I remember reading Have Space Suit - Will Travel from the library as a kid, and bought this used copy in September 1980 in order to re-read it. I see from my notes that I re-read it again in December 1991. Well, I just bought myself a newer copy, so this one is now available for bookcrossing. It's a little yellowed, but still in very readable condition, with a clear vinyl covering I put on at some point.

back cover: "By winning a second-hand space suit in a soap contest, eighteen-year-old Kip opens the airlock of adventure into space. Realistic Earthlings, credible B.E.M.'s, exciting adventures, unobtrusive technical information, sly digs at American education practices make this a Heinlein to be read with pleasure."

The full list of the "Heinlein juveniles" is:
1. Rocket Ship Galileo, 1947
2. Space Cadet, 1948
3. Red Planet, 1949
4. Between Planets, 1951
5. The Rolling Stones aka Space Family Stone, 1952
6. Farmer in the Sky, 1953
7. Starman Jones, 1953
8. The Star Beast, 1954
9. Tunnel in the Sky, 1955
10. Time for the Stars, 1956
11. Citizen of the Galaxy, 1957
12. Have Space Suit—Will Travel, 1958

I've formed an international bookray for this book. The book is US mass-market size 6 7/8" x 4 1/4" x 5/8" (17.6cm x 10.5cm x 1.4cm), weighing approximately 6oz (0.16kg). There are 255 pages of reading.

For those who have not participated in a bookray before, it works like this: You will receive a Private Message from the bookcrosser before you requesting your mailing address, and then the book will be sent to you. When it arrives, make a journal entry so everyone knows where it is. While you have the book, make whatever journal entries you like, especially after you've finished the book. Photos of the book having adventures are fun too! Please try to read the book within 3 or 4 weeks. When you're done, send a Private Message to the bookcrosser after you requesting their mailing address. It is ALWAYS acceptable to mail using the least expensive method, even if it is slower. Create one last journal entry when you send it, so everyone knows where it is. If anything unexpected happens, send a Private Message to me for direction. After the initial flight plan is completed, do your best to ray it forward to other readers. That's all! Enjoy!

Flight Plan:
TomHl (Pewaukee, Wisconsin, USA) international
Minerva101 (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) prefer Canada/US
rureading (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) prefer Canada/US
chich (Sant Antoni de Portmany, Illes Balears, Spain) prefer EU
kizmiaz (Lisboa, Belém, Portugal) prefer Europe
vedranaster (Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia) anywhere, prefer low in list
abigailann (Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK) UK only
starflash (Crawley, West Sussex, UK) prefer EU
martinburo (Norwich, Norfolk, UK) international <-- HERE FOR 5 MONTHS
madpocky (Manila, Philippines) international asked to be skipped
bookowl1000 (FoShan, Guangdong, China) international

Today, I finalized the flight plan, and launched the bookray towards Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The book was sent first class from the Pewaukee Post Office, and hopefully will arrive in about a week.

Here's some discussion questions for the readers - you don't have to answer them if you don't want to.

1) Have you read anything else by Robert A. Heinlein ("juveniles" or others), and how does this compare?
2) The book was published a little more than 50 years ago. What would have to change if it were written today?
3) Who is "the new Heinlein"?

And finally, the fun question:

4) Tell us your story of the first lunar landing on July 20, 1969.

I know some of you were not alive yet, but maybe you still have something to say about it. I grew up in Wisconsin, but that summer I was 14 years old and living with my family in a campground in Connecticut. We set up a 12-inch black and white TV on a flimsy TV tray and watched outdoors at our campsite. We were joined by some kids we knew from a family from Montreal that was also there for the summer. I was having a secret crush on their 14 year old Michelle that summer, but because of the language barrier, we couldn't do much more than gesture at each other. My little brother was friends with her little brother as well. An odd memory, but it's what I have.

This book arrived safely in my mailbox today. I am excited to read it and should have it off to rureading on April 9th when I see her at our monthly Bookcrossing meeting. Thanks so much for this ray, TomHl, and I will journal again after I`ve read it :)

I completely enjoyed this fun little book! Loved how tongue-in-cheek it could be at times, especially with the jabs at public education which echo still today. Neat idea and it went in a direction I wasn't expecting and I think I would like my children to call me 'Mother-thing' from now on - doesn't that sound fun? (grin)
Anyways, to answer your discussion questions (which I think is a fantastic idea - I've never participated in a ray with discussion questions before):
1. I have read a few other Heinlein books ie. Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers, The Man Who Sold the Moon(short stories), The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Red Planet and a few others which I honestly just cannot recall at the moment. His adult fiction is darker and more serious and more thought provoking, though I do really like how his juvie books don't talk down to the kid(or in my case, adult) reading it. There is good vocabulary in Heinlein juvie books. The only othe rjuvie I have read is Red Planet which I liked very much because when I was a teen I went through a Mars obsession phase and read anything Mars I could find including, of course, Bradbury's Martian Chronicles (still one of my all time faves!).
2. I think this book stands up to the test of time quite well - outside of the current slang terms used, and some financial and entertainment references very little would need to change ( I mean, nobody says 'swell' anymore - it's 'sweet' and what exactly is a soda jerk? Don't we have customer service representatives? hee hee)
3. I don't think I could pick a 'new' Heinlein anymore than I could pick a 'new' Bradbury or 'new' Asimov. That being said Spider Robinson writes in a similar style (I just finished Telempath and have also read Off the Wall at Callahans and Time Travellers Strictly Cash)
4. I missed the lunar landing by a year - I was born in 1970 :( However, I have watched the footage many times and remember that at one point when I was a little girl I wanted to grow up to be an astronaut and terraform the moon (obviously my dream never came true - wah! )

Thank you soooo much TomHl for a fun book and I will be passing it off to rureading tomorrow at our local Bookcrossing meeting.

I am giving this book to rureading as she is next on the list. I can't wait to read her review :)

Minerva101 gave me the book at the Meetup today. For a paperback circa 1958 (price $1.25) it's in pretty good condition. Thank you for the book, TomHl.

I enjoyed the book except for the passages explaining the calculations of the distances between planets. I'm gonna have to take Heinlein's word for the accuracy of the math because me and the sliderule didn't get along in school. ;)
1. This is the first book by Heinlein I have read, and thanks to Minerva101's enthusiasm for sci-fi, I have recently read two sci-fi books: Dust by Arthur Slade (2001), and Protector by Larry Niven (1973). Slade's 'Dust' is a juvenile sci-fi set in Depression-era, small town Saskatchewan, with a suspenseful plot as a young boy tries to rectify the problems of an 'evil' that has come to town. This hero is similar to Heinlein's Kip, with a young boy being almost the only person capable of eliminating the alien, but the setting is entirely on Earth, no space travel.
Niven's 'Protector' storyline has similarities with Phssthpok from a distant galaxy, travelling great distances over centuries to defend his descendants threatened by other races. Brennan, a human living in an Asteroid Belt, originally conscripted to defend Earth, due to long periods of time spent with Phssthpok as they travel through space, eventually rethinks his mission, and determines one for himself.
2. The story relates to the year it was written with the slang used, the prices stated, etc., but the overall storyline is still entertaining and worthwhile. In the Fifties, Sputnik and the Space Race was an American obsession reflected in sci-fi books and movies. Today's teens have so much more social media and video gaming vying for their attention. A few points caught my attention though:
-- Kip was worried about finding $500 for a semester of college. I looked up the cost of a year at MIT in 2011: tuition $40732, room & meals $11775.
-- Kip built his own TV. Bill Gates built computers as a teen.
-- Kip fixing the oxygen supply on the moon reminded me of the Apollo 13 mission when the astronauts had to repair the oxygen system with spare parts on hand.
-- I don't recall my daughter using a sliderule in high school, but she had a graphing calculator and a computer.
3. As I have read few sci-fi books, I don't have a clue.
4. I was 10 years old and I recall watching it on a black and white TV with my parents and siblings in the living room. While I didn't have aspirations for space travel, my daughter loved aliens and anything to do with space, and planned to be an astronaut until she realized she needed about 5 degrees, and a pilot's license to be even considered a candidate.

Thanks TomHl for the opportunity to read a great book. I have contacted the next person in the flight plan and the countdown for the launch has started....

3...2...1...Blast Off! Mission Control confirms launch of the book to chich of Spain via Canada Post - First Class Airmail today.

Book received today, many thanks for passing it on rureading! Thanks so much for all the goodies too, I can't wait to taste the different teas:-)

Thanks for hosting this ray TomHl! I'll finish my current read and will get right on to this one:)

This was an entertaining read but not as enjoyable as other sci-fi novels I’ve read. I have to admit I’ve never been a big fan of the “trip to the moon and surrounding planets” sub genre of sci-fi. Still, I wanted to give this book a try as it a classic of its genre and because I recently read (and loved) “Stranger in a strange land”, also by Heinlein. “Have space suit” did feel a bit outdated at times. It’s more of a general feeling than particular details in the book but I could still feel that the book at been written quite some time ago. An interesting read nonetheless!

Thanks for sharing TomHl! I already have kizmiaz’s address and will be sending him the book today.

Book sent to kizmiaz today, enjoy! :)

Just got it.
Still have a couple of rings to finish but it shouldn't take long.

I really didn't enjoy this book that much, unlike other more adult book by the author.
The whole story just felt... too juvenile?
It's not a bad story it just feels too simple when compared with other books I've read by the same author, and that is my main problem with it.
I'll keep it travelling soon.

Received this oldie this morning. Reminds me of my childhood, when I leafed through my mum and dad's books with same yellow edges and the same inviting old-book fragrance (which modern books just don't get, even when they get old and dusty).

Looking forward to reading it. I have another ring book to finish before this one, after that it'll soon be on its way, as it is not a long book.

Two mostly rainy and cold days at the seaside saw to it that I finished this book rather quickly once I started with it properly. One can do only so much work each day, the rest has to be play. And in absence of sunshine, and an abundance of damp, miserable weather, reading it is. :)

I've never read anything by Robert A. Heinlein before.
I generally liked his writing style and I enjoyed the juvenile adventure and simple plot. But I must admit I skimmed quite a few pages containing endless calculations and technical terms. The cover calls them unobtrusive, but I found them just a bit too much in-your-face for my taste.

While the yellow book edges and the nice old papery smell betray the book's age, I didn't find the contents to be outdated. I'm not sure though if, as the world stands today, we would have gotten off so lightly in that Security Council. But then again, the space programme has been stagnating a bit, so maybe we're still not a big enough threat. ;)

I have no idea who the new Heinlen would be as I haven't read that much SF yet, old or new. Maybe I'll get back to you on that one some day.

And lastly, on the day of the first lunar landing (are we sure it really took place? *mischievous grin*), I wasn't even a glimmer in my mum and dad's minds. They would be married five months after the landing. I was a long, loooong way away in the future. Then again, maybe I was alive in some other incarnation? :)

Off to PM abigailann for her address. I was sure I had already done it when I received the book, but it seems I haven't, as I can't find any such messages in my email.
*shaking head* So young but so senile already! *grin*

ETA (edited to add): Thanks for sharing TomHl! It was a joy reading this. :)

The book is now in the care of the Post Office,
on its way to abigailann in England.

Enjoy! :)

Book arrived just as I was setting off for my holidays. Apologies for taking so long to record its arrival- will read asap and then send on.

What started off as a classic science fiction story soon turned into something more. Heinlein presents human characters that are easy to relate to and places them in unusual situations, as well as some which will be familiar to sci-fi readers. Whilst a few of his other characters were hard to imagine, others weree presented in such a way that I began to feel I was getting a small insight into their society. Definatly worth reading, a classic in its own right!

Contacting the next reader now

Sent to the next person

arrived today from AbigailAnn, thank you (Rut is on the way!)

update 22.9.11-still reading a rather long book promised in a swap, this one will be next, I'll get to it as soon as I can xx

1.10.11-STARTING TODAY
14.10-I'm finding this really hard going, not like the other Heinlein I read! Giving it another push this weekend........

I have got half way through this and it has been a struggle all the way-I hate giving up on a book, but I have had this one long enough. Moving on Monday. Thank you for including me and sorry to have kept it a while as I persevered!

Sorry, this arrived a while ago. I've read it and have asked madpocky for an address.