Re:Try these (Score 1)

John Varley's "Red Thunder", "Red Lightning" and "Rolling Thunder" would be good candidates though the last one rolls in more sex than some parents might want their pre-teens exposed to (of course they already know it all but wouldn't want to shock the folks). They are reminiscent of Heinlein's juveniles. Of course, you want to radicalize them with Cory Doctorow's "Little Brother". Finally, on the fantasy side, the "Keys to the Kingdom" series by Garth Nix is a nice bit of creative plays with ideas and kids as heroes. Six of the seven books in the "Keys" series are now published.