Rating: 
Summary: Childhood and Adult Favorite
Review: Learn about the native life and what going away to school means to a couple of boys on Mars. Heinlein makes life on Mars seem real and quiet normal - in a Martian sort of way. This is an less edited version than the one I loved as a child and just as exciting.
Rating:
Summary: If Heinlein's name is on the cover, just buy it!
Review: Marlow and his strange-looking Martian friend Willis were allowed to travel only so far. But one day Willis unwittingly tuned into a treacherous plot that threatened all the colonists on Mars, and it set Jim off on a terrfying adventure that could save--or destroy--them all!***** Another one for the Heinlein Collector! A young colonist on Mars befriends a strange round creature called Willis who gets him into trouble when he goes away to school, but whose presence and friendship finally enable the colonials to negotiate a treaty with the Martians.
Rating:
Summary: This one hooked me on the Sci-Fi genre for life!
Review: My older brother left this old paper back laying on his bedroom dresser. Not being an avid reader at the time (10 yrs) I picked it up and basically blew a week of my summer vacation "escaping" into the surrealistic "alien scapes" that only Mr. Heinlein can draw this was the 1st novel that I can recall actually reading all the way through. I've read books by almost every other author of this genre and have never encountered a group of works more "readable" than R.A.H.'s. Tunnel in the sky, Glory road, & Stranger in a strange land combined to give me repeated combination punches to the Cerebelum. If you have a young 'un' and want to get them thouroughly HOOKED on reading, lay some Heinlein works around the house
Rating:
Summary: A serious Heinlein fan needs both editions to get full story
Review: One of Heinlein's great juvenile novels, this is the story of Mars colonist Jim Marlowe and his pet Martian Willis. With Jim's pal Frank, they travel the canals to school, where it turns out Willis is not allowed. After Jim tries to complain, guns are banned and the student government is dissolved by a tyrannical Headmaster. Willis learns more tyranny is in store for the colony, and the boys must escape across the deadly martian terrain to warn their parents.
The edition of this novel currently in print boasts "The entire, uncut novel!" on the cover, but on careful reading I discovered the older edition contains text which is missing from the new one, particularly the part about the Headmaster dissolving the student government (item 7 on page 48 of the old edition). Also on page 57, "The office of student armorer is abolished . . ." A serious Heinlein fan needs both editions to get the full story.
Rating:
Summary: Red Planet book review
Review: Red Planet is a very good book. I really enjoyed reading it. It was very complicated and exciting. Half of the plot is kept from you untill the last 4th of the book. That's when it gets really exciting! You discover that many secrets have been kept from you, and you meet many new characters. All in all this book is one of the very best books I have ever read, and I suggest it to everyone in the world!
Rating:
Summary: The uncut version of Heinleins's classic juvenile novel
Review: Red Planet is one of Heinlein's most enjoyable, best selling, and important juvenile novels. It's hard to think of it as juvenile fiction, though, because it is a fantastically fun read which introduces thought-provoking ideas on sociological and otherwise adult subjects. Of course, this was not always the case. Alice Dalgliesh, Heinlein's editor at Scriber's, objected to several themes and ideas in the original manuscript, much to Heinlein's justified consternation. He eventually gave in and removed several sections, including a couple of pages about the legal use of guns by the young boys in his Martian world and a section centering on the production of eggs by the fuzzy little bouncer Willis--she eliminated every mention of sex in the book, despite the fact that each such mention was beyond innocuous. Heinlein floated the idea of listing her as the co-author, wanting her to take some of the blame for a novel that he himself felt no pride for, fearing that Dalgliesh's hatchet job had produced a story that would harm his reputation. It actually became a fan favorite, and now we can read it complete and unedited, the way RAH originally intended it to be read. Jim Marlowe is a youngster living on Mars, and he has a "pet"-friend named Willis. Willis is a "bouncer," a furry little guy of some intelligence whose most amazing quality is an innate capability to reproduce exactly anything he hears. Jim takes Willis with him when he and his friend Frank go off to school. The new headmaster makes life miserable for all the boys with his military discipline, and he has the audacity to take Willis away from Jim and lock him away in his office. A bold rescue attempt by the brave lads manages to recover Willis before the headmaster sells him off to the London Zoo, but the friends' joy soon turns to surprise when Willis plays back a conversation he overheard about the Company putting an end to the seasonal migrations on Mars. This means that Jim's family in the South will be forced to remain where they are all winter, where the temperature easily falls below one hundred degrees freezing. Now it is up to the boys to escape from the school and somehow find their way back home (hundreds of miles away) and inform their families of the Company's intentions. Only their bravery and a little help from Mars' unique native inhabitants give them a chance to save the day. The Martians are fascinating in and of themselves; needless to say, they are something entirely different from little green men. This is speculative fiction. It doesn't really matter that we now know that Mars is totally unlike the Mars of Heinlein's story. This is just a riveting adventure of two brave boys and their unusual friend. The story could work in any number of settings. The science is there to build the framework, but Heinlein never indulges in any significant scientific pontifications. I have no problem enjoying Heinlein's juvenile fiction, largely because the pace of the narrative rarely slows down from start to finish. This is certainly the type of story I loved as a boy, and I still love it. Despite Scribner's editor Dalgliesh's misgivings, the unexpurgated text of Red Planet is a wonderful story of loyalty, honor, duty, family, adventure, mutual respect between cultures, scientific knowledge, freedom, and liberty--the very best type of tale for youngsters to read and enjoy then, now, and forever. I can hardly even guess at how many youngsters became life-long science fiction fans as a direct result of having read this incredible novel.
Rating:
Summary: The uncut version of Heinleins's classic juvenile novel
Review: Red Planet is one of Heinlein's most enjoyable, best selling, and important juvenile novels. It's hard to think of it as juvenile fiction, though, because it is a fantastically fun read which introduces thought-provoking ideas on sociological and otherwise adult subjects. Of course, this was not always the case. Alice Dalgliesh, Heinlein's editor at Scriber's, objected to several themes and ideas in the original manuscript, much to Heinlein's justified consternation. He eventually gave in and removed several sections, including a couple of pages about the legal use of guns by the young boys in his Martian world and a section centering on the production of eggs by the fuzzy little bouncer Willis--she eliminated every mention of sex in the book, despite the fact that each such mention was beyond innocuous. Heinlein floated the idea of listing her as the co-author, wanting her to take some of the blame for a novel that he himself felt no pride for, fearing that Dalgliesh's hatchet job had produced a story that would harm his reputation. It actually became a fan favorite, and now we can read it complete and unedited, the way RAH originally intended it to be read. Jim Marlowe is a youngster living on Mars, and he has a "pet"-friend named Willis. Willis is a "bouncer," a furry little guy of some intelligence whose most amazing quality is an innate capability to reproduce exactly anything he hears. Jim takes Willis with him when he and his friend Frank go off to school. The new headmaster makes life miserable for all the boys with his military discipline, and he has the audacity to take Willis away from Jim and lock him away in his office. A bold rescue attempt by the brave lads manages to recover Willis before the headmaster sells him off to the London Zoo, but the friends' joy soon turns to surprise when Willis plays back a conversation he overheard about the Company putting an end to the seasonal migrations on Mars. This means that Jim's family in the South will be forced to remain where they are all winter, where the temperature easily falls below one hundred degrees freezing. Now it is up to the boys to escape from the school and somehow find their way back home (hundreds of miles away) and inform their families of the Company's intentions. Only their bravery and a little help from Mars' unique native inhabitants give them a chance to save the day. The Martians are fascinating in and of themselves; needless to say, they are something entirely different from little green men. This is speculative fiction. It doesn't really matter that we now know that Mars is totally unlike the Mars of Heinlein's story. This is just a riveting adventure of two brave boys and their unusual friend. The story could work in any number of settings. The science is there to build the framework, but Heinlein never indulges in any significant scientific pontifications. I have no problem enjoying Heinlein's juvenile fiction, largely because the pace of the narrative rarely slows down from start to finish. This is certainly the type of story I loved as a boy, and I still love it. Despite Scribner's editor Dalgliesh's misgivings, the unexpurgated text of Red Planet is a wonderful story of loyalty, honor, duty, family, adventure, mutual respect between cultures, scientific knowledge, freedom, and liberty--the very best type of tale for youngsters to read and enjoy then, now, and forever. I can hardly even guess at how many youngsters became life-long science fiction fans as a direct result of having read this incredible novel.
Rating:
Summary: I first read this 32 years ago and it remains a favorite!
Review: The first time I read this I was in fourth grade. It was a warm summer day and the library smelled odd. The book had a red hardcover with a gold outline of a boy in a spacesuit. It was dirty, probably dropped by the last kid who took it out. But it was about living on Mars, and we had not even landed on the Moon yet, so this was a true fantasy. I took it home and read it in one sitting, then I read it again. My son looks forward to reading this soon, too! A classic!
Rating:
Summary: This is how I got hooked!
Review: This book a 10??? Probably not with all things considered, but this was one of the two books that got me into SF back when I was a teenager. (The other was The Stars are Ours by Andre Norton). This is fun and will spark the imagination even though Pathfinder has yet to find a canal or a "willis." Do your kids a favor, get them this book to read
Rating:
Summary: Kids of all ages will understand and like this book.
Review: This book I thought was dazzaling and very descriptive. It is fun to read because you actualy feel like your Jim and holding Willis. Kids of all ages will uderstand and love this book!!!!!!!!!!!!
|
