol building so she can tell them the truth. Jessie begins to explain the situation but faints due to diphtheria, which infected her before she left Clifton. At the press conference, she learns the man she thought was Isaac Neeley is actually Frank Lyle, a scientist and business partner of Miles Clifton, the founder of Clifton Village. The real Isaac Neeley is dead! After it is revealed that Clifton had allowed Lyle and others to use his village to try to create a stronger human gene pool that would be able to resist disease without the aid of medicine, Clifton Village is closed.

When Jessie wakes up, she leaves her bedroom and finds Miles Clifton talking about the diphtheria outbreak in Clifton Village to news repeaters on TV. She discovers that several other members of the Clifton Village have been brought to the hospital. Her parents are not among those who were arrested, but they will have to convince the authorities that they did not put any of their six children in danger. Jessie's mother is allowed to visit Jessie in the hospital, and she explains that Jessie's father still rejects life in the 20th century. After Clifton Village closes, Jessie lives in the year 1996.

This story is one of my absolute favorites. There are so many lessons and mini lessons that can come out of this book, including language arts, literacy components, and social studies. This book is perfect for a novel study connected with a social studies unit focused on colonial times.

The Genuis Wars

 Jinks, C. (2010). The genius wars. Boston: Harcourt.

After abandoning a life full of deception and mistrust, fifteen-year-old Cadel has finally found a home with loving parents. He has made real friends and he is actually going to school. However, he's still not safe from the evil who once captured him. When Cadel's most precious loved ones are threatened, he must launch an all-out attack.

Genius Squad

Jinks, C. (2008). Genius squad. Orlando: Harcourt.

            In this sequel to Evil Genius, Cadel is now living with foster parents. He still does not know where he was born, who his true father is, or when he was born. His life is made even worse due to his foster brother "Mace" (real name: Thomas) constantly bullying him. With no school to go to due to his questionable legal status, Cadel spends his time either on the computer. The police, and FBI also occasionally turn up to question him on what he knows about Dr. Darkkon, Prosper English and the Axis Institute. In this sequel, it is once again up to Cadel to save the world from evil.

Evil Genius

Jinks, C. (2007). Evil genius. Orlando: Harcourt.

            This is a story of Cadel Piggot, who is taken to a psychologist because his insane and dangerous intelligence. He has hacked into high-security networks and can do great harm with his mind. His strife for moral guidance is complicated by Phineas Darkkon, an evil genius of sorts whom he is told is his father, and Thaddeus Roth, his psychologist whom the police identify as Prosper English, a notorious criminal and right-hand man of Dr. Darkkon, and who later also claims to be Cadel's father.He also meets a number of other talented people at the Axis Institute, which is the university Phineas Darkkon had created for him to get his World Domination degree. His specialty is IT and hacking.

The True Meaning of Smekday

Rex, A. (2009). The true meaning of Smekday. New York: Disney-Hyperion

Books.

This exciting story is told in essay format, to be put in a time capsule and opened after one hundred years. The main character is eleven-year-old Gratuity Tucci, a.k.a. Tip, who must survive on her own after her mother is abducted by aliens. The aliens arrive and take over the Earth, which they call Smekland after their leader, Captain Smek. Christmas, the day of the aliens’ arrival on Earth, is renamed "Smekday".

On "Moving Day", all humans are required to relocate to Florida. Tip decides to drive herself instead of being moved by the aliens. She soon meets an alien, J.Lo. J.Lo is actually really friendly and the two become friends. They two eventually find out they cannot go to Florida anymore and need to go to Arizona. In this cross-country journey, they run into all sorts of entertaining problems. Ultimately, the aliens are trying to completely take over, and it is up to Tip and J.Lo to find Tip's mother and save the world.