Planet Out of the Past
by James Lincoln Collier
7 Members (3.00)
On This Page
Description
Char, Weddy, and Nuell are excited over their discovery on the strange planet Pleisto but also terrified, for the leader of their expedition, Professor Joher, has disappeared. Nuell and Weddy, Joher' children, are concerned for his safety, while Char, his research assistant, feels not only worried but responsible for all of them. He realizes that these prehistoric people may have carried off the professor-and may even have killed him. The three set out to find the professor, and their search show more leads them through a frightening world, where they must fight for their lives every day, against mastodons and jaguars as well as Pleisto's prehistoric inhabitants. They befriend a wounded hunter, a man who is like their own ancestors from millions of years earlier, and hope that he will lead them to the professor. As their journey progresses, Char is thrilled to have the chance to study prehistoric humans so closely, but he is disturbed by the violence of everyday life on Pleisto, by its uncomfortable similarity to life on Earth, and by his own feelings of competition and aggression. In an exciting climax, he learns about human courage, love, generosity, and cooperation. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
Member Reviews
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information

100+ Works 8,719 Members
James Lincoln Collier was born in 1928. He graduated from Hamilton College in 1950 and served in the infantry during the Korean War. After college, Collier worked first for six years as a magazine editor, writing in his spare time. In 1958, he quit to work free-lance, and has since then published over six hundred magazine articles for periodicals show more such as, Playboy, Esquire, the New York Times Magazine and the Village Voice. Collier has also published a half dozen books for adults, the most recent being The Making of Jazz, which was nominated for an American Book Award, was named to the London Observer's Books of the Year List for 1979, and has been published in English, French, German, and Russian editions. Collier also published twenty-three children's books, five in collaboration with his brother, Christopher Collier. These have been published in seven languages, and have won the Child Study Association Book Award, a Newbery Honor Medal, a Jane Addams Peace Prize, and a National Book Award nomination. Many of them have appeared on the ALA Notable Book List, and others on the New York Public Library's recommended book list. Collier is also a professional trombonist, and writes fiction and nonfiction on the subject of music. His book, Rock Star, won an award from the Child Study Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College. My Brother Sam Is Dead was a Newbery Honor Book in 1975 and was designated a Notable Book by the American Library Association as well as being nominated for a National Book Award in 1975. Jump Ship to Freedom was named a Notable Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies in 1981 by a joint committee of the National Council for the Social Studies and the Children's Book Council. War Comes to Willy Freeman is a companion book to the novel. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1983
- People/Characters
- Weddy Joher; Nuell Joher; Char Slyte; Professor Joher; Handy
- Important places
- Pleisto (planet)
- Dedication
- For Lydia and jamie
- First words
- "Do you think he got killed?" Weddy said.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)It was good enough for me.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 7
- Popularity
- 2,733,120
- Rating
- (3.00)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7



