[JenB]

If the kids want science fiction they should try something from Issac Asimov. 'Nuff said.

Asimov? How about Heinlein's juveniles? Quite possibly some of the finest science fiction ever written. Unlike Asimov, Heinlien had more than six character types and actually knew how to keep an exciting plot going. (All right, Foundation and some of the short stories were good, but nothing matches Tunnel in the Sky, Red Planet, Rolling Stones, Double Star, Door into Summer, Starship Troopers etc...)

[Celtjew Libertarian]

I may stir something up, given the subject matter of this thread, but James H. Schmitz's The Witches of Karres was the novel that got me into SF. Cordwainer Smith's short stories and Norstrilia are also among my childhood favorites, but I may just be strange, even for a SF fan.