I ran across this at a clearance sale at McNally Robinson - surprise, surprise...a Heinlein I hadn't read...and only one dollar! Of course I had to snap it up. In the introduction, this book is described as one of Heinlein's books for juveniles. Well...OK...I suppose so...but really, the main difference between this story and Heinlein's "adult" stories is that there was no graphic sex and the more bloody bits of violence were not described in extreme detail. The plot line is maybe not quite so intricate as some of Heinlein's other works, but it was still a great story. Aliens, good guys, bad guys, space ships, cool new weapons...it's all there. I enjoyed it. Don't let the fact that it's classified as "juvenile" turn you away. It's a story that anyone could like.

I'll be taking this book with me to our monthly get together at the Park Theatre this evening. If no one takes it home, it will stay on the shelf patiently awaiting a new reader.

Just like Kismet, I had not read this Heinlein either and I thought I had read all of them, especially his juveniles. Ms Busby (or her predecessor in the library at my highschool) must have let me down. That's how I first came to read Heinlein. There were quite a few on the shelf and I devoured them, one after another. I just couldn't pass it up last night when Kismet brought it to the meeting. Thanks.

Between Planets was written by Robert Heinlein in 1951 as one of his juvenile science fiction books. I thought I had read all of those in the 1960s when I was a juvenile science fiction reader but somehow this one escaped me. In 2008 Baen decided to re-issue it and this edition is the result.

Any book written in 1951 and predicting future scientific discoveries is going to get a lot of things wrong. As Travis Taylor puts it “Think of it, still using analog radios on a school campus, on the satellite-covered planet Earth, in the future, with rattlesnake-burning ray guns, and sliderules. Beautiful.” Still, being Heinlein the story is dramatic and interesting and that’s mainly what counts.
Don Harvey is the only child of two space-faring scientists. His mother was born on Venus, his father on Earth and Don was born in space. Currently he is attending school in New Mexico while his parents are working on Mars. Then his parents send an urgent message telling him to come to Mars immediately. His mother also requested that Don look up Uncle Dudley before he left. Turns out his parents are worried there will be an interplanetary war. Don fights the message a little bit but complies and even looks up “Uncle Dudley” (who is no blood relative but a good friend of his parents) before taking the shuttle to the space station Circum-Terra. Uncle Dudley sent a package to the school but Don hadn’t received it. They both hope that the school will forward it so that Don can take it to his parents. It seems the package is interesting to the security police as well. Don does manage to get it but finds it contains a cheap ring wrapped in tissue paper. Don thinks the paper is the important part but the security police manage to get that before they let Don get on his shuttle. At Circum-Terra the Venerian rebels have seized control. They send all of the Earthlings back to earth but Don manages to get on the ship going to Venus even though he was destined for Mars. At present and for the foreseeable future there will be no ships going to Mars. The rebels blow up the space station and then return to Venus. Of course the Federation retaliates and Don is caught up in the war. It turns out people are still trying to get the ring from him. Don has vowed to hang on to the ring until he can give it to his parents but when will he be able to do that and will he be able to keep the ring? Therein hangs the story.
Some of Heinlein’s later philosophies show up in this early work. He is anti-government, pro-individualist and Don is his typical hero. Unlike his later books there is no sex or even suggestion of sex. As risqué as it gets is a kiss from his romantic interest. According to the introduction that was even controversial at the time since it was felt his young, male readers wouldn’t be interested. Little did his editors know how far that would progress!

This release is for the 2012 52 Towns in 52 Weeks release challenge. I thought this was a perfect release for this town.