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This week on The Children’s Hour, we explore the genre of science fiction with our musical friends from Ramah, New Mexico, MeriDean. This type of storytelling allows our imagination to become immersed in other worldly places, with advanced technologies, on exoplanets, or flying through space, and using actual science to help us believe the impossible. With excerpts of famous works of “Sci-Fi” like The War of the Worlds, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Slaughterhouse Five, and original pieces recorded by masterful storytellers, we immerse ourselves in futuristic fantasy.
Plus the kids in the Extinction Diaries update us about the Sumatran Tiger, and how our use of palm oil is hurting their chance for survival.
All of this is mixed with great music by Tim and the Space Cadets, Brave Combo, Joanie Leeds And The Nightlights, The Okee Dokee Brothers, They Might Be Giants, Dino O’Dell, Justin Roberts, The Mosaic Project, Eric Herman, and others.
Here are our Kids Crew and listener Science Fiction book suggestions for kids:
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor, PhD
Dark Rising series by Susan Cooper
The Giver by Lois Lowry
WondLa trilogy by Tony DiTerlizzi
Terry Pratchett’s young adult books
Downbelow Station and Merchanter’s Luck by C. J. Cherryh
Star Surgeon (1959) by Alan E. Nourse
Rite of Passage and the Anthony Villiers series by Alexei Panshin
Any books by Ursula K. Le Guin
Do you have more suggestions? Contact us and let us know!
Thanks to our listeners and Kids Crew for participating!
Playlist Science Fiction
| title | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blast Off | Tim Kubart | Anthems for Adventure | 2013 Tim and The Space Cadets |
| Flying Saucer | Brave Combo | Polkas For a Gloomy World | 1995 Rounder Records., Distributed by Concord. |
| Earth Gravity | MeriDean | Single | Jason & Melissa Kadinger 2020 |
| Mercury Theatre - The War of the Worlds - October 30, 1938 | Orson Welles | Orson Welles: The Ultimate Collection | 2010 BN Publishing |
| Ufo | Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights | Bandwagon | 2013 Joan Leibowitz |
| Fix It | MeriDean | single | Jason & Melissa Kadinger 2020 |
| Krem Bop | The Teacups | single | Gregory Roman 2009 |
| Excerpt: 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy' by Douglas Adams | Read by Katie Stone, Scored by MeriDean | The Children's Hour Inc. | |
| The Extraterrestrials | The Okee Dokee Brothers | Take It Outside | Okee Dokee Brothers |
| Excerpt from 'Slaughterhouse Five' by Kurt Vonnegut | Read by Olivia Kadinger, Scored by MeriDean | single | The Children's Hour Inc. |
| The Ballad of Davy Crockett (In Outer Space) | They Might Be Giants (For Kids) | Here Comes Science (Audio + Video Version) | 2009 Walt Disney Records |
| Zar and the Broken Spaceship | Dino O'Dell | Zar and the Broken Spaceship - Single | 2015 Dino O'Dell |
| I'll Be an Alien | Justin Roberts | Recess | 2013 Carpet Square |
| Phobos | MeriDean | single | Jason & Melissa Kadinger 2020 |
| The Incredibly Spaced-Out Adventures of Jupiter Jackson | Eric Herman | The Incredibly Spaced-Out Adventures of Jupiter Jackson | 2014 Eric Herman Endres |
| Alien | Big Block Singsong | Greatest Hits, Vol. 4 | 2019 Goddard/Brown Inc. |
| Solar Energy | MeriDean | single | Jason & Melissa Kadinger 2020 |
