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Summary: A classic -- irresistable.
Review: Like a lot of the other people who wrote reviews, I picked this one up as a kid. It was one of the first SF books I ever read, and certainly the first Heinlein. It's astonishing how well it holds up. It's the best of Heinlein's juveniles -- a very fast-paced, witty, even somewhat satirical coming of age epic. The universe of the book seems both vast and lived-in; the science is hard and believable; the villains are genuinely scary, and our teenage heroes, Kip and Pee Wee, are Heinlein's most likeable and realistically-drawn. Every couple of years I reread this book, reconnect with my youth and take pleasure again in Heinlein's unmatched skill.
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Summary: Very engrossing
Review: Have Space Suit Will Travel is one of the best sci-fi I have read. The environmental descriptions are well done and the character interaction is believable even in the midst of a scene on Pluto (if you can believe that!) Mr. Heinlein makes the scenes come alive with descriptive narration and it is easy to suspend reality when reading this story. The story takes the reader on a journey from a young man's back yard to the moon then to Pluto and beyond. Of course, the message in the work is very strong. Definately a good read!
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Summary: Have Book, Will Read
Review: Have Spacesuit will travel is the type of sci-fi action adventure that keeps you captivated throughout the entire book. I don't read sci-fi or fantasy often but this book just couldn't be put down. You read through Kip competing in a soap contest which could get him his dream; to walk on the moon. He then is abducted by aliens and meets his new best friend. Peewee. A young, intelligent and emotionally girl. Together they escape enemy ships, travel to different galaxies and save the earth ,and all who populate it, from total destruction. All in all a thrilling, non-stop action packed sci-fi novel with more to it than lasers, aliens, and shoot outs that protect the earth from annihilation. A truly excellent novel.
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Summary: Rock and Roll with Mother Thing
Review: Junebug to Peewee! Junebug to Peewee! Read this book before aliens kidnap you! Eleven years after ROCKET SHIP GALILEO, a maturing Heinlein finds his stride in juvenile fiction. Whip out your slipstick and compute those vectors. Kip and Peewee actually are fairly interesting characters in their own right. Libertarians will like the shots at the school system of 1958. Predating THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS you can see the Libertarian leaning of Heinlein already. And, like his best juvenile fiction, it just rocks. Space ship chases, wise fathers, and racing over the surface of the moon in the restored space suit "Oscar" won in a soap jingle contest. Oh my GAWD they're running out of oxygen and just HOW to you get that screw on tank to interface with that cheap tourist spacesuit Peewee's wearing? Good thing Mother Thing is keeping the peace, but the wormfaces are lurking just around the next asteroid ...
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Summary: Don't Be Fooled By The Intended Age...
Review: This book is good reading for anyone. I reccommend it especially to young science fiction fans, or younger readers who want a good first taste of sci-fi. However, this book is excellent no matter who you are. I am an experienced science fiction reader, and I put this book right up there with anything else by Heinlein. Sure, it doesn't have the free love bits and controversial stuff of RAH's later works, but that's not why you started reading Heinlein in the first place anyway, is it?This book is a science fiction classic, period.
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Summary: Heinlein's best juvenile
Review: I've ever been thankful that my home-town, gray-haired librarian so many years ago steered me over to the little shelf where an author named Heinlein was so prominently represented. Among the "juveniles" there, this title was -- and is -- the very best. It is fun fiction, good science fiction, and all-too-relevant satire. Kip's adventures with Peewee (and Oscar!) entertain me to this day. And little did I know that years later *I'd* end up at MIT...
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Summary: Pure Magic
Review: This is the best of Heinlein's juveniles and one of the three or four best books he ever wrote. When I first read it in seventh grade, it made me wish desperately that I was there, that it was all really happening to me, more than any book I had ever read (with the possible exception of Eleanor Cameron's "The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet," for younger readers). I was surprised, on re-reading, how well this book held up. I was also surprised by the intended age level. It is actually directed toward high school kids, and contains a lot of hard science technicalities that went right over my head in seventh grade--but that didn't detract from the story one whit. On the other hand, being able to follow those technicalities added to my enjoyment this time around. I can only think of one group of people who wouldn't enjoy this book, and those are the poor unfortunates who have lost their childhood sense of wonder. That phrase is often associated with fantasy, which "Have Space Suit: Will Travel" is decidedly not. It is a good, taut, hard-science fiction novel that does not HAVE magic--it IS magic. If you can't sense it, you have my deepest sympathy.
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Summary: This is where it all began
Review: About 35 years ago this was the second book I ever read (the first was "The Prince and the Pauper"). Thanks to the librarian in Lawrence, Mass., where I grew up, who directed me to the Robert Heinlein in the juvenile novels section, I began a life-long love affair with science fiction. I've re-read this book as I've grown older, and the sense of awe and wonder that opened my mind so many years ago to a larger universe has never diminished. For those young minds just beginning to develop a taste for sci-fi, this is a great place to start.
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Summary: Still a great book, years later
Review: This is still one of my favorite books that I read when I was a kid. I think I read it the first time around 10, when I was mostly reading stupid romance novels or "teen" books. This book is somewhat aimed at kids in tone, but there are a lot of things you will pick up as an adult reader. What child stuck on earth couldn't sympathize with Kip and his desire to go into space? What child who feels ordinary and average wouldn't like to find out that they have extraordinary genius parents? This book works on a lot of levels and is very fun to read. And plus there is the fun tip of how to remember the order of the planets, which is still useful today. If I have a kid some day like Kip, I'll definitely encourage them to read this book. It's a great introduction to Science Fiction and Heinlein's works.
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Summary: Not A "JUVENILE" Novel
Review: Have Space Suit Will Travel is one of Robert A. Heinleins "juvenile" novels he wrote for Scribners from the late 40s to late 50s. The series is juvenile only because it was marketed as such. Note that Amazon has it listed for ages 4-8! The only thing juvenile are two of the protagonists. I've also noted that one reviewer makes reference to the protagonists "talking space suit". For the record, the space suit does not talk. Clifford Russell talks to it the way some men talk to their cars. Anyway the story is about about a teenager on the edge of manhood. Clifford Russell lives in a small town with his mother and his mildly eccentric father. His father has raised him to believe he can achieve anything if he works hard and systematically. Kip wants to be an engineer and go to the moon. Of course trips to the moon are common in this near future world if you have money. Kip doesn't but thru a series of circumstances obtains and refurbishes a military surplus space suit. Then one day a flying saucer answers his radio call. That's when the fun really starts.... This satire is a masterpiece. I first read it as 9 year old and I've re-read it annually. When I first read it, it was fun. As I got older I began to understand more the things Kip learned. Heinlein is one of the few SF authors to make the details of spaceflight (and the suits operation) accurate. The characters are interesting and the authors comments about people dead on.
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