Heinlein Juveniles

I'm working my way through the Heinlein Juveniles, so far I've read:

1. Citizen of the Galaxy
2. Farmer in the Sky
3. Starman Jones
4. Space Cadet
5. The Rolling Stones
6. Have Space-suit will Travel
7. Orphans of the Sky
8. Red Planet
9. Between Planets
10. Tunnel in the Sky
11. Star Beast
12. Rocket Ship Galileo

I've listed them in the order of those I most enjoyed. So which one should I hit next?

(Re-Edited: 7th January 2011 to add newly Read Titles)

Rich

I loved Starman Jones when I was a kid. I know it's horribly dated now, but I'm still very fond of it, while I dislike Heinlein's later books.

Your list gives me an itch to read/re-read a couple. Orphans of the Sky is the only one I can really remember reading in my youth - and I always thought of it as a pretty awesome tale for the time. So seeing it making #5 of 6 makes me feel I've missed out on some of the good stuff!

#1 cosmicdolphin: Don't miss Red Planet, a particular favorite from my childhood. Then there are Heinleins that edge into young adulthood like Podkayne of Mars. My all time favorite Heinlein is somewhat juvenile in tone but definitely for adults: Glory Road, his only exercise in sword and sorcery. It is a delight from start to finish, and makes you regret his ponderous philosophical detours in later works.

You hit two of my three favorites with your list of six. The one you missed was Double Star.

I agree with EveleenM about Starman Jones. I also especially enjoyed Tunnel in the Sky and then there is the much debated Starship Troopers.

You read some of my favorites, Farmer in the Sky, Citizen of the Galaxy.

I would try Door into Summer if you like time travel type books, Glory Road is more fantasy based, Tunnel in the Sky is a survivals guide with a really good story weaved around it.

I second (or third, or whatever) Red Planet. And no one has mentioned Time for the Stars yet. The premise is simple and brilliant. Heinlein just took Einstein's twin paradox and literalized it: identical twins with a psychic link are recruited for instantaneous communication across interstellar distances. The protagonist gets to explore distant star systems for years at relativistic speeds while decades pass on Earth and his twin gets older and older. I have identical twin boys and I'm looking forward to reading it to them when they're older.

I'm going to pick up Red Planet before I head out on vacation.

I have Time for the Stars tucked away somewhere.

Just finished reading Green Hills of Earth while trying to decide which Juvy to go for next. Not bad. A mixed bag like all collections though.

8: Never been a big time travel fan, it just rubs me up the wrong way. But the others I will try.

#10 Cosmicdolphin,and anyone out there wanting to give time travel a second chance definitely try Dinosaur Beach by Keith Laumer, probably the best t-travel yarn since Wells. I picked it up because I'm a fan of dinosaur/human interaction (Lost World, Plutonia, Jurassic Park, etc.)--what I got was almost no dinosaurs, and I wasn't disappointed a bit. I'd also recommend Cryptozoic! by the great Brian Aldiss, but the ending is so over the top, it might have the opposite effect.

Certainly Starman Jones should be next on your list. Time for the Stars was, for years, the only one I could find in the library - apart from Farmer in the Sky which I still find very resistable - and I still think it , Time for the Stars a good one.

Neither The Door into Summer nor Double Star are usually classed as juveniles, but could certainly be enjoyed by those who enjoy the juveniles.

Contrariwise, Podkayne of Mars does count as a "juvenile", but I thought it just a bit too sharp-edged, but it is a good story.

Look also at the short stories, "The Menace From Earth" and "We Also Walk Dogs".

It is curious that a man who could write so clear-headedly about adolescents having to function as adults, should later have written so much about adults playing out adolescent fantasy in, for example, Glory Road.

#12: Lot of adolescent fantasy in Stranger in a Strange Land, but I think Glory Road is the anomaly in a long career, sword and sorcery being basically adolescent, however entertaining in the right hands.

The Star beast comes to mind

Of the Heinlein juveniles you've not yet read, Time for the Stars is probably the best plotted and the closest to Citizen of the Galaxy and Have Spacesuit, Will Travel) in terms of the depth and sophistication of the main characters. Red Planet is nearly as good.

The Star Beast and Tunnel In The Sky are a notch down: well-told young-adult novels, and still satisfying on that level, but nothing special.

Starman Jones, Space Cadet, and Rocket Ship Galileo all thrilled me when I was 10 or 11, and each has scenes that still stick with me nearly 40 years later . . . but they haven't aged well. Read *without* that nostalgic glow hovering around them they might be pretty awful.

I know people who love Podkayne of Mars. I'm not one of them. :-)

re: Podkayne-I am. And Starman Jones is a classic era construct, imo. The Rolling Stones are a blast but Red Planet left me disappointed. To each their own.

12:

I did just source a copy of Starman Jones this morning.

The problem with the "juveniles" is that many of us read them when we were...juveniles. They are cloaked in an impenetrable mist of nostalgia which not only has little meaning for the adult encountering them for the first time, but, many of us fear, may lose their precious meaning to those of us risking a re-read as an adult. It's a crapshoot. Some books hold up, like Glory Road for me, and I can say, yes, I can see why the thirteen year old I was loved this book. Other books, like Starship Troopers which I read at the same age (though not technically a "juvenile"), and re-read as an adult, make me shake my head and wonder, "Why on earth did I like this book?" What I guess I'm saying, cosmicdolphin, is what you already know: take it with a grain of salt.

18:

A grain of Salt Certainly. Although I have no nostalgia invested since these are a first time read for me.

I wanted to take a look at some more modern Juvenile SF as well, so I just picked up a chunk of the 'Jupiter' series by Charles Sheffield (and sometimes Pournelle and James P. Hogan)

I'm about half way through Star Beast, which so far is winning my vote as bottom of the barrel.

I really loved Harry Harrisons Stainless Steel Rat Series and DOC Smiths The Family d'Alembert, great fun!

Pick up a copy of The Past through Tomorrow it has many of his early works and some of his juveniles as well.

I just finished Starman Jones which was a blast, I was supposed to be saving it for Beach Reading but couldn't wait :-)

#23 I think I missed that one, cos--thanks for the recommendation. Did STAR BEAST get any better?

While looking for something else I found my copy of Red Planet which is roughly 30 years old. Reading it again now (it will be over quick) I think I am enjoying it as much now as when I was young. This is one oldie that has really held up. Written in 1949 too.

The only RAH Juvennile I've read was Podkayne of Mars, which was,,,, ok!

#25 Thanks for reviving the thread, and with such a warm memory, too. RED PLANET was one of my faves at 11, and later on I moved to the same books that seemed to have influenced you: Norton's DAYBREAK 2250, Burroughs' PELLUCIDAR, LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, and MARS series, along with MONSTER MEN. LOST CONTINENT, etc. Liked your neatly catalogued library, too!

Orphans of the Sky isn't one of the Scribner juveniles; it originally saw print in 1941 in Astounding SF. Neither is Glory Road, although I have to say that's the last book of Heinlein's that I actually liked. Time Enough for Love...I still have mixed feelings about that one.

I think the only actual juveniles missing from your list are Podkayne of Mars, Red Planet, and Rocket Ship Galileo.

I read somewhere that Heilein had a deal with the Boy Scouts, he would write a book and put a mention of scouting in and they would promote it maybe. the only one I can remember was farmer in the Sky.

Is this true, and if so, what were the others?

Farmer in the Sky was heavily Scout oriented, it was originally serialised in Boy's Life as Satellite Scout. There were supposed to be more, but I think this is all there was.

24: Star Beast improved very slightly, but still remains the least enjoyable for me.

I finished Red Planet and Space Cadet while on vacation, both of them were fun, I think that 'Space Cadet' was a step ahead of 'Red Planet' in quality, otherwise no complaints:

Space Cadet made number 4 on my list, and Red Planet made number 8 (although it's more like a tie with number 7)

I think there are just 3 Heinlein Juveniles I have left to read, Podkayne of Mars, Rocket Ship Galileo, and Time for the Stars which I'm going to try and complete before the end of the year.

So I will be back reading Heinlein Juveniles shortly.

Next is Rocket Ship Galileo which I managed to find a copy of this week.

I was interested to find out yesterday that Baen/Webscriptions had done a backroom deal to publish further Heinlein E-books, these include, 'Citizen of the Galaxy','Have Space-suit will Travel', along with 'Grumbles from the Grave' and 'Tramp Royale', shortly to be followed by 'Starman Jones', and 'Star Beast'

Toni does love her Heinlein.

Meh. Rocket Ship Galileo was weak. It does have 'A Jolly Rocket Ships and Lashings of Ginger Beer' vibe, but certainly it's at the bottom of my list with Star Beast

This one belongs in the time it was written.