Heinlein's juveniles

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Robert Heinlein wrote a number of SF novels for a younger audience, mostly for publishers Charles Scribner's Sons, between the 50s and the 70s. Action-packed and written with great verve and maturity, they are possibly the finest body of juvenile work in the speculative genre, along with Andre Norton's novels and Le Guin's Earthsea sequence. They served as a 'gateway drug', converting many young readers into lifelong SF fans, and, to my taste, rank among his best work simply because he gets on with the plot and doesn't show the distressing trend of later novels to treat literature as a soapbox for increasingly contentious, cranky and unexamined ideologies. How many of you have read these? What are your favourites, and why? Here's a list:

Rocket Ship Galileo - 1947
Space Cadet - 1948
Red Planet - 1949
Farmer in the Sky - 1950 (Serialized Boy's Life Aug-Nov 1950)
Between Planets - 1951 (Serialized Blue Book Sep-Oct 1951)
The Rolling Stones - 1952 (Serialized Boy's Life Sep-Dec 1952)
Starman Jones - 1953
The Star Beast - 1954 (Serialized F&SF May-Jul 1954)
Tunnel in the Sky - 1955
Time for the Stars - 1956
Citizen of the Galaxy - 1957 (Serialized ASF Sep-Dec 1957)
Have Space Suit - Will Travel - 1958 (Serialized F&SF Aug-Oct 1958 ) - Hugo nominee
Podkayne of Mars - 1963 (Serialized Worlds of If Dec 1962-Mar 1963) - Uncut version published 1990

 

[littlemissattitude]

Red Planet and Citizen of the Galaxy are probably two of the earliest science fiction novels I ever read, around the time I was eight or nine years old. I moved on to more "adult" science fiction fairly quickly, encouraged by my dad who was a science fiction fan from way back. But they really were formative for me. "Gateway drug" indeed.

Actually, I've probably read more of the books on the list than that, but these are the only two I remember at all. Red Planet encouraged me in my early determination to be the first female on Mars. Then I figured out that you had to do math to be an astronaut - I was crushed. And Citizen of the Galaxy enthralled me with the idea that a person so young could be set adrift alone in the universe. I could see both the drawbacks and the advantages of that eventuality, and they provided endless fodder for daydreams as a child and adolescent. Sometimes even for the adult me.

 

[Leto]

Just read the last 2 ones, had a good laugh to Have spacesuit, will travel but Podkaine was quite boring, rehashing quite badly regular Heinlein philosophy without interesting plot to sustain it.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

*bump*

 

[marv335]

i read "tunnel in the sky" at an early age it got me into the rest of his work.
number of the beast is one of my favorite sf novels.

 

[Amorph]

I actually moved onto these from Heinlein's other works. The first two I read were actually Revolt In 2100 and The Day After Tomorrow, though there was an excerpt of Citizen Of The Galaxy in an anthology I had when I was about seven or eight.

Personal favourites on the list above are Time For The Stars and Tunnel In The Sky.

 

[lazygun]

Read all of the above I think,and probably most of his later work as well.Bit of a fan,to be honest.
'Poddy' and 'Citizen of the Galaxy' of the above list stand out as favs'.
For what i consider adult themes in so called Juve. stories.

Must amuse him no end he is considered too liberal by some,then too conserative by others........

"We know he's a BlackHat,...we just don't know why...."

 

[The DeadMan]

I have read all the books you have listed and "Citizen Of The Galaxy" is my favorite. I agree that his juveniles are some of his best work. Most of his later work was a bit "preachy" for my taste. That being said I read most of it anyway!

 

[loco.cerveza]

I have read most if not all of them, The Rolling Stones is one of my Fav.

 

[TTBRAHWTMG]

It's so hard to pick favourites...all of his works have amazing value in them. Tunnel in the Sky and Citizen of the Galaxy were two of the juvies that affected me first, and therefore stick with me the most. They are all pearls though (a few shinier than others, to be sure!)

Disagree with your thoughts on his later work (although I admit, many agree)...I think his intention was not to "treat literature as a soapbox for increasingly contentious, cranky, and unexamined ideologies" but rather to provoke thought, criticism, and review of EXISTING "contentious, cranky, and unexamined ideologies". Heinlein's goal was always to examine, reflect, debate...often having characters present ideas that he was opposed to and having his characters chew on them.

If you attribute the thoughts and opinions of his characters directly to Heinlein, you can often miss the mark by a WIDE stretch.

But if you review my other posts, you may find I'm not the most unbiased of people on this subject!

PS...you have the restored version of Podkayne on your bibliography there, but missed the 1990 restoration of Red Planet. The restored version of this one is far, far, superior...if you haven't read it, and are a fan of Heinlein's juvies, I highly recommend it to you.

 

[Connavar]

I am waiting for my copy of Starship Troopers.


Other than that which ones of the others are seen as the better ones?

I would like to read Heinlein in his better books cause i havent read him yet.

 

[TTBRAHWTMG]

Troopers is a valuable book, some incredible, vivid, detail in there. His jump armour is awesome...and his somewhat veiled discussion of gender is interesting too. Some big flaws with this book too though. It discusses the idea of meritocracy at great length, and may make some quite uncomfortable. I'll throw out some of Heinlein's novels for adults that are sadly missed if you stick purely to his juveniles (not a complete list, just some of my favourites, but we all have access to his bibliography)

Puppet Masters 1951 (restored 1990)
The Door into Summer 1957
Strangers in a Strange Land 1961 (restored 1991)
Glory Road 1963
Farnham's Freehold 1964
Moon is a Harsh Mistress 1966
Friday 1982
Job: A Comedy of Justice 1984
To Sail Beyond the Sunset 1987

Let alone all of his Future History...

Yes, Heinlein's later work demonstrated some of his early influence by James Branch Cabell and his fascination with and desire to provoke thought regarding taboos...but they shouldn't be disposed of because he (to paraphrase him... or quote if I'm lucky) "departed from the true religion" of Science Fiction. That is part of Heinlein's greatest gift to SciFi (a term he hated all his life) he expanded it's definition. Heinlein showed no fear...and would discuss ANY subject matter at great length, regardless of how much criticism it brought him from the main stream of the genre.

Having said all this...I love his juveniles too...and whole-heartedly agree with your 'gateway drug' sentiment, knives.

 

[Connavar]

Right now i wanna read him cause i like the sound of the stories. I can take the flaws if the rest is as you say.

I wanna try his juveniles before his other stuff to get to know him.

 

[Pyan]

Try "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", or "Citizen of the Galaxy", first, Conn - they don't fall into either juvenile or adult, really, and they're both regarded as books that give you the true taste of RAH.
If you really want to start with a juvenile, I recommend "Tunnel in the Sky", and "Time for the Stars" - but others may disagree.......

 

[TTBRAHWTMG]

Try "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", or "Citizen of the Galaxy", first, Conn - they don't fall into either juvenile or adult, really, and they're both regarded as books that give you the true taste of RAH.
If you really want to start with a juvenile, I recommend "Tunnel in the Sky", and "Time for the Stars" - but others may disagree.......

If you want a juvie first Conn, I second Pyan's Tunnel in the Sky recommendation. It's a quick, fun read and a good intro into some of Heinlein's recurring themes, although not very "spacey". If "spacey" is the type of sci fi you are looking for, other Heinlein might be better, perhaps Space Cadet or Red Planet...but definately get the restored Red Planet if you go that route.

PS...I can be quite dense it seems. I didn't even notice how old this thread was...just reviewed the post dates now. I thought knives had just created this thread. Thanks for bringing it back to the front loco...and for indirectly getting me riled up.

 

[Connavar]

Thanks guys just what i wanted to know.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress i can read while i wait for my juvies.

 

[Pyan]

PS...I can be quite dense it seems. I didn't even notice how old this thread was...just reviewed the post dates now.

Don't worry about it, TT: there are a lot of threads in the archives that would bear reviving, for this new generation of Chrons members!

 

[Connavar]

I am reading Starship Troopers which is my first taste of Heinlein and i like it alot.


The man knows how to make what i thought a "simple" military action to a interesting story.

 

[TTBRAHWTMG]

Glad to hear you are liking it. Troopers is a good read, but if you are liking it, I guarantee you will enjoy others even more! What do you think of the detail in the jump armour? Did training bore you or did you find the detail engaging and interesting? Damn...I have a lot of questions about what you are thinking as you read your first Heinlein, but I'll try to leave you alone and just let you enjoy it.

 

[Connavar]

So far i have only read 80 something pages. So he hasnt finished the training yet. I am there when he realize he has passed the hump.


The jump armour was something special when i saw it on the first mission. I cant believe how detailed it is for a book that is written in 50's.

I liked the training cause you get to know more of Johnnie and also more about Zim and the rest of MI. How the military work with thier laws and codes.

Most of all i like how he makes first person view interesting normally i dont like stories told from that view.

Now i am gonna go and finish it and we can talk more about it later.


I think after this i am gonna go and get a collection of his or just that Stranger in strange place or something. I read about it in amazon and wanted it.