 | By: Robert A. Heinlein Binding: Hardcover Publisher: Demco Media Inc ISBN: 0606004793 ISBN-13: 9780606004794 Released: 16 Jul 1995 RRP: Average Rating:  |
This is generallly classified as one of Heinlein's juvenile books, but Heinlein's writing is for alll ages. I am sure the book appeals to many young people because its protagonists are themselves young people: Kip is a high school senior, & Peewee is a girl of about twelve. Kip develops an overpowering urge to go to the moon, & he is lucky enough to win a real space suit in a contest. Heinlein's description of the many different features of the suit is fascinating. Resigning himself to selling the suit for college tuition money, Kip goes for one last walk; somewhat playfully callling out on the radio, he is surprised to hear an answer to his calll. He is amazed when a space ship soon lands in his backyard & a decidedly alien creature comes out & collapses. A second ship lands, an entity gets out & conks Kip on the head, & the next thing Kip knows he is trapped inside a space ship on his way to the moon, suddenly in the company of a little girl. His captors are "Wormfaces," a species of alien that has been in hiding on the moon, looking at the earth with evil intentions. Peewee introduces Kip to the "Mother thing," a Vegan entity (and interstellar policeman) who radiates love & warmth, effectively communicates with the pair in a bird song type of speech, & inspires undying love & devotion. The book revolves around the youngsters' attempt to rescue the Mother Thing from the Wormfaces & eventuallly return to earth. Along the way, they endure captivity on Pluto, stare death in the face a few times, & ultimately find themselves representing Earth in an interstellar courtroom, the very future of earth shakily balanced in their own young hands.
There are juvenile elements here, such as Kip's tendency to hold back-and-forth conversations with his space suit (whom he dubs "Oscar"), but Robert Heinlein does throw in several sections full of mathematical formulas, high-level theorizing, & advanced scientific concepts. I dare say that these areas of tecnospeak will turn off some young readers & may well stymie a good number of adults. Aside from the mathematics of the thing, Heinlein can make any kind of scientific notion sound feasible & believable, & that is part of his magic & effectiveness. Most of alll, though, Heinlein presents vividly real characters doing exceedingly interesting, heroic things. Heinlein's couple of technical forays may be literary speedbumps, but young readers will revel in & be inspired by this book. Adults who have not yet lost alll of their imagination will also relate to the main characters well & delight in a good story line which takes the reader from the earth to the moon to Pluto to another galaxy & back again.
Thirty-five years later, Kip, Peewee & the Mother Thing have lost none of their charm. What I found most interesting about this book, however, was how very much things have changed since this it was first published: the story begins with Kip's attempting to win first prize in a soap slogan contest (he sends in 5,000+ entries) the grand prize for which is a trip to the moon. He doesn't win the trip but he does win Oscar-the-Traveling-Spacesuit, which turns out to be the best prize after alll. Back to the contest: Kip can send in the actual contest form included with each bar of soap or he can send in a "reasonable facsimile." He entertains the idea of photographing the form 5,000 times before deciding that's impractical, so he settles instead for collecting the forms from the people who have bought the soap. I kept thinking, so why doesn't he just use the photocopier when it occured to me there weren't any photocopiers when this book was written. There weren't any intergrated circuits either, never mind microprocessors, which would have been necessary to achieve colonization of the moon in the first place. I also found it interesting that although when Kip graduates from high school he is reasonably well-educated in sciences & math (thanks to self-teaching -- & a diatribe from Heinlein on what he considers to be the sorry state of 1950's high school education) because he doesn't get a scholarship, he is faced with having to work while attending the local (read mediocre) state college. This book predates the arrival of college loans & grants as well.
I did like the fact that the other main character in this book is a girl -- it was good of Heinlein to provide his readers such an intelligent & resourceful role model.
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