UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA READING
UTOPIA: An ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects.
DYSTOPIA: An imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror.
1984 by George Orwell Orwell created a whole vocabulary of words concerning totalitarian control that have since passed into our common vocabulary. More importantly, he has portrayed a chillingly credible dystopia. In our deeply anxious world, the seeds of unthinking conformity are everywhere in evidence; and Big Brother is always looking for his chance.
Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm, until another "third" convinces him that the government is wrong.
Animal Farm by George Orwell When the downtrodden beasts of Manor Farm oust their drunken human master and take over management of the land, all are awash in collectivist zeal.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley “Community, Identity, Stability" is the motto of Aldous Huxley's utopian World State. Here everyone consumes daily grams of soma, to fight depression, babies are born in laboratories, and the most popular form of entertainment is a "Feelie," a movie that stimulates the senses of sight, hearing, and touch. Though there is no violence and everyone is provided for, Bernard Marx feels something is missing and senses his relationship with a young women has the potential to be much more than the confines of their existence allow.
Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence A story which chillingly unfolds the fate and evolution of three generations of one family in this powerful, devastating, yet triumphantly reaffirming novel about the aftermath of the nuclear war.
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess Set in a dismal dystopia, it is the first-person account of a juvenile delinquent who undergoes state-sponsored psychological rehabilitation for his aberrant behavior. The novel satirizes extreme political systems that are based on opposing models of the perfectibility or incorrigibility of humanity.
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia by Ursula LeGuin A brilliant physicist attempts to salvage his planet of anarchy.
The Ear, the Eye and the Arm by Nancy Farmer In 2194 Zimbabwe, the military ruler’s 13 year-old son and his younger brother and sister leave their technologically overcontrolled home and find themselves on a series of perilous adventures as they are pursued by mutant detectives, who always seem to be just one step behind rescuing the children.
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card This is the story of Ender, child genius, who is removed from his family to begin his training in a harsh military school, where he is taught exciting computer-simulated war games to lead the earth’s armies in space against alien forces.
Eva by Peter Dickinson Teenage Eva wakes up in the hospital after an automobile accident and discovers that scientists have implanted her neuron memory into the body of a chimpanzee. Then Eva must learn to integrate her human consciousness with her chimp nature and instincts.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place where trivial information is good, and knowledge and ideas are bad.
Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry Gr 5-9-In Kira's community, people's cotts, or homes, are burned after an illness. After her mother dies suddenly, homeless Kira finds her former neighbors coveting the land where her cott once stood. They also resent that Kira, who was born with a deformed leg, wasn't abandoned at birth, in accordance with the society's rules. The Council of Guardians recognizes her skill at embroidery and lets her live in the Council Edifice, the one large old building left after the Ruin. Her job is to repair and restore the robe that the Singer wears during the annual Gathering that recounts the history of her community and to complete a blank section, which is to depict the future.
The Giver by Lois Lowry A society where everything is the same, everyone is equal, and all receive the same treatment may not be great as it seems.
Glory Season by David Brin Young Maia is fast approaching a turning point in her life. As a half-caste var, she must leave the clan home of her privileged half sisters and seek her fortune in the world. With her twin sister, Leie, she searches the docks of Port Sanger for an apprenticeship aboard the vessels that sail the trade routes of the Stratoin oceans. On the journey of discovery Maria will endure hardship and hunger, imprisonment and loneliness, bloody battles with pirates and separation from her twin. Along the way she will meet a traveler who has come an unimaginable distance-and who threatens the delicate balance of the Stratoins’ carefully maintained, perfect society. Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Eleanor Atwood Set in the near future, America has become a puritanical theocracy and Offred tells her story as a Handmaid under the new social order.
Invitation to the Game by Monica Hughes It’s April 2154, and graduating high-schooler Lisse and seven of her friends find themselves unemployed and assigned to live on welfare–then they receive formal invitations from the government to participate in the Game, which is rumored to be like a treasure hunt.
The Keeper of the Isis Light by Monica Hughes Sixteen-year-old Olwen, who lives alone on the planet Isis with her faithful robot, falls in love with an arrival from earth and complications ensue.
Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick Disgusted by what has become of Kenya in the modern world, Koriba, an educated man with distinguished credentials, attempts to lead a colony to salvation on a distant planet. Here they will attempt to recreate the traditional Kikuyu way of life. Unbeknownst to them, he will also be sole guardian of the computer that links them to the rest of humanity.
Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin An envoy is sent to the ice-covered planet Gethen where people can either be male or female at will.
Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy A vision of a utopian Boston of the year 2000 seen in the eyes of the fictional, nineteenth century Bostonian, Julian West. Having fallen asleep for 113 years Mr. West is awakened by the Leetes family. Over the course of the next several days he discovers a multitude of changes that have occurred during his long slumber. Most importantly is the idea of social change that has occurred.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding This classic tale about a group of English schoolboys who are plane-wrecked on a deserted island is just as chilling and relevant today as when it was first published in 1954.
Lost Horizon by James Hilton Introduced readers to Shangri-La, the Tibetan utopia in which life is limitlessly extended. One woman and three men are kidnapped and brought to Shangri-La, hidden deep in the uncharted mountains of Tibet. In their extraordinary adventure, the travelers are transformed as they shed the trappings of their former day-to-day lives and reach greater spiritual and intellectual understanding of themselves and the world.
No Kidding by Bruce Brooks Teenage Sam is the consummate by-product of a twenty-first century where rampant alcoholism has caused the collapse of traditional society and children are educated to become the custodians of their families and their futures.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler Set in the near future when people have retreated behind walled enclaves. Lauren, an empathic young woman, leads others out of the ruins of Los Angeles.
The Patchwork People by Louise Lawrence In a bleak future Wales, when natural resources are nearly depleted, jobs are scarce, and second-generation welfare recipients are barely surviving, Hugh, one of the “impoverished many,” saves Helen, one of the “privileged few,” and the two work actively to seek change.
The Prince by Machiavelli Fifteenth-century Italian statesman Niccolo Machiavelli's famous treatise on the qualities and actions necessary for princes to gain and keep power, in which he holds up ancient Roman rulers as examples and shows why, for leaders of nations, "the ends justify the means."
The Telling Ursula LeGuin After receiving permission to leave the modern city where she is closely monitored, Sutty travels up the river into the countryside where she experiences a more peaceful life.
Time Machine by H.G. Wells This is the tale of a Victorian time traveler who creates a machine which takes him 800,000 years into the future, to a divided world of innocence and knowledge.
The Uglies by Scott Westerfield Tally is faced with a difficult choice when her new friend Shay decides to risk life on the outside rather than submit to the forced operation that turns sixteen year old girls into gorgeous beauties, and realizes that there is a whole new side to the pretty world that she doesn't like.
Utopia by Sir Thomas More This is a classic account of what constitutes an ideal state.
Watership Down by Richard Adams In this fantasy a group of male rabbits set out to find a new home.
The White Mountains by John Christopher Before they turn 14 and are “capped” by despotic machine creatures called Tripods, Will and his friends undertake a daring escape to a free colony in the White Mountains.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle Meg and Charles Murry, with the help of Calvin O’Keefe, set out in space to find their scientist father.
Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O’Brien Ann Burden, 16, thinks she is the only person left alive in the world after a devastating war pollutes the world with radiation. Then she sees smoke from a campfire, but the person who walks into her sheltered valley may not be a blessing.