The Postman won the John W. Campbell, Jr., Memorial Award for best science-fiction novel of 1985. Other novels by David Brin that would appeal to this age group and that end with more satisfying resolutions for the main character are The Practice Effect (1984), the story of an alternate universe where the more something is used, the newer and more modern it becomes; and Glory Season (1993), an exciting, adventurous, coming-of-age story set on a feminist colony planet.

Brin won Hugo Awards (science fiction achievement awards) for Startide Rising (1983) and its sequel, The Uplift War (1987), novels in which intelligent dolphins and chimpanzees cooperate with humans in space exploration and colonization.

Two other post-nuclear holocaust novels that would also be suitable for this age group are False Dawn (1978), by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, and Warday and the Journey Onward (1984), by Whitley Streiber and James W. Kunetka.