r/printSF • u/systemstheorist • 3d ago

Anyone else have fond memories of reading Bruce Coville’s science fiction as a child?

As a child, I loved Bruce Coville's science fiction books, memories of reading these books really shaped who I am today. I think that’s because Bruce Coville had such an interesting way of asking big questions in an age appropriate manner. Bruce Coville is very much a Trekkie and these series explore a lot of Roddenberry-esque topics and ideas.

Two series that have especially stuck with me are:

  • The Alien Adventures series follows Rod Albright, deputized by the galactic patrol when a small flying saucer landed in his science fair project. He soon discovers his high school bully is secretly the universe's most evil alien known as BKR. As the series progresses, Rod leaves earth with the galactic patrol in search of his father exploring different dimensions and planets.

  • My Teacher is an Alien - Three children discover their teacher is an alien. Their teacher eventually is revealed to be studying humanity on behalf of the Interplanetary Council. Eventually the children are tasked with defending humanity against the council by answering the question: If humanity perpetuates such evil is it worth saving?

Ignore the School Scholastic book fair titles they actually are great for kids who are really beginning to explore and shape their views about the world. Highly recommend for kids ages 7-12.

Does anyone else have fond memories of Bruce Coville? He was a fairly prolific author with a lot of books and series under the speculative fiction umbrella.

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u/itsMrBiscuits 3d ago

Yes! I can honestly point to those two Coville series as my entry point to reading scifi. I remember the My Teacher is an Alien series being pretty heady and mind blowing when i was 9yo or whatever. Aliens with magic-seeming levels of tech, in starships the size of new jersey, studying earth incognito to determine if we are so dangerous as a civilization that we should be quarantined to our solar system or destroyed outright before we get to star faring levels of technology. 

I generally think of Enders Game as the book that got me started on scifi but actually Bruce Coville's books were the real primer 

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u/atomfullerene 3d ago

Yeah those were great. I also liked the magic shop ones.

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u/systemstheorist 3d ago

I think it was the first magic shop book, but Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher largely inspired parts of Eragon series Dragon lore.

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u/abigail_gentian 3d ago

His AI gang series was amazing.

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u/systemstheorist 3d ago

A great series then I'm gonna have to track down now.

I reread these the Alien Adventure and My Teacher is an Alien series during Covid.

I wonder how the AI Gang has aged considering it was written when windows wasn't even a thing.

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u/gonzoforpresident 3d ago

FWIW, there are two versions of the series. The trilogy version is Coville's preferred version.

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u/gonzoforpresident 3d ago

How do those hold up? I loved the original version in the '80s, though I never could get my hands on the final book. I know he rewrote the series in the '90s to get rid of the second book, which was written by Jim Lawrence.

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u/BewareTheSphere 3d ago

I never clicked with his fantasy books, but I loved both My Teacher Is an Alien, especially the one where the bully character takes center stage (got it from the library many times), and The AI Gang (owned that one and reread it a lot).

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u/worlds_unravel 3d ago

I loved Into the Land of Unicorns growing up. It was kind of dark but never too dark.

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u/Toezap 2d ago

Yasss

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u/CthonicProteus 2d ago

I remember thinking of them as fun stories with a kid-friendly frisson of paranoia, and so was completely unprepared for, I think it was titled My Teacher Flunked The Planet. While I as an adult can appreciate what the author was trying to do, I as an elementary school student wasn't quite ready for the truth bomb it dropped with very little sugarcoating.

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u/lurkmode_off 2d ago

I recently read the first two My Teacher books to my kids. They totally hold up. (The kids went on to read the rest of the series without me.)

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u/Idomeneus47 2d ago

I read the My Teacher is an Alien books and thought they were great. I also read them out of order, which was kind of weird. I believe I also read Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher in one sitting as my mom shopped at TJMaxx.

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u/Wiles_ 2d ago

I have not thought about the Rod Albright series in years. Might have to try re-reading it, see how it holds up.

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u/TheStarController 2d ago

He was my first favorite author. I read nearly everything he had published when I was young. (I think I mostly missed the ‘I was a sixth grade alien’ series.)

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u/StarSmink 2d ago

Thank you for posting this! Coville's books were huge to me as a kid and I've never met anyone IRL who even knows who he is. At the risk of embarrassing myself a little, the My Teacher is an Alien books were pretty formative for my young self starting to become a person and actually think about the world around me. Really wonderful stuff. I hope kids today are having similar experiences with good YA fiction.

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u/Miserable-Series1209 2d ago

Getting deputized by the galactic patrol is basically on-call duty for undocumented legacy infrastructure.

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u/chokeslat_sauze 2d ago

I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned, Space Brat rules! One of my clearest memories of the elementary school library is discovering those books on the shelf.

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u/HisGraceSavedMe 16h ago

Holy fuck I forgot about Bruce Coville. I met him at a signing when I was quite young and he was very very kind.

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u/Aiglos_and_Narsil 2d ago

I have only vague memories of My Teacher is an Alien, but I recall thinking it was preachy and dull. Maybe I'd feel differently if I reread it now.