SOLVED. YA/ Juvenile SciFi; Dystopian Future; 80s-90s; Boy has an altercation with another boy over a game of marbles in a historical simulation, family gets exiled for wrong think/contraband when he tries to get some marbles.

[Jennifer]

I read this book when I was in junior high so somewhere between 1995 and 1998, and it has been driving me mad trying to find it.

I believe that the boy may actually have killed the other child in the simulation. When he is searching for more information about the marbles he is able to get a two dimensional representation of one and the government finds out. They are banished or exiled to a primitive world, which I think is inhabited by a race of peaceful giants. There was a beach on this planet that was comprised of shiny glass sand that somewhat resembles marbles, and I think the boy might actually *become* one of the giants at the end.

The cover of the book depicted a boy and parents in futuristic pastel clothing on a ramp or escalator being looked down at by a huge face that was almost Polynesian in appearance. I believe the title was something along the lines of Keepers or Guardians of (Something). It might have been a Scholastic book.

[Rainbowheart]

Does anything on the 20th Century YA and Middle Grade Science Fiction list look familiar?

[Jennifer]

Rainbowheart wrote: "Does anything on the 20th Century YA and Middle Grade Science Fiction list look familiar?"

There are some amazing selections on this list, including a few I would have not thought to see (Born Into Light, Away Is A Strange Place To Be), but on first scroll I do not see anything. I am going to take a more thorough look though, in the event that I am completely misremembering the description of my book

[Rainbowheart]

I found it!

Guardians of Time



Kids still dream in the year 2263, and Finnegan dreams of rainbow-hued glass marbles. But dreams of impractical objects of beauty are forbidden on the now-computerized Earth, and he and his family are exiled to a planet of gentle giants. There Finnegan undergoes incredible mental and physical growth that enables him to become one of the mysterious Guardians of Time. Their task is to protect the lifebearing planets that float like brightly coloured marbles scattered in space.

[Jennifer]

Rainbowheart wrote: "I found it!

Guardians of Time



Kids still dream in the year 2263, and Finnegan dreams of rainbow-hued glass marbles. But dreams of impractical objects of beauty are forbidden on..."

YOU ARE AMAZING.

[Rainbowheart]

Happy to help out!

I wouldn't have found it if you hadn't remembered "guardians" being in the title. My first thought was The Guardians by John Christopher, but I knew that couldn't be right. So I went to Worldcat and searched for juvenile science fiction with "guardians" in the title field, and voila, there it was!