Heinlein's juveniles

[AE35Unit]

Stranger in a Strange Land... and look for the uncut version, by the way... flows much more smoothly....

Thats the copy I have on my shelf. I've read an earlier cut edition so will have to read this one some time

 

[Contrary Mary]

I have read almost everything Heinlein wrote. I personally feel his "juveniles" are his best work---and can easily be read an enjoyed by any adult. Heinlein's juveniles are better than some authors adults blockbusters!

Citizen of the Galaxy and Tunnel in the Sky are great places to start.

 

[AE35Unit]

I have to say that for a Juvennile I'm finding 'Podkayne of Mars' incredibly wordy! Considering the main character is meant to be a young girl she 'speaks' like Einstein or Eddington! Gets a bit tedious! I cant imagine todays kids sitting thru it!

 

[J-Sun]

She's actually only of average intelligence for a Heinlein protagonist, isn't she? Anyone under a genius need not apply.

 

[AE35Unit]

She's actually only of average intelligence for a Heinlein protagonist, isn't she? Anyone under a genius need not apply.

Yea but she's only about 12, yet acts like 21!

 

[Connavar]

Its still RAH sf book. He dont do dumb it down stuff.

In Rocketship Galileo they are barely teens who helps a scientist build a rocket to the moon. You cant sell a story about YA where the adult is the main character and the kids are dumb or regular smart when its about high tech science.

 

[AE35Unit]

You cant sell a story about YA where the adult is the main character and the kids are dumb or regular smart when its about high tech science.

Well, Clarke managed it with Dolphin Island

 

[Pyan]

I have to say that for a Juvennile I'm finding 'Podkayne of Mars' incredibly wordy! Considering the main character is meant to be a young girl she 'speaks' like Einstein or Eddington! Gets a bit tedious! I cant imagine todays kids sitting thru it!

Ah. but it's not written for todays kids, AE - it was written to entertain bright American teens of the early 60's, most of whom had had a reasonable education, and who had an attention span of more than 30 seconds...

And Poddy's not your average heroine, either...I think I'm right in saying that she's the only one of RAH's juvenile protagonists that he actually wrote two diametrically opposite endings for, both of which were actually published.

Edit...yes, I thought so:

The 1995 Baen edition includes both endings (they differ only on the last page), Jim Baen's own edited postlude to the story, and a collection of readers' essays giving their opinions about which ending is better.

Wiki

 

[AE35Unit]

I'm just not finding anything exciting about it at all. Its like reading a teenage girls journal! I see a lot of that on deviant art!

 

[neopeius]

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

Of these, I have read Farmer in the Sky, Starman Jones, The star Beast, Citizen of the Galaxy and Have Space Suit- Will Travel.

The one I actually have blogged about (as it is my most recent read) is galacticjourney | Farmer in the Sky (11-09-1958)

My dad loved the Star Beast, but I couldn't get into it when I was a kid. I liked it well enough as a grown-up. I remember liking Starman Jones a lot. I read Citizen of the Galaxy serialized, but before I was blogging about the serials I was reading. It was excellent, though the end wasn't as good as the first three parts. Have Space Suit was good, but the middle meandered.

 

[Richiehead]

Ok, having taken a while to check the plots with with Wikipedia, I think I can safely say the following

Books Read - in approximate order of reading

Farmer in the Sky
Red Planet
Between Planets
Tunnel in the Sky
Time for the Stars
Starman Jones
Citizen of the Galaxy
Space Family Stone (i.e. The rolling Stones, but definitely read it under that title)
Have Space Suit Will Travel

Books (probably) not read

Rocket Ship Galileo
Space Cadet
The Star Beast
Podkayne of Mars

Like the OP say, they were a 'gateway drug' for me. I remember it was 1971 when I read Red Planet, which would have made me 12. Quickly devoured all the Heinleins in my local library before moving on to other authors.

I must says that the last two I read, were many years later as an adult, and I didn't find them nearly as good as the others. Space Family Stone in particular seemed to lack much plot, and the ending was very weak (seems like he just got fed of writing, or reached the agreed num,ber of words !).

My favourites were Red Planet (loved the alien Willis), and Starman Jones. The latter being the only one I've actually bought it later life - and it was still as good as I remembered it. [ Though the idea of requiring human interaction for navigation because computers were too slow seemed anachronistic to me even 40 years ago - though I recognise it was necessary for the plot ]

 

[Vince W]

I've read all of them, but my favourites are Starman Jones and Space Cadet.

 

[BAYLOR]

Tunnel in the Sky is partly the second Heinlein novel ive ever read . I always thought that his one would make a great film

There also exist a Red Planet Mars animated film and their Strashop Troops CGI animated tv series Roughnecks