This pathfinder is intended for a librarian needing to perform
reader’s advisory for young adult or adult patrons wanting science fiction and
fantasy titles to read. It would be most
useful in a public library setting but could also be used in a high school
library if the school librarian performs in depth reader’s advisory services for
their students. While a few of the
resources focus on young adults, the information contained within those
articles can easily be applied to adult readers as well, especially as many
adult patrons are reading young adult titles in addition to adult titles. The items listed here are a combination of
print and online resources that are suitable both for a novice in the world of
science fiction and fantasy as well as dedicated readers looking for something
new. All of the print resources are
solely decided to this particular genre.
However, only one of the websites is; the remainder contains strong
science fiction and fantasy sections but could also be used for reader’s
advisory for any genre.
Written Resources
1.
Read On: Science Fiction: Reading Lists for Every Taste by Steven Torres-Roman is a great resource to use for new readers to the science fiction genre as well as long time devotees who are looking for new authors and titles to discover. Both classics of the genre and more recently published works are included in this reference work. It contains recommendations organized according to various sub-genre plot themes that will appeal to a variety of reading preferences. Although some of the subgenre names may sound off-putting to those unfamiliar with the genre (‘Transhumanst science fiction’, for example), the entries are written in a style that is easy to understand. Torres-Roman, a teen librarian in DeKalb, Illinois, has Master’s degrees in both English and Information and Library Science. He has won awards for his teen program ‘Heroes @ Your Library’ and for his work encouraging teen reading through the use of graphic novels.
Read On: Science Fiction: Reading Lists for Every Taste by Steven Torres-Roman is a great resource to use for new readers to the science fiction genre as well as long time devotees who are looking for new authors and titles to discover. Both classics of the genre and more recently published works are included in this reference work. It contains recommendations organized according to various sub-genre plot themes that will appeal to a variety of reading preferences. Although some of the subgenre names may sound off-putting to those unfamiliar with the genre (‘Transhumanst science fiction’, for example), the entries are written in a style that is easy to understand. Torres-Roman, a teen librarian in DeKalb, Illinois, has Master’s degrees in both English and Information and Library Science. He has won awards for his teen program ‘Heroes @ Your Library’ and for his work encouraging teen reading through the use of graphic novels.
Torres-Roman, S. (2010). Read On: Science Fiction: Reading Lists for
Every Taste. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.
2.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader’s Advisory: The Librarian’s Guide to Cyborgs, Aliens and Sorcerers is one of the titles in the American Library Association Reader’s Advisory series. It contains separate sections for science fiction and fantasy, with each further broken down into subgenres. Each subgenre contains a description of its’ elements with explanations why it will appeal to various readers. Some of the recommended titles include a short synopses and description, while other titles are just listed with their bibliographic information. Winners for the genre specific Hugo, Nebula, Mythopoeic and World Fantasy awards are also included. The author’s main focus was adult readers. Although making recommendations for reluctant readers is a subject that is addressed, the author does exclude some of the classics of science fiction and fantasy that are written specifically for young adults. Since it is published by ALA, the leading authority in librarianship, this title is particularly written for use by library staff with only a basic knowledge of the genre.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader’s Advisory: The Librarian’s Guide to Cyborgs, Aliens and Sorcerers is one of the titles in the American Library Association Reader’s Advisory series. It contains separate sections for science fiction and fantasy, with each further broken down into subgenres. Each subgenre contains a description of its’ elements with explanations why it will appeal to various readers. Some of the recommended titles include a short synopses and description, while other titles are just listed with their bibliographic information. Winners for the genre specific Hugo, Nebula, Mythopoeic and World Fantasy awards are also included. The author’s main focus was adult readers. Although making recommendations for reluctant readers is a subject that is addressed, the author does exclude some of the classics of science fiction and fantasy that are written specifically for young adults. Since it is published by ALA, the leading authority in librarianship, this title is particularly written for use by library staff with only a basic knowledge of the genre.
Buker, D. (2002). Science
Fiction and Fantasy Reader’s Advisory: The Librarian’s Guide to Cyborgs, Aliens
and Sorcerers. Chicago, IL:
American Library Association.
3.
The
article “Something for Every Reader: New YA Books that Cross Lines” by Teri S.
Lesesne illustrates how a new realm of young adult titles are being written to appeal to a variety of
reading interests by combing elements of two different genres, for example
fantasy with detective fiction or historical fiction with science fiction. She also gives examples of YA titles that use
characters from other genres (for example, characters from mythology) as well as
novels being written in verse form and those with unreliable authors (titles
with deceased characters). The author
also points out that in this new age of adult fiction, YA titles are also
crossing-over to appeal to adult readers.
This short two page article is peppered with titles as it contains over
twenty specific title recommendations of newer titles (at least as of 2006) that
can be recommended to readers, whether they fall within the young adult or
adult demographics.
Lesesne, T. S.
(2006). Something for Every
Reader: New YA Books that Cross Lines. Young Adult Library Services, 4(2),
17-18.
4.
Another
highly informative article that gives tips for recommending titles intended for
young adult readers (although it can be applied to adult readers as well) is
“Reader’s Advising for the Young SF, Fantasy, and Horror Reader” by David G.
Hartwell. Hartwell’s guidelines are
particularly targeted to librarians who wish to help patrons find science
fiction and fantasy books but who do not themselves read the genre. His suggestions include having staff who do
read books within the genre compile lists of ten to twenty titles (and keep the
lists regularly updated) to hand out to patrons, having reference compilations
available for both staff and patron use and using the variety of excellent science
fiction and fantasy short stories to introduce readers to new authors. Hartwell is in favor of using tie-in books sparingly
(‘Star Wars’ titles for those who liked the movie franchise) as this method,
while easy to execute, could backfire due to the differences in these two
methods of media. This excellent article
concludes with several of Hartwell’s own lists of recommended titles.
Chelton, M.K., & Hartwell, D.
G. (2002). Reader’s Advising for the Young SF, Fantasy,
and Horror Reader. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 42(2), 133-8.
5.
Although
Brian Attebery’s “Teaching Fantastic Literature” is written from the
perspective of a university instructor who has taught courses on science
fiction and fantasy, it does contain information on titles suitable for use in a
public library context as his recommendations will connect with a wide variety
of reading levels. He starts his
introductory classes with classic and mythological works that illustrate the
connection between science fiction and fantasy titles that incorporate elements
of myths, legends, folktales, fairy tales, ballads and medieval romances. Attebery also recommends using short fiction
to introduce readers to an author’s setting and style without the student
having to commit to reading an entire novel.
As he discusses each of these elements, he also describes the particular
texts from the genre he uses. In
Attebery’s experience within the classroom, he feels that even students who
have never read science fiction and fantasy titles can usually find at least
some titles that they are able to connect with.
Attebery, B. (1996).
Teaching Fantastic Literature. Science Fiction Studies, 23(3), 406-410.
Online Resources
1. NoveList is the premiere online resource for any reader’s advisory search. It is searchable by author, title, name of the series, Dewey number or classification or subject. In the Advanced Search option, Boolean operators can be used to narrow down details about particular settings, writing styles, moods or other details. Expanders and limiters can also be used to narrow down information pertaining to publication date, length, grade level and audience, and the author’s gender, nationality and cultural identity. Recommended book lists for various age ranges are offered, as well as lists of awards winners and genre type (for example, science fiction). Each genre list is further broken down into sub-genres; in the case of science fiction, you can pick classic, alternate histories, those that have been made into movies and more. This website is especially useful for its Author Readalike lists. It should be available for most librarians; in Mississippi, it is included in the Magnolia databases that are available for free to all library staff and users within the state.
NoveList. (2013). [Website]. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/novelist/search?sid=7ef7e85e-d750-43a6-b5fe-ee76b5294ccc%40sessionmgr4&vid=1&hid=28.
2.
The free website
Fantastic fiction contains bibliographies for over 30,000 authors and
information about 350,000 books. At the
bottom of the homepage, a listing of genre pages (including science fiction,
fantasy, urban fantasy and young adult fantasy) contains lists of recently
released titles as well as those due to be published in the upcoming
months. The website is searchable through
an author’s surname browse menu or by author and title search boxes. Each author’s listing contains a photograph,
birth and death dates, pen names and a short biography as well as a listing of their
entire body of work broken down into series, type (fiction, non-fiction, short
story, etc) with publication dates and a copy of the cover art. The individual titles sometimes contain links
for a short description of their content.
Upcoming publications are listed in a separate section at the beginning
of the entry with their cover art and intended release date. Author readalikes and author recommendations
are often found at end of the entry.
This website is especially helpful for those doing reader’s advisory for
patrons who want to read series titles in the correct order.
Fantastic Fiction. (2013).
[Website]. Retrieved from http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/.
3.
At the end
of 2011, National Public Radio (NPR) asked it’s listeners to nominate and vote for
their favorite science fiction and fantasy titles. After the voting was finished, NPR’s panel of
experts (an award winning science fiction critic, an author of several science
fiction and fantasy reference compilations and a university instructor) went
through the nominations, eliminating the ones that didn’t fit their criteria (young
adult and horror titles were not included).
The resulting top 100 of those titles contains a mixture of
classic and contemporary titles. Each one
is represented by a large picture of its cover along with a short (one – two sentences)
description. A hyperlink attached to the
author’s name takes you further into NPR’s website where other titles by the
author are listed along with links to stories from NPR radio about the
title. Also included are links to
similar lists that have been compiled in the past focused on other titles (non-fiction,
young adult, teen and more.)
Neal, C. S. (2011). Your Picks: Top
100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books.
Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-books.
4.
SF Site: The Home Page
for Science Fiction and Fantasy contains book reviews and discussions, author
interviews, fiction excerpts and reading lists for the science fiction and
fantasy fan. Awards lists, author lists
and topical lists such as ‘Best Reads of the Year,’ ‘Younger Readers’ and ‘10
Odd SF Classics’ can be found on this website, along with links to author and
fan websites, movies and TV shows, magazines and e-zines and other resources
for the science fiction and fantasy fan.
A Google search bar can be used to find information on the website
itself as well as links to their partner sites.
Each book entry contains a short biography of the book’s author, a
signed, lengthy review with links to other reviews on the SF Site and the
author’s personal website. A short
biographical sketch of the author of the review lends credibility – many are
editors, critics, instructors and experts in the science fiction and fantasy field.
SF Site. (2013).
[Website]. Retrieved from www.sfsite.com.
5.
Goodreads is a
popular free Internet social site where readers gather to make recommendations
to each other through compiling their personal ‘bookshelves’ of books they’ve
enjoyed or want to read soon. The basic
concept of this site is to form relationships with other trusted readers in
order to share common interests in reading and books. A large list of over 40 genre divisions can
be browsed or you can search for a particular book by author or title. The covers of new release are shown, which is
always helpful to view. By positioning
the mouse over any cover, a pop-up window containing the title, series, author,
Goodreads rating, and a description can be read. An explanation of
characteristics of the genre is written at the top of the page. On the right side, related subgenres can be
explored as well. For science fiction
and fantasy, interested readers could also look at ‘cyperpunk,’ ‘planetary
romance,’ or ‘dystopia’to name just a few.
Goodreads. (2013).
[Website]. Retrieved from www.goodreads.com.