The Children's Hour Series Volume 16 Science Fiction & Readers Guide

The dust cover of this book, if it ever had one, is long lost. But, the actual cover itself just 'pops' out at you, and makes you want to pick it up.
That's what made by buy 'blind; and, it looks great displated in my Science Fiction section!

The stories are quite basic. It is a children's book after all; and the editors have overlooked some continuity errors.
For example:
In the first line of Richard M. Elam Jr's 'Adventure on Mars' the author describes the character Ray as Jenny's older brother; however, twelve pages later, when they finally meet up with their father; the author now refers to the two siblings as 'twins'.
I read the stories to my younger ones, and they seemed to enjoy them - especially the character of 'Flatfoot' the show more Martian Igyat.

I have given a score (out of ten) which indicates my personal enjoyment of each story; combined with how they were received by my younger children.

What Time is it? - Richard M. Elam Jr.

Tom Lester and Chuck Parker are invited to the home of Dr. Haley, by his daughter Jean, in irder to assist the professor in one of his demonstrations. A large metal box he has named the 'Time Traveller'.
The boys climb inside the 'glitchy' machine to fix a jammed component. That's when things go wrong and their adventures back, and forward (to the future of 2007!) in time begin. 6.5/10

Adventure on Mars - Richard M. Elam Jr.

Ray and Jenny Colby, together with their pet Igyat, decide to drop in on their father, who is conducting an archaeological dig on the Martian surface, in the search for a visual representation of the long extinct Martian race (it appears that the Martians held strong views about not showing themselves).
When the children fall down a shaft and into some hidden tunnels; they come face to face with one of the Martian giants. 4/10

Mars and Miss Pickerell - Ellen MacGregor

This is an abridged version of 'Miss Pickerell Goes to Mars'. The sweet tale of a rather eccentric old lady who through a series of blunders gets mistakenly shot into space. 9/10

The Star Ducks - Bill Brown

Ward Rafferty, top reporter for The Times, had a nose for a good story; but when he turned up on the old Alsop house he could not have imagined in his wildest dreams that he was about to uncover "The biggest story in the world". 8/10

Lancelot Biggs on the Saturn - Nelson Bond

The Truth About Pyecraft - H. G. Wells

Poor old Pyecraft! Great, uneasy jelly of substance! The fattest clubman in London. Then one day he came across Mr. Formalyn, the keeper of a secret recipe handed down from his Indian great-grandmother. The recipe for instant weight-loss - just what Pyecraft needed; or, so he thought! 10/10

The Black Pit of Luna - Robert A. Heinlein

*The Tesseract - Madeleine L'Engle

Pages For Parents

Fairy Tales and the Spirit - Bertha E. Mahony
Poetry and Childhood - Padraic Colum
Biographies Bring New Companions - Marchette Chute
The Child's Personal Library - Bess Porter Adams
Your Child and World Neighborliness - Agatha L. Shea
What Is a Good Science Book? - Herman Schneider
My First Book Friends - Rachel Field
Imagination and Children's Literature - Padraic Colum
Children's Interests in Reading - Miriam Blanton Huber

Who's Who in the Children's Hour
Consultant Editors for the Children's Hour
Author-Title Index
Subject Index
The Children's Hour Illustrators

*'The Tesseract' chapter from 'A Wrinkle in Time' show less

This is one of the books that made me a reader of Science Fiction. I wish they had put the readers guide and indices into another volume, and included more sf!