Scratching the Surface: Generation Mars, Prelude

by Douglas D. Meredith, Luis Peres (Illustrator)

Featured in Emily Lakdawalla's Recommended Space Books for Kids from The Planetary Society

Generation Mars is hard science fiction, scaled for kids. Following sisters Cas and Ori, the series explores the nature of life for the first children born on Mars. In this introduction to the series, the sisters have their first experience with the surface of Mars, a milestone that turns out to be bigger than anyone expected. Future books will address fundamental issues of survival on Mars: air, shelter, water, food, etc. The series strives for scientific accuracy while telling the very human stories of children growing up in an environment unlike any that children have grown up in before.

From the back cover:

One day, in the near future, children will be born on Mars. The environment they grow up in will be very different from yours. And yet, they will be children, just like you. They will have dreams and worries, just like you. They will go to school; they will play; they will cry; they will laugh: in so many ways, just like you.

But their sky won’t be blue. They will never see an ocean. They will never go to an amusement park or go camping in a forest. They will never hear the sound of rain.

Instead, they will have blue sunsets. They might camp on the tallest volcano or in the deepest canyon in the solar system. They will ride in rovers and rockets. They will walk through rocky red landscapes that have changed little in billions of years. They will be part of the development of an entirely new branch of human existence.

First among these children of Mars is Cas. She and her sister, Ori, live underground as protection against the radiation that reaches the surface of Mars. They have never seen the surface of their planet.

Until now.

Praise for Scratching the Surface:

It is fantastic to see a children's science fiction novel incorporating actual science into its storyline! This book gives a good glimpse at what life could be like for humans on Mars in the future, presented through the eyes of a young girl.
Dr. Tanya Harrison, Mars scientist

GENERATION MARS fills the “hard science fiction” hole in early middle grade bookshelves...I hope this book will hook some of our young readers (and parents) who aren’t as easily entertained by the silly stuff.
Vi Figueroa, teacher (Mrs. Fig’s Book Reviews)

Every step in a new journey can be uncertain. But these first steps move us into the future we wish to create. Small steps by sisters Ori and Cas, part of the first cohort of children born and raised on Mars, are just what humanity needs to grow beyond Earth. Through their eyes, readers can feel that they, too, are Generation Mars.
Laura Forczyk, owner of Astralytical

From the author:

I'll be honest with you: this book is a bit of an oddball. Scratching the Surface started as a picture book. This is evident in the light and nonintimidating plot. But it outgrew that form rather quickly, as I added point of view from other characters and technological concepts I wanted readers to experience.

My intent was to write something for early readers that was more advanced than they might typically encounter but still somewhat age appropriate. So much early reader text tends to be either silly or bland. I wanted to create something entirely different. In that, I'm pretty sure I've succeeded. What remains to be seen is whether this will appeal to these readers and their parents.

Genres: Science Fiction

86 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 9, 2019

Reviews

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

These books are a rarity in middle grade: science fiction based in science fact.

They’re also a rarity because they’re on a high-interest topic -- Mars colonization -- but they aren’t dumbed down for the middle grade audience / readership. They require readers to have a rather high vocabulary level and complex concept comprehension. At the same time, they’re digestibly short (Scratching the Surface is 58 pages; Air is 122 pages; Shelter is a bit longer at 219 pages) for readers who don’t or won't or aren't ready yet to read a 369-page adult book (Andy Weir's The Martian).

All of which I think are pluses in favor of the series. I loved it and I’m hooked, waiting for the next to publish.

The books follow the trials and travails of some of the (imaginary) first settlers on Mars – sisters Cas and Ori, the first kids born on Mars.

Scratching the Surface isn’t so much a “tale” as it is a scene setter. It’s one scene, really, of Cas, the universe’s first human born on Mars, now 8, and her first walk in a space suit on the surface of Mars. When she’s finished, she’ll challenge everything the adult colonists had assumed, simply by challenging the color of the sky. That’s right. Growing up on Mars, she rather logically points out the color of the painted sky in the colony’s recreation dome is blue, like the sky on Earth. But she’s not from Earth, nor are any of her classmates in the Dawn colony, and the future belongs to them – not their parents.

I really needed this to help me get into the right setting – Dawn, the Mars colony -- for the next book, Air, because I’ve read so much space opera and sci-fi that totally disregards most of the fundamentals of living on another planet, especially one inimical to human life the way Mars is.

Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students?

Visit my blog, The Fabric of Words, for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/

[PAR · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars! It’s definitely just for little kids. But it wasn’t bad. Certainly educational and had nice pictures and facts about Mars. I suppose I’ll continue and see if these will be good for my daughter as she gets a little older.

Quotes:
“And her dad realized, as parents so often do, that the future was hers, not his.” (p52)

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this introduction to the Generation Mars series, we meet Cas and Ori, two sisters who were born on Mars. Cas has the distinction of being the first human ever born on Mars. She, her younger sister, and the other children are all in school and, for the time being, are all being taught in a single classroom. Cas's group, the third graders, find out that they are going to have a field trip up to the surface of Mars, while the first and second graders will observe them from inside the Observation Dome.

One of the best parts of this book was the illustrations. As the author originally intended this to be a picture book, the illustrations are beautiful. Those illustrations definitely helped to make up for the one drawback, which was that the author told the reader a lot of information as opposed to showing the reader the information through the actions and dialog of the characters. The result was a somewhat dry story, but I'm hopeful that the other books in the series will improve in this area as the author learns more about writing.

[Rachel Ellyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great first chapter reader! Fun story. Great illustrations.

[Giuliano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard about this book in a Planetary Society podcast and bought it for my 5 year old. We read it together and enjoyed the story. There's very interesting information about Mars at the end of the book which is probably more at a 7-8 year old level, but it is very concise and easily digestible information.
My son has already requested we buy the second book in the series (the first chapter can be read at the end of the book, clever!) and I'll definitely keep an eye out for it.
The story is well told and unravels from the viewpoint of two young girls, which makes it very relatable to a younger audience.