So there’s always room for another Heinlein thread, isn’t there?
In this, I thought we’d poll out the juveniles. The books that popularized Heinlein with the SF community and a million young boys in the forties and fifties.
I’m going to define ‘juvenile’ as coming from the list available at the wikipedia bibliography. In it they list works by year of publication but mark those generally considered juveniles.
So what say ye, my friends? Which of RAHs early books is worth the win? I’ve set the poll to allow for more than one answer and I’ll chime in later with my choices. But I want to hear the whys and wherefores of your choice!
Ouch. What a choice to have to make. It’s hard to seperate which is his best from which is my favorite.Tunnel In The Sky and The Rolling Stones are my faves, but Podkayne and Citizen are better works.
Well, I’m a huge fan of his juveniles, so I voted for all of them except Time for the Stars, Rocket Ship Galileo and Space Cadet. None of those three are complete crap, but they never did much for me ( well, okay - TftS is kinda crap IMHO ).
Of the rest…hmmm…
1.) Citizen of the Galaxy and Have Spacesuit, Will Travel
2.) Tunnel in the Sky
3.) Star Beast ( rollicking fun )
4.) Red Planet ( a bit inflated perhaps, sentimental favorite )
5.) Starman Jones
6.) Farmer in the Sky
7.) Podkayne of Mars ( I like bratty Podkayne )
8.) The Rolling Stones
9.) Between Planets
However all except the first two or three are subject to shuffling on any given day. I could give a solid argument as to why, say, Between Planets is better than Star Beast.
Heinlein’s best novel was likely the The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and my own personal favorite work of his is probably the collection The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hogue. But his juveniles really were his greatest achievement taken as a whole.
Like **silenus **I had a problem sorting favourites from the best but in the end went for Have Spacesuit, The Star Beast, and the **Rolling Stones **- probably in that order.
I haven’t read (or listened to the audiobooks of) enough of the juvies to make a worthy vote (Only Citizen of the Galaxy and Farmer in the Sky, both of which I really liked). But I am curious as to whether Orphans of the Sky is considered a juvenile? Seems like it to me. Or was that an oversight?
My favorite is Space Cadet, but I figured that three was about the right number to vote for, so I also placed votes for Tunnel in the Sky and The Rolling Stones, in that order. The only one I actively dislike is Time for the Stars: Heinlein never really had a good grasp on relativity, and I can gloss over that when it’s an incidental point like in “Methuselah’s Children”, but when it’s the entire focus of a book, it’s too hard to ignore.
I know this, but I’ve never understood why it’s considered relevant. Who published something doesn’t change who the target audience was.
I would say the best five of his juveniles – and I view these as being as good or better than most of the adult science fiction of the time – are *Citizen of the Galaxy *(one of his best novels, period), Tunnel in the Sky, Farmer in the Sky, The Rolling Stones, and Star Beast.
*Space Cadet, Between Planets, and Have Spacesuit, Will Travel *are pretty good.
There’s not much to recommend about Time for the Stars, Starman Jones, and Red Planet.
*Rocket Ship Galileo *and *Podkayne of Mars *are steaming piles of shite.
I ended up voting for 7 and I regret not also voting for Red Planet.
I voted for these 7: The Rolling Stones, Starman Jones, The Star Beast, Citizen of the Galaxy, Have Space Suit - Will Travel & Podkayne of Mars
All of them were such a big part of my childhood. Rocket Ship Galileo is the only one that I don’t enjoy rereading though it was the first that I read.
RAH really is the Grand Master of Science Fiction. Lets see if the poll supports this.
Have Spacesuit, Will Travel is probably responsible for me attending MIT, so that’s a sentimental favorite. I think that Citizen of the Galaxy is probably the best of his juveniles. I also voted for Podkayne and The Rolling Stones.
Which Podkayne are we talking about here? And don’t forget, a lot of GIRLS read Heinlein juveniles, too, even though they were written for and marketed to boys.
Embarassingly, I voted for the only two I’ve read, but since I love them both I figure it’s ok.
Citizen of the Galaxy is probably the Heinlein book I’ve re-read the most (well, that or Strainger). It’s a great story and comes off my bookshelf with relative regularity.
Have Spacesuit . . . well, I’ve only read it once. But I remember reading it. I remember the exact book I checked out of the library in middle school; hardcover with that special library plastic protector on it. Dark space/stars cover with nothing but the text of the title on it. I don’t remember the whole story. I remember awesome and inspiring details of how the space suit looked/worked. I remember a trial of humanity kind of thing. Mostly, I remember being enthralled by the whole thing. A significant read in my sci-fi experience.
I like the zaniness of “Have Spacesuit Will Travel.”
A personal favorite isn’t on this list – I think it’s called “Orphans of the Sky” – takes place in a huge interstellar ship, that has been traveling so long (and has become radioactively dangerous in the outer hulls) that the occupants don’t realize it is not the whole universe. Re-read it many a time.