Worlds Gone Wrong: Dystopian fiction for teens
compiled 8-29-05

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
YA SF/FAN BRAD, SF/FAN BRAD
A totalitarian regime has ordered all books to be destroyed, but Guy Montag, a fireman whose job it is to burn books, suddenly realizes their merit.

Basilisk by N.M. Browne
YA FIC BROW
Two teens who discover they are sharing the same dream of dragons fight to stop the evil dictator from bringing their dreams to life in the form of a terrible basilisk with the power to literally scare people to death.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
YA SF/FAN BUTL
In California in the year 2025, a small community is overrun by desperate scavengers, as an eighteen-year-old African American woman sets off on foot on a perilous journey northward. The sequel is Parable of the Talents.

Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody
YA FIC CARM
A young girl tries to fulfill her destiny in a post-apocalyptic world of hate and intolerance. First in the Obernewtyn Chronicles.

The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer
YA SF/FAN COLF
In futuristic Satellite City, fourteen-year-old Cosmo Hill escapes from his abusive orphanage and teams up with three other people who share his unusual ability to see supernatural creatures, and together they determine the nature and purpose of the swarming blue Parasites that are invisible to most humans.

The Ear, The Eye and the Arm by Nancy Farmer
YA SF/FAN FARM, NEWBERY J FARM SF
In 2194 in Zimbabwe, General Matsika's three children are kidnapped and put to work in a plastic mine, while three mutant detectives use their special powers to search for them.

House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
YA SF/FAN FARM, NEWBERY J FARM
In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patrón, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States.

The Dirt Eaters by Dennis Foon
YA SF/FAN FOON
Living on a post-apocalyptic Earth, Roan, the sole survivor of the people of Longlight, joins a warrior sect to seek his revenge, but when he begins to have doubts about his new life of violence, he turns to his new friend, Alandra, for guidance. First in the Longlight Legacy Trilogy.

The Exchange Student by Kate Gilmore
YA SF/FAN GILM
When her mother arranges to host one of the young people coming to Earth from Chela, Daria is both pleased and intrigued by the keen interest shown by the Chelan in her work breeding endangered species.

Hole in the Sky by Pete Hautman
YA SF/FAN HAUT
In a future world ravaged by a mutant virus, sixteen-year-old Ceej and three other teenagers seek to save the Grand Canyon from being flooded, while trying to avoid capture by a band of renegade Survivors.

Secret Under My Skin by Janet McNaughton
YA SF/FAN MCNA
In the year 2368, humans exist under dire environmental conditions and one young woman, rescued from a workcamp and chosen for a special duty, uses her love of learning to discover the truth about the planet's future and her own dark past.

Shade’s Children by Garth Nix
YA SF/FAN NIX
In a savage postnuclear world, four young fugitives attempt to overthrow the bloodthirsty rule of the Overlords with the help of Shade, their mysterious mentor.

Animal Farm by George Orwell
YA FIC ORWE
A satire on totalitarianism in which farm animals overthrow their human owner and set up their own government.

1984 by George Orwell
YA FIC ORWE
Portrays life in a future time when a totalitarian government watches over all citizens and directs all activities.

The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick
YA SF/FAN PHIL
After an earthquake has destroyed much of the planet, an epileptic teenager nicknamed Spaz begins the heroic fight to bring human intelligence back to the Earth of a distant future.

Copper Elephant by Adam Rapp
YA SF/FAN RAPP
In a world where children under twelve are used as slave labor in subterranean lime mines, eleven-year-old Whensday Bluehouse struggles to survive the continuous poison rains and evade the ruthless Syndicate Soldiers.

The Big Empty by J. B. Stephens
YA SF/FAN STEP
After half of the world's population is killed by a plague, seven teenagers seek a better life in a nightmarish future by deciphering coded messages and trying to avoid the Slashers. First in the Big Empty series.

River Rats by Caroline Stevermer
YA SF/FAN STEV
Nearly twenty years after the holocaust called the Flash has destroyed modern civilization, Tomcat and a group of other orphans face danger as they steer an old steamboat over the toxic waters of the Mississippi River.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
YA SF/FAN WEST
Tally lives in a world where everyone is ugly until they turn 16; at that point everyone is surgically altered to a scientifically-based version of pretty. But what if you think you look fine the way you are?