Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet

Rating:
Summary: It's Midnight....Pre-cisely!
Review: "For a few seconds it was terrifying! Everything seemed to happen at once. First there was the blasting roar, and the boys were flung backward in their seats so violently by the forward impact of the ship that the breath was knocked out of them. At the same time poor Mrs. Pennyfeather lost her wits entirely and squawked and flapped and flew in their faces, beating her wings so wildly that they were completely blinded by her."

If only it were possible to give a book more than five stars. The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet was one of my favorite books as a kid. It tells the story of David Topman and Chuck Masterson, two boys "between the ages of eight and eleven" who, with the help of Mr. Tycho M. Bass, build and pilot a slim, beautiful spaceship to a small (35 miles in diameter) planet named Basidium-X.

My poor words can't begin to express how wonderful is this book. I've read other books I loved as a child - No Flying in the House comes instantly to mind - as an adult and found them a hideous disappointment. But The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet still DOES it for me. And that's pretty darn cool. If you're thinking of buying this book for your child....do it. If you loved it as a child yourself, and are wondering if it could possibly hit you as hard decades later....oh YES.

Rating:
Summary: My favorite memory from Elementary School
Review: A young boy reads an odd green-colored ad in the local newspaper, and is soon helping a charming, greenish fellow build a spaceship that will carry them to a marvelous little planet, visible only to those who view it through a special filter. I discovered the books about the Mushroom Planet one day in my school library around 1960 or so, and immediately fell in love with the planet and the people. Reading it, you felt that indeed any one of us might one day build a spaceship in our back yard and we too could visit the mushroom planet.

Since that time I've been pleasantly surprised to learn how many of my friends were fans of the books as well- and interestingly, how many women had read the books as little girls. They're a wonderful, gentle and imaginative treat for children.

Rating:
Summary: A true classic
Review: David and Chuck are just a couple of regular, ordinary, everyday kids, with a regular, ordinary, everyday chicken, named Mrs. Pennyfeather. One day they happen to answer a regular, ordinary, everyday newspaper ad. Suddenly they find themselves blasting off in a tiny spaceship, headed for a tiny planet that a local astronomer has just discovered! Before they know it, they are on a mission to save the tiny Mushroom Planet from a terrible fate. All they have to depend upon are their wits, the astronomer's mysterious advice, their own love of science -- and their regular, ordinary, everyday chicken, Mrs. Pennyfeather. What will become of them? What will become of the chicken? What will become of the inhabitants of the little planet, the Mushroom People?

I remember first reading this story, in about third grade. Eleanor Cameron makes the story so interesting, and so fun, I didn't even want to go to sleep until I had finished the book. After I finished it, I couldn't decide which was more interesting to me: reading, or doing science. Just remember -- if the kids didn't know their science, the story wouldn't have a happy ending! That's all I'll say here. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone.

This happens to be a really good time to be reading this neat little book. Did you know that real astronomers recently discovered something new in our solar system? They can't decide if they should call it a planet or not. Would you like to learn more about it? See if you can use the Internet to learn about the word "Quaoar," which is what astronomers are calling the object. Or, you could ask your science teacher about it. Who knows -- maybe we'll even find some mutant mushrooms up there, someday!

I would like to recommend another astronomy book that I loved in third grade. It's called "Powers of Ten," by Philip Morrison. I haven't been in third grade for quite awhile, but I STILL love that book. Please take 2 minutes and see if you can find it on Amazon.com -- I bet you'll love it.

Anyway -- "The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet" is amazing. Two thumbs up!

Rating:
Summary: Classic Sci-Fi For The Younger Set
Review: I first read "The Wonderful Flight To The Mushroom Planet" more years ago than I care to remember.
I loved it then and my grandchildren love it now!
This story about 2 ordinary kids who encounter a mysterious scientist and build a spaceship is sure to enchant readers of all ages.
Can David and Chuck save the endangered Musroom Planet?
Will they make it back to Earth?
Just exactly who is Mr. Bass?
You'll just have to read this wonderful book to find out!

Rating:
Summary: A True Treasure in this day and time
Review: I read the Mushroom planet books 49 years ago as a nine year old avid reader. This is one of the books that started me on my quest to learn everything. If you have a fantasy loving child, this ranks right up there with Harry Potter for delightful reading.(I read all of those too!)

Rating:
Summary: One of the most enjoyable kid's books out there.
Review: The first of Cameron's Mushroom Planet books, The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet still casts a spell many years after its first publication. David and Chuck, two best friends, build a rocketship (well, a full-sized model of one) after reading a mysterious newspaper advertisement asking for just such a spaceship and promising "adventure" to the boys who bring the best spaceship to an address that they're not even sure exists. Mystery piles atop mystery and revelation on revelation, until the two boys find themselves on a rescue mission to a tiny, invisible planet orbiting only a short distance (astronomically speaking) from the Earth itself!

The writing is smooth, straightforward, and engaging, and Cameron's characters are sketched out with clear and emphatic detail. There is a bizarre, almost dreamlike quality to the book itself, due at least in part to the juxtaposition of a strong and clear respect for and use of scientific approaches and terminology with truly mystical phenomena that cannot be explained by any science known to man. The scientific wizard Mr. Bass -- there's no better way to describe him -- creates inventions that sound scientific, may even BE scientific in a way, and yet his work is surrounded by all the enigmatic atmosphere of the most mysterious sorceror. At the same time, the rescue and its conclusion rest on firm, rational grounds, so that we keep being anchored back to reality.

A fascinating book and well worth the read even if -- or perhaps especially if -- you are an adult who is trying to remember why some kids' books still stick with you.

Rating:
Summary: Revisit an innocent childhood! First Sci Fi Read as a child!
Review: This wonderful book has touched people from every corner of the planet! I live in Australia, and I vividly remember, this was the first book I ever bought for, and by, myself, in a primary school book club.

It is this book which shaped my love of reading, and awakened in me a sense of wonder, of anything being possible, I was 9 years old when I read it. It is written in such a way as to be perfectly understandable to young children, and reading the online exerpts.. it is as exciting, innocent, and fresh today, as it was some 22 years ago, when I first read it!

And now that I have found it again, after searching for so many years, it will be a great priviledge to buy it, and read it to my children, and help to awaken their sense of wonder!

If you want to encourage your child to read, and make their imagination bloom.. then do them a favor, and buy this book!