Will Travel (Heinlein's Juveniles Book 12) - Have Space Suit

Although dated (and what isn't dated today), this is another great book by Heinlein. I remember finding this book in the school library when I was a kid and never forgot reading it from cover to cover. Now I am sharing it with my kids. Great adventure!

I don't know how many times I've read this wonderful book, but I always hate arriving at the last page. If you want a place to start your exploration of the golden age of sci-fi, you couldn't make a better choice.

This is a very old science fiction book that was actually quite imaginative for its time. I was impressed with the ideas of how to walk on the moon expressed by the author long before anyone ever walked up there on the moon. Fun book.

Heinlein what can I say...I first discovered him when I was about 13. My brother made the mistake of leaving his book laying around. I picked it up and was soon engrossed. I snuck it to my room so I could read it in peace (anyone with older siblings will understand.) an hour or so later I heard his obnoxious knock on my door. Quickly shoving the book under my pillow I opened the door. Denying I knew anything about where his book was I slammed my door in his face. Aahh little sisters can be a pain with doors! Two days later my Mom "accidentally" found it under the couch while she was cleaning! It was while she was "discussing" this with my brother I swiped Rocket Ship Galileo from his room! ;) I recommend Heinlein's books to any and everyone!

I loved this story as a youth. The book is very clean without trying t be. It pulls you in, enamors you with its characters and plot, and leaves you satisfied & happy. I can't help but wish the author would've done a sequel!

Have Spacesuit - Will Travel is the first book I ever read myself. I was not interested in reading at all until I pulled this off the bookmobile in the 3rd grade. How fortunate I was to pick this masterpiece that opened my mind and imagination. RAH did it again later with Stranger in a Strange Land, a classic after which, unlike LRH, he shoo'd off the nutcases who wanted to make it into a cult.

I read the book as a child and always remembered the story. I was excited to read it again.

Unfortunately, the seller sent me a paperback copy and not the hard copy I paid for.
I was credited for the purchase but disappointed sice the hard copy was supposedly in stock.

Great book! However, I bought this for a college class and discovered that the first several pages are missing. My book starts on page 11 and I've missed several things discussed in my class. I have enjoyed the book but am unhappy with the copy I received.

If you have a youngster whose interested in SF, then give them all the Heinlein Juveniles. They're great for opening young eyes. But for me, wanting to see if I'd liked it as much as I did forty years ago... it just doesn't have the same magic. Who said you can't go home again? Well, they were right.

This did ask me to review the "product" so I can't ignore the fact that this is overpriced for electronic publication. The story I would rate 4s is not for the abusive pricing practice of this publisher.

I really enjoyed how the main character got a space suit and fixed it. Once he fixed the space suit, he got captured by aliens, and the rest of the story is pretty much how he got his chain yanked. This part of the story which is most of the book isnt interesting as the main character ended up only making two choices the rest of the book.

Buy this book if you have a child who needs to learn how to transcend limitations.

When I first read it (back in the 60s dark times when things were coming apart in my city and the country in general) I was first impressed by the colloquial writing style and how well the writer could understand the way teens experienced the mind killing numbness of school, but dreamed their private dreams of the future. And after that introductory hook I was thrilled by the rapid progression into an action/adventure story with a kidnap by unsavory thugs, enslavement by worm faced aliens, miraculous escape, encounter with bug eyed aliens who may or may not be friends, a peek at a giant galactic empire and a very junior high level of wonderment at the mysteries of the female human animal.

I think that Heinlein more than any other 20th century children's writer showed us the way that average kids like us could overcome the passive mentality enforced by our pop culture. In this story teenaged Kip, gently nudged by his parents, awakens to the fact that he'll never achieve his dream of going to the moon if he doesn't do it on his own. His high school is just a sheep farm with courses like commercial arithmetic, handicrafts, gym, all designed to teach "democratic social living" (sound familiar?). So he is enlightened that the only way to get into space will involve learning tough things like foreign languages, math through calculus, pre engineering level shopwork, electronic design. So he learns them on his own the hard way with...shudder...books and hands on experience. His father shows him a contest, ridiculous in retrospect, which consists of writing soap slogans for a chance to win a trip to the moon. And he does win, getting an equally ridiculous old space suit. He spends all summer refitting it so that it works again, knowing all the time he'll have to sell it to get money for college. (What, no free government money, where is all the white privilege and male privilege we read about? Sorry, Heinlein was a realist. He wrote about what real people will do to overcome real obstacles even if he did put them into improbable settings.)

Then in quick succession come the female protagonist, the evil mercenaries, the worm faced aliens, bug eyed aliens including an intergalactic cop...all the stuff to sell the story and to hide the fact that along the way he's teaching kids how to get ahead in life.

Heinlein was all about independence and transcendence of obstacles. So what does a boy raised by (the modern cliche) emotionally distant parents, going to a school managed by dullards and designed to make its students into placid sheep, do to make his fortune? So many decades later I see that the parents, the boss at his job and even the intergalactic cop who saves him at a critical moment were actually giving him what he needed so he could reach his fullest human potential. (hard work and endless challenges) But at the time I was overwhelmed by the thought, "if Kip can do this, why can't I". So in the fifth grade I started reading college level chemistry, physics and math and the rest is history. If I can do that, then so can your kid.

I don’t read a whole lot of YA fiction these days (or ever, really). Even less middle school fiction. And I suppose Have Space Suit—Will Travel, like The Hobbit, would be marketed as middle school fiction were it to be released today. There isn’t a love story, and a book simply must have a love story—preferably a triangle—to be YA. But what it is is good—better than most and certainly different than anything I read. Like The Hobbit, it threatens to be a bit too twee at times, but I never found it overwhelming. It is, like its protagonist, unabashedly earnest; entirely unapologetic in its love of science and engineering and work; and sharply written, showing full well Heinlein’s immense talent for aphorisms—if I hadn’t stopped writing down or tweeting every great line I would still be reading it. It also has two absolutely killer hard science fiction action sequences.

“You see, I had this space suit.
How it happened was this way:
‘Dad,’ I said, ‘I want to go to the Moon.’
‘Certainly,’ he answered and looked back at his book. It was Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat, which he must know by heart.
I said, ‘Dad, please! I’m serious.’
This time he closed the book on a finger and said gently, ‘I said it was alright. Go ahead.’
‘Yes . . . but how?’
‘Eh?’ He looked mildly surprised. ‘Why, that’s your problem, Clifford.’

Pretty much everything you need to know about Have Space Suit—Will Travel is in that quote. (Don’t worry, I have more to say.)

Alright, let’s break it down. Our main character is a kid, he’s asking his dad for permission (His dad is there! And important!) He wants to go to the Moon but, it is implied, already has a space suit before he ever gets there. His dad reads, so he’s smart, and cool, but old, comical fiction, so he’s not a snoot. And, finally, the biggie. Clifford (Kip, to his friends) is on his own. These days they’d throw Kip’s dad under the jail for even suggesting such a thing.

In a not terribly realistic but entirely unsurprising twist, Kip does end up on the Moon. But he’s got to put in a bit of elbow grease in the meantime. He only needs one of two things to get to space. Money or skills. Unfortunately, he has neither. Sure, he does well enough in school. Well enough to get into State Aggie, but did you know they’re flunking out 40 percent of the freshman class? (Those days are long gone.) And at his small town high school he’s stuck with a curriculum that, as his dad tactfully puts is, is “Twaddle! Beetle tracking! Occupational therapy for morons!” (Some things never change.) Which creates a bit of a conundrum. “The law declares that you must attend school until you are eighteen or have graduated from high school,” so no homeschool. (It wasn’t all daisies in the 50s, boys.) Kip could get shipped off to boarding school, but that gives you the wrong “nutty ideas about money and social position and the right tailor” when you could be picking up the right nutty ideas at home. So Kip’s dad is forced to direct him to the main method of learning—self-study. In what amounts to handing him a pile of books, suggesting that if he works very hard he might succeed, and leaving him to it. My dad would have found this a little overbearing but otherwise approved.

Heinlein is 100% Pure-T unashamed to be writing a protagonist who is 100% Pure-T unashamed to want to go to space. In Kip’s (and Heinlein’s) estimation, about half the boys in school would admit to wanting to go to space, about half wouldn’t admit it, and the rest were creeps.

Anyway, back to the elbow grease. Kip embarks on a Grade-A course of self-study. Not that either he or his dad are opposed to taking a short cut when the opportunity presents itself. So when a soap company offers a tourist trip to the Moon as a promotion, Kip jumps all over it. Selling soap, cutting a deal for the wrapper, and sending off tagline after tagline to up the odds. And…he wins! Well, sort of. It turns out that, while they picked one of his lines, someone else got the same line in first. So they get the trip and he gets a gently used space suit.

The logical thing would be to sell and get a head start on financing college. Kip, on the other hand, sets about making it space ready. And it’s a beautiful thing to read. Kip and Heinlein both take great care in their craft. Heinlein writes about work as well as Melville or McCarthy, and with actual readable prose. I didn’t know or care anything about space suits before I picked up Have Space Suit—Will Travel. Heinlein made me care and then he let me know.

Smart move by Kip. In Heinlein’s vision, keeping a perfect, working space suit ready will never go unpunished. Kip is taking a moon walk across the cow pasture when he has a close encounter of the extraterrestrial kind. So he winds up kidnapped, headed to the Moon with a precocious young girl who goes by Peewee (young, no love interest here), a lemur-like “Mother Thing,” a, uh, mantis-like villainous alien, and his two human confederates. And we’re off on our adventure.

A few quick thoughts on the book as a whole: This is hard science fiction at its best. Not just the scenes of Kip working on the space suit. That comes in handy in two killer action scenes, in both of which his survival depends on the integrity of his suit. They work because Heinlein has established that he is deadly serious about the suit. The science works on behalf of the fiction. There is a shift in tone later on that is jarring, but in service of Heinlein trying to do something else entirely (I really wasn’t expecting him to go all Dark Forest there). The more political views of Heinlein’s mid-stage career are mostly absent, although one alien does describe democracy as “a very good system, for beginners.” The views that tend to shine through are less concerned with macro-systems than the social orders of little platoons.

I don’t read a whole lot of modern YA, but I’ve read enough to find one thing about Have Space Suit—Will Travel remarkable: it’s almost entirely concerned with Kip’s relationships with adults. Even Peewee is several years younger. I don’t think he interacts in any serious way with anyone his age. For all of a little interstellar travel, what roots the events of the book as a success for Kip is standing up a bully. But it’s not a school bully, it’s a town bully, an adult. Kip’s natural mother is largely absent, but the “Mother Thing” plays that role when he is away from Earth. And, of course, as the above shows, his dad is an enormous early influence. Standing up to the bully puts a bow on it for even the least ambitious of youngsters, but the real prize at the end is that Kip is handing the opportunity for success because he has proven himself to the older men who serve as gatekeepers.

Despite being a sci-fi fan, this is my first book by Robert a. Heinlein I've ever read in its entirety (I started "The Star Beast" first but have yet to finish it). He's been on my "need to read" list for quite some time, however, especially his most famous work "Stranger In a Strange Land." I figured I'd dip into one of his lighter reads first, however, and since "Have Space Suit, Will Travel" was highly recommended by one of my favorite writers, Andy Weir ("The Martian"), I decided to give it a shot. I wasn't expecting much more than a light space romp... but what I got was a great blend of scientific fact (accurate for the time period) and stunningly imaginative speculation, a journey through known and unknown space that will dazzle readers young and old and is still highly enjoyable today.

Kip has always dreamed of going to the moon... but the closest he's gotten so far is winning a used space suit in a contest. He repairs said suit and gets it space-ready on a whim, and is taking it for a test run one day when a flying saucer lands almost on top of him! Abducted by vicious aliens and taken to their hidden base on the moon, Kip gets far more than he ever bargained for as he and Pee-Wee, a genius girl of ten being held hostage by the aliens, team up with a benevolent alien law-enforcement officer calling herself Mother Thing to try to escape. Their journey will take them to the surface of the moon, to the icy wastes of Pluto... and to worlds far beyond our solar system, where they learn that it's not just their lives hanging in the balance, but the fate of humanity itself.

Robert Heinlein has an easily accessible style of writing -- unlike the vivid and flowery prose of Ray Bradbury or the overly formal style of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Heinlein writes with a voice that feels homey and friendly, happy to explain things in layman's terms for the reader without talking down to them. While I love Bradbury and appreciate Burroughs, I do enjoy Heinlein's style as well, and appreciate him keeping his science and mathematics as accessible as possible for the reader, whether it's explaining the vast scale of our galaxy or the mechanics of how a spacesuit works. It's easy to see where Andy Weir got his own style of "let's explain things for the reader without trying to sound arrogant" in his own work...

Kip is a likable character, an ordinary teen boy thrust into the sudden role of a hero and doggedly taking the challenge as best he can. Pee-Wee gets a little obnoxious at times, but she's kept tolerable by her acknowledging her own flaws and honestly trying to be kind and help wherever she can, instead of falling into the pure "genius brat" stereotype. The Mother Thing alien is more of an enigma, but that's to be expected when trying to compare an alien mind and body to a couple of ordinary humans. The villains are pretty much your average "take over the world and exploit humanity" alien invasion, but we do get a glimpse into their mindset late in the book that was interesting, if a little frightening...

Heinlein does a good job of combining scientific fact with pure flights of fancy, giving us a nice blend of accurate (for the time period) science and imaginative alien races and technology. Fans of "hard" sci-fi and space opera will both enjoy this book, I feel, and if some of the tech, science, and other trappings feel a little dated... well, that's part of the novel's charm, in my mind.

An enjoyable read and a great starter for those getting into the genre or into Heinlein's work, "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel" is a rip-roaring space adventure that's perfect for younger readers and older veterans of the genre alike. It's a refreshing read after the darker and grittier turn a lot of sci-fi has taken lately, and a fun adventure story that's hard not to like. I certainly hope "Stranger In a Strange Land' is just as good a read, even if it may be thematically different...

Heinlein INTENTIONALLY wrote this book bad for two reasons.

First, the pressing one was that he had he had been writing juvenile novels for the past 11 years. He wanted out of his contract because it was just tiring for him. He needed to move on, careerwise. He did not succeed with this novel, but conquered with the following novel, Starship Troopers.

(Think “creative incompetence” and “constructive laziness” like Lazarus Long)

Second, Heinlein is a great satirist. “The Star Beast,” “The Rolling Stones,” “Stranger In A Strange Land,” “Job: A Comedy of Justice” are proper satirical-humor novels, and all of his work is spiced with witty and wry observations. This novel is a satire of the second-rate science fiction stories flittering around in the Fifties.

For example, consider the silliness of the following:

The Micky Mouse watch surviving 8gs of acceleration, but Kip's high-end watch not breaking.
The Mother Thing being able to kit-bask claymore-precise explosions from things kept in her marsupial pouch.
The bubblegum stopping a door.
The BSA knife blade breaking, then working later on in the book (though most BSA knives have multiple blades
The space opera dream early-on.
Jabs at Utah and Mormons (See “Citizen of the Galaxy,” “Tunnel In The Sky,” “Job: A Comedy of Justice”
Wormfaces as mindlessly evil villains, Ace as the typical Lampwick bad-guy foil, Peewee having the answer to everything, Oscar the Space Suit personified …

Even so, about ¾ of the way through the book, Heinlein gives up his satire, and writes us a decent novel. And he knows how to end a story without being sappy, sentiment, or a neat package. There are loose ends. But so does life. And that is why we read Heinlein.

I first read this book long ago, not long after it had first been published in 1958. It has long been a favorite, one that I reread from time to time and always enjoy.
The story is about an ordinary young man, Kip, who dreams of going to the moon and winds up being taken there, then to Pluto and to other places far from home -- quite a trip for someone without the price of a ticket.
The sponsors of this grand tour are "advanced" aliens who are at odds with each other and they have flying saucers which, at the time of the writing, were all the rage in SF and the object of much speculation -- I loved the idea then & wish (sometimes) I could believe in them now. Here the reader gets to fly in one or two of them. The aliens are interesting and we see quite a number of different kinds of aliens in Kip's travels.
And he's not alone: no, he's accompanied by an 11-year-old girl genius with a nice personality and a penchant for sticking her nose into all kinds of trouble, but interesting trouble.
For those of us without an invitation, we have the book, one of Heinlein's best, in my opinion. It's just the ticket to bring a smile to the face, just the kind of thing to make you dream and hope, to bring a little hope back into your life on a long summer's afternoon. Or evening; it seems to work pretty much any time of the day.
There are reports of a movie version of the story, something I'd like to see -- a good soundtrack, good acting, and a lot of great FX always work for me. I just hope they don't turn it into a camp classic.

I gave Starship Troopers a 4-Star rating, so I really can't give this 5 Stars. But I also liked this story too much to drop it to a 3-Star rating. Ultimately, I think it is worthy of the 4-Star rating, but not as good as Starship Troopers. I would also point out that if I read this book when it was first published, it probably would have earned an easy 5 stars. But with time, some of Heinlein's novels have become a little outdated and they don't always match up with some of the very solid SciFi of the 80s and 90s. I also think if you are an adolescent (who the book was actually intended for) first exploring the world of SciFi, this book would be 5 star worthy. But this review and the corresponding 4-star rating come from the perspective of an adult who ultimately liked the story, but did in fact find it ever-so-slightly 'Juvenile.'

Have Spacesuit: Will Travel is a typical Heinlein juvenile, with a good dose of moral philosophy throughout, and especially at the end. There seem to be some powerful messages about the role of parents, the importance of independence, and the importance of moral integrity in general. Kip, the protagonist, is a likable character and Heinlein paints him in a fairly 3-dimensional way (although he is at times rather simple for his level of intelligence). The two friends that Kip meets up with are also likable characters, while the relationship Kip has with his younger female friend could perhaps be viewed as subtly controversial (at least for the 1960s).

One thing that I particularly liked about the book was that the first 1/3 or so was heavily focused on the spacesuit itself, brining a good dose of what seemed to be solid science into this Science Fiction story. Now, on one hand this keeps the story moving pretty slowly for quite a while at the beginning. Additionally, we really get very little sense of how Kip relates to other human beings, but we do get a sense of what he thinks of objects and science. Perhaps a little schizoid. However, because of Heinlein's detail in describing the spacesuit, the spacesuit actually becomes something like a secondary protagonist later in the story. You find yourself rooting for the spacesuit as if it is a living person -- and I believe that was Heinlein's intention.

Near the end and leading up to the climax, the story gets a little silly. This is where I think the book defines itself as truly 'juvenile.' But, the book is ultimately appropriate and interesting for anyone aged 12 and up. I think it would be particularly thought-provoking for someone around the age of 16 or 17. However, I think any SciFi loving adult would find this book readable, interesting, and if nothing else, a silly (not in a bad sense) little escape from reality with a small dose of scientific thought.

Clifford "Kip" Russell wanted nothing more than to go to the moon. Winning a used space suit in Skyway Soap's slogan contest only encouraged his dream. With a head for mathematics and engineering, Kip repaired and enhanced his space suit, nicknamed "Oscar". While taking Oscar for a field test, Kip talks to himself over the radio that he had installed in the helmet. He is shocked when another voice answers!

Soon, Kip finds himself guiding a space ship to a tumultuous landing almost directly on top of him. Immediately after, another similar vessel lands beside it. From the first ship, a strange alien creature emerges followed by a small space-suited human. The alien quickly tumbles to the ground. When Kip runs to its aid, he is struck from behind and knocked unconscious.

Later, he awakens aboard one of the vessels on its way to the moon. He finds himself imprisoned with a 10-year-old girl named Patricia aka Peewee. She is a prodigy, but emotionally immature and sometimes frustrating. Her best friend is a rag doll named Madame Pompadour. Kip learns that they've been captured by a beastly alien criminal who, during an interrogation, Kip comes to call Wormface. The criminal and his human henchmen have also kidnapped a benevolent alien that Peewee had come to know as the Mother Thing. This was the creature that Kip had tried to help before being assaulted.

In a series of adventures that spans the galaxy--from Earth to the Lesser Magellanic Cloud and back--Kip, Peewee and the Mother Thing explore the surface of the moon and narrowly escape Wormface's secret base on Pluto, nearly at the cost of Kip's life. On Delta Vega, Mother Thing's home planet, Kip is nursed back to health just in time for a trip to Lanador, a planet located in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud. There, Wormface and others of his race will be put on trial, but there is something else that Mother Thing cannot reveal.

On Lanador, Kip and Peewee meet two other human "prisoners", a cave-man and a Roman soldier named Iunio. The following day, all four are brought to a vast courtroom of the "Three Galaxies". The Wormface aliens are tried for their crimes...and then the human race itself comes under the microscope with Kip, Pewee, and Iunio as representatives for Earth. The decision: allow the human race to progress or destroy them immediately?

Have Spacesuit--Will Travel is counted among "the Heinlein juveniles", one of a number of books that Heinlein wrote between 1939 and 1958. Heinlein had been rather successful in expressing advanced and enlightened ideas not often found in adolescent stories of the time. I enjoyed Have Spacesuit--Will Travel immensely. It contained a wonderful mix of fast-paced storytelling, fun characters and scientific facts. The science fiction is just that, of course, but the human characters of the story engage in detailed exercises of astronomical calculations and practical engineering that, in modern novels, might be stultifying, but I enjoyed a dose of old-fashioned SF.

First published in 1958, Have Space Suit - Will Travel is a classic work of science fiction. Written before man walked on the moon, it is set in a not-too-distant future when trips to the moon are not routine but are regular. Kip Russell wants to visit the moon. When a soap company holds a contest with a trip to the moon as a prize, Kip goes all out to win. But he doesn't win first prize; instead, he wins a consolation prize, a used spacesuit.

He's disappointed but philosophical and puts in time repairing and improving his suit. While fooling around in it in his backyard, Kip hears a distress call from space, and next thing you know he's on a pirate spaceship, cooperating with a 10-year-old genius to find an alien "mother thing" and escape.

This is a quick read and rollicking good time. There is a lot of actual science in it, more than you'll find in most newer science fiction. Kip is a likeable narrator, and his relationship with Peewee, the 10-year-old girl, is realistic and touching. I particularly enjoyed the character of the Mother Thing, a sort of alien cop/juvenile detention officer from a race of beings who sing to communicate.

Heinlein is my new hero with this quote from Kip: "Dad claims that library science is the foundation of all sciences, just as math is the key - and that we will survive or founder, depending on how well the librarians do their jobs."

If you like classic science fiction and long for an adventure in space, I recommend Have Space Suit - Will Travel.

I know you arent ever supposed to speak poorly about RAH - but this is probly his weakest effort so far...

I am a HUGE fan of RAH, and I have enjoyed most of what I have read up to here. There were just some things I couldnt get past in this one.
I have read a lot of RAH, and I know the era they come from and I grant indulgence when he makes a goof on some technical point, that he couldnt have known about due to the era he was writing in...
But the "frigid winds of Pluto" a sentence or three after he just went on about there being NO ATMOSPHERE should not have escaped even a 1950's engineer writing a YA book. He may have slipped it by me if he spread it out some, but there were within seconds of each other. I seriously dont know how he himself or his editor didnt catch / correct it. I managed to notice it, at 3am doing my hour on the treadmill, so it cant have been too subtle....

Also, it got a bit preachy there at the trial. Yeah, we get it, people are bad. I think it was covered in FAREWELL TO THE MASTER, a decade or two earlier by Harry Bates (You may know it better by its film name, The Day The Earth Stood Still)

Still the story telling was great, and in my opinion a mediocre RAH story is still as good or better than a lot of what gets cranked out in the name of deadlines these days - Sorry LKH - you know its true - get the princess off her back and doing something and I will come back... Well... She can still be on her back sometimes, just not 3 straight scenes in a row...

The characters were fun, if not well rounded - RAH is fond of the good hearted, brainy 50's all american boy lead - and why not? It worked for them guys cranking out Hardy boys stories under the pen name Franklin W DIxon for decades... ANd they were no where near as well written as this.

While this is known as one of Heinleins's "juvenile" novels, I just finished reading it again, and I'll have to say enjoyed it very much. In "Have Space Suit, Will Travel" a young man with an urge to go to the moon enters a contest where the first prize is just such a trip. He doesn't win the grand prize, but does win a space suit which he reconditions and wears around outside at times for kicks. By accident, since his suit radio is on the correct frequency, he contacts a space ship, and the resulting adventure is extremely interesting, and quite different than that of many other Heinlein juveniles.

HSSWT is yet another one of the Heinlein books that I was very sorry to get to the end of. I'd become quite connected to the characters, and would have loved to see more of the emergence of the people of Earth into the larger pan-Galactic community presented in this novel, and particularly more adventures of Kip, Peewee, and the Mother-Thing.

As usual, Heinlein's hero is a fresh faced, unassuming All-American boy. The villains are infuriating. Surprising family connections make a late appearance (a sometimes used Heinlein device).

Heinlein had a mix of hard science (The Rolling Stones, Space Cadet, Podkayne of Marks, The Man Who Sold the Moon, etc), along with some very entertaining "fantasy Sci-fi": Glory Road, Time Enough for Love and its several descendant novels, and a few others. HSSWT is a curious hybrid of the two. Much of the book toes the hard sci-fi line, with very sensible descriptions of space suits and ballistic space flight. When the book turns to "fantasy sci-fi", it goes all out with faster than light travel and other technologies that verge on God-like.

This is one that is not to be missed.

EDIT: Seven years later, and I'm reading it again. :-) 9/2/2018

I recently read this book for the first time. It was in a box of books a friend gave me. I figured it would make a nice break from some of my heavier reading. This was bumped up in priorities when some scholars whom I respect pointed out that it included a fairly heavy critique of the United Nations.

The book was extremely good. Certainly a book I will read to my sons as they grow old enough to enjoy it. But it is worth reading for adults too, and some of the negative reviews are somewhat out of place. I am going to discuss here the question of scientific details first, and then the social and political lessons from the book.

First, the book has a great deal of scientific details in it, ranging from gravity/mass issues (on the Moon and Pluto) to specific details regarding the difficulties of staying alive in space with a space suit. I suppose some readers may see this as filler but instead it adds a certain realism to the story. Nonetheless I found a few places where I was shaking my head and saying "that's nice in a book but would get you killed if you tried it for real" (like transferring oxygen between tanks on the moon--- I kept waiting for disaster to strike).

Secondly on the social, political, and moral side. I think this book is solid in this area too and provides a great amount of food for thought. While I agree that the book does promote nationalism, it doesn't do so at the expense of a sense that we are all humans. Indeed, the only area where this is particularly noticeable was in the trial of humanity. Here Heinlein was clearly drawing parallels to the United Nations Security Council, and disparaging internationalism itself to some extent as something which serves those nations who already dominate the planet. I took the reference to Mein Kampf as simply the idea that a lot of important works were written in prison and that this was no exception. Genocide in the book is portrayed in a very complex way which leaves the reader at the end sharing the ambivalence of the characters despite the extreme circumstances that would lead to obvious reasons to condone it.

The book is remarkably deep and worth reading even for adults.

Mixed in with all this weight is a great deal of humor and action. I found myself laughing out loud many times and had guessed the bit about Kip's dad well before the end of the book.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

I have tremendously mixed feelings about Robert Heinlein's later work, which was marred by an increasing interest in right-wing politics, a sometimes strident sexism, and a drop in quality of his prose that may have been a result of ongoing health problems. But I have no mixed feelings about the work from Heinlein's early period. For much of the fifties Heinlein wrote a string of novels intended for an older juvenile audience. These are far and away my favorite of all of Heinlein's books. Furthermore, on the basis of these books Heinlein is my favorite of the so-called Big Three. Arthur C. Clarke had a more far-reaching scientific vision and Asimov in his Foundation books more ambition, but Heinlein possessed something that neither Clarke nor Asimov possessed: an engaging prose style. Heinlein mastered a light, fun, breezy prose that made these books a complete delight. I much prefer books like CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY to the ponderous STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND or HAVE SPACESUIT, WILL TRAVEL to TIME ENOUGH FOR LOVE.

The joy of HAVE SPACESUIT, WILL TRAVEL does not derive from the plot, which is rather slight -- narratively, the events of the novel could have been easily accomodated in a short story -- but in the interplay between the characters, Kip's n The Mother Thing. Heinlein has been intensely criticized both by female SF writers and fans as well as by sympathetic males for his treatment of women. He is quick to place them in standasrd traditional role models, and that is true of this book to a degree. Some of his discussions of what fathers and mothers are like smacks of fifties family comedies. Still, Pee Wee is female and really doesn't conform to any traditional female models. She is feisty, courageous, incredibly intelligent, and very much a person of action. Pee Wee is also a very odd love interest for Kip. OK, it is kind of skanky but this is hardly unusual in Heinlein. Unusual sexual arrangements is a constant running through Heinlein's novels. Incest, for instance, runs through several of his later novels (like GLORY ROAD and TIME ENOUGH FOR LOVE). Nothing sexual takes place between Kip and Pee Wee, but their relationship is less brother-sister than boyfriend-future girlfriend. The age difference isn't that great, only around six years, but when the younger is around twelve, it is a very big age difference indeed. Still, if you can get past the age-inappropriateness, you have to like the interplay between Kip and Pee Wee. The fact that sex is not part of the equation shows that the relationship is based on mutual respect and platonic affection.

The book, by the way, indirectly led to the writing of another great SF novel. Heinlein makes several references to Jerome K. Jerome's great Victorian classic (published in 1889, the year in which Adolph Hitler, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Martin Heidegger were all born) THREE MEN IN A BOAT, subtitled TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG! Connie Willis, in the preface to her wonderful book TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG, credits this book with her learning of Jerome's book for the first time. These are three books that everyone should read when they get the opportunity.

In my 5th decade of reading now, I've forgotten more titles than I can remember...but I'll never forgetten this one.

I borrowed it from the local public library in 4th grade and devoured it whole. It lived at the very top of my pantheon of favorite books for many years (until I stumbled across a little book called "The Hobbit" in junior high). It's been 40 some years since I read this book but Kip, Oscar, Peewee and The Mother Thing still live on in my heart. Super story. Great book. If you're under 75 and haven't read this book, do so, I think you'll like it.

Have Space Suit - Will Travel (1958) is the twelfth SF novel in the Juvenile series, following Citizen of the Galaxy. It is set in the near future when the Federation has a base on the Moon and Luna City is growing rapidly. Commercial travel to the Moon has just become available.

In this novel, Clifford Russell is a bright and industrious young man. He is a senior at Centerville High. Kip works parttime at Charton's Pharmacy as a soda jerk.

Samuel C. Russell is Kip's father. Sam is a very eccentric writer, mathematician and former spy.

Patricia Wynant Reisfield is a very intelligent eleven year old girl. Peewee is the daughter of an influential professor at the Institute for Advanced Study.

The Mother Thing is an alien. She is a local cop for the Three Galaxies confederation.

In this story, Kip wants to go to the Moon. He asks his father for advice and is told to investigate the possibilities. He figures that the chances are not good, but his best bet is to become an engineer. Then Skyway Soap has a contest with the first prize being an all expenses paid trip to the Moon.

At first, Kip is discouraged since he never wins any type of contest. He has even given up matching pennies. But his father tells him that the best prepared person is most likely to win. So he starts sending in slogans on Skyway soap wrappers.

After mailing 5782 entries, Kip and his parents sit watching their antiquated television set, waiting for the announcement of the final winner. After a short interruption of service, the winning slogan is revealed. Kip has won!

Yet somebody else is declared the winner. Kip learns that he is one of eleven who submitted the same slogan. The grand winner had an earlier postmark than his own entry. Instead of a trip to the Moon, Kip has won an spacesuit that had been used to build the second spacestation.

Despite his disappointment, Kip becomes intrigued by the spacesuit and soon starts putting it into working order. The soap company has offered to buy back the suit for $500, so he will probably send it back to the manufacturer to get college tuition money. Still, he has restored the suit as best he can and wears it one more time before shipping it back.

While out in the back pasture, someone interrupts his radio tests and asks for landing instructions. He answers the call and is soon almost squashed by a flying saucer landing where he had been. Some creature jumps out of the ship and somebody else in a spacesuit follows. Then another flying saucer lands and the creature is shot.

Kip lumbers over and discovers that the creature is a BEM. Later he learns that she is the Mother Thing. Then something hits him between his shoulder blades and he blacks out.

Upon awakening, he meets Peewee and learns about her family. He also hears about her kidnapping on the Moon and finds out a little about the Mother Thing. Then they are temporarily paralyzed and Peewee tries to tell him about HIM, but cannot finish her warning.

He is taken out of the room by two men and taken to the control room. There he is interrogated by Wormface, a very ugly and fearful alien. Wormface has a very intimidating look and Kip finds himself unable to protest or hold back any information.

This tale takes Kip, Peewee and the Mother Thing back to the Moon. Kip learns more about the situation from Peewee and her friend. Then they are taken to the Wormface base on Pluto.

This story is very different from the other books in this series. The aliens are much more advanced technologically than in the other works. Even the Wormfaces are more advanced than humans, but the Mother Thing represents an extremely advanced society.

This is the last volume in the original series. The next book written by this author for this series was rejected by the publisher. However, Starship Troopers and other books for young adults were subsequently published elsewhere (see my listmania).

Highly recommended for Heinlein fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of space adventures, alien cultures and persevering young folk.

-Arthur W. Jordin

This is one of my favorite SF novels from what are termed Heinlein's "juvenile" series of books: written in the late 1940's and 50's; as well as being the last book in that series. The works he was soon to write, such as Starship Troopers (1959) are much more mature in their subject matter and themes.

In this book, the male protagonist "Kip" is about 18 years old: ambitious, intelligent and well-educated in advanced scientific and mathematical subjects, which he achieves on his own in spite of what is clearly a very - for the time - leading edge, but totally unrealistic and inadequate educational system in his hometown: a diversion from the main plot, and primarily a platform for the Author's own strong views on this topic.

Kip's parents are your seemingly stereotypical 1950's eccentric scientist father and homebody mother, though Heinlein reveals couple of minor surprises on this score near the end of the book. It will be interesting for you to compare and contrast the representation of Kip's mother here in light of the other major mature female character in the story: the "Mother Thing".

An unusual twist (at least in Heinlein's "juvenile" novels, though often seen in his later books) is the addition of major female characters in the form of Peewee, a genius-level and very precocious preteen; and the already-mentioned "Mother-Thing", who is just the sort of alien you'd want to run-to when you are stranded far from your home planet and need a dose of mother's love; but, she is a whole lot less harmless and helpless than she seems!

The plot centers around Kip's determination to get to the moon, which he does, and then some. His initial effort - to win a contest to visit the moon - lands him a consolation prize in the form of a second hand spacesuit, which he restores to space-worthy condition, then names Oscar and with whom he has conversations throughout the book. (A fact that Kip acknowledges is a bit weird, and probably be great material for a psychoanalyst to chew on!)

Of course, things don't end there - and with a few well placed though unlikely coincidences, Kip, Oscar, Peewee and the Mother-Thing meet, then work together to destroy the bad guys, face down the galactic overlords, save the human race, and still get home in time for dinner. --- Not bad for a few days work!

As with most of Heinlein's other books from this period, you really get drawn into the story and characters: after the intro where Kip acquires and restores "Oscar", things really get rolling, and the action is nonstop. The interplay between Kip, Peewee and the Mother thing are what really help the story hold together and make it succeed.

As with all of his books, Heinlein pays great attention to scientific details and accuracy. Kip engages in several long discourses on scientific and engineering topics throughout the story. For example, one long discussion is on how long it will take a spacecraft to reach the Moon - or Pluto - at certain rates of acceleration. Similar monologues involve descriptions of the science and engineering behind "Oscar" and other devices and technologies we encounter in the story. The amount of detail in these descriptions is a bit smothering; but, given Heinlein's track record on this score in his other "juvenile" books, as well as this novel's intended audience of spacehappy teenage boys in the late 1950's, it is certainly no surprise.

All in all, a fun and well told story from "the Dean of Science Fiction Writers": 5 stars!

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Or does that honor go to CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY (1957)? The weary old man who looks back from more than four decades' distance finds the story of Thorby Baslim the more interesting, but the kid who came across HAVE SPACESUIT, WILL TRAVEL in the first real library he'd ever entered (with that black and yellow and red Scribner's dust jacket, illustrated by Clifford Geary) demands prior consideration. I fell instantly in love with the story of Kip Russell and gutsy little Patricia Wynant (Peewee) Reisfeld, who represented to me the essence of that unassuming courage and simple decency to which any honorable adolescent boy should aspire.
Other recent reviewers have summarized the novel well enough on this Web site, so I won't recapitulate. I *will*, however, remark on the fact that Robert A. Heinlein is the only writer of my experience to have tucked the proverbial "expositional lump" into a juvenile novel and successfully delighted the majority of his readers thereby, going on for ten pages -- *TEN* solid *PAGES* -- about the design, maintenance and repair of a vacuum suit, and not only kept the pace of his story but used every lick of that engineering tutorial to strengthen the suspense and enhance the reader's involvement in what happened later to the protagonist, his allies and his opponents. Hellacious writing, "juvenile" labeling be damned.
(Incidentally, youngsters reading this review might like to know that Heinlein was a graduate of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, and was trained there as an engineer. Pulmonary tuberculosis resulted in his medical discharge from the Naval Service in the '30s, but he gave up a prosperous writing career at the beginning of World War II to join fellow SF writers Isaac Asimov and L. Sprague de Camp at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where he did much work on high-altitude pressure suits -- what we would call space suits today. As such, Heinlein made a personal professional contribution to the technology that today allows shuttle and space station astronauts to spacewalk in safety and comfort, and his technical expertise is undeniable in the pages of HAVE SPACE SUIT, WILL TRAVEL.)
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This, along with Tunnel in the Sky, gets my vote as the best of the juvenile (YA) books that Heinlein wrote. As usual, calling this a juvenile does it something of a disservice, as the book is fully readable by anyone from ten to ninety year-olds.

Kip Russell is not your typical teenager - he's not only quite intelligent, he's resourceful, honest with himself, goal-directed, and not only has dreams but realizes that it takes work to make those dreams a reality. One of those dreams is being able to take a trip to the moon, and as the family finances (clearly visible in the basket his father keeps for income) obviously won't provide enough for such a trip, he decides to enter a contest where the first prize is such a trip. But he doesn't just send in one entry and hope that Lady Luck will smile on him - he works at it, eventually sending in several thousand entries, each with a different slogan for the soap company sponsoring the contest. Does he win? No, but he does get one of the second prizes, a real, honest-to-god space suit. When it arrives, Kip sees that it is not in current `space-worthy' shape, a disappointment - but he methodically sets about correcting the deficiencies in the suit, till he finally has something worthy of the name.

Up to this point, this is something that could happen in the everyday world - but now Heinlein throws in a whopper of a `coincidence' (a coincidence that couldn't have happened unless Kip was prepared, Heinlein's point) - while testing his suit, calling out on the built in radio, Kip gets a reply, not from some passing airliner, but a real, live UFO, piloted by, of all things, a twelve year old girl, Peewee, and with a truly alien passenger, the Mother-Thing. From here, things develop rapidly, leading to the Moon, Pluto, the Greater Magellanic Cloud, and `Wormface' villains, with many an adventure and `miraculous' escapes, and with the fate of not just Kip, Peewee, and the Mother-Thing hanging in the balance, but the very existence of Earth.

Heinlein's craftsmanship shines throughout this book. His characters are well developed - the depiction of Peewee as an obnoxious-but-lovable prodigy is superb, the Mother-Thing will live long in your memory, Kip is very easy to identify with, and it is very instructive to see how he changes during the course of the book. The situations Heinlein places them in all develop logically, and the scientific details he throws in are very accurate. Here we find the description of the design, capabilities, and deficiencies of the space suit - remarkable close to today's suits (though not really surprising, as Heinlein was involved with some of the engineering research into high-altitude pressure suits during WWII), written in such a manner as to remain totally engrossing - one of Heinlein's great talents, as few could write about such things without boring the reader to death. Calculating the travel time to Pluto at a constant boost is not only accurate, but helps highlight another part of Heinlein's message on the value of education and confidence in one's own abilities, as Kip performs this calculation in his head, without recourse to his slide-rule (yes, that's dated, but is immaterial to the point raised). The prose style is typical Heinlein, easy, Mid-West folksy, and there is quite a bit of ironical humor suffusing this book. Of course the title is a take off on the TV show Have Gun - Will Travel, which young readers today will have never heard of, but it was a pretty good show in its day, and many of the personal qualities of the Paladin of that show are highlighted within this work.

Heinlein never seemed to have very `villainous' villains, and the Wormfaces and their human accomplices here are no exception, but the reason for this may just be (in Heinlein's view) that those who would commit crimes against others are people (or aliens) that have regard only for themselves, are out to satisfy their own desires without regard to other's rights or for any larger purpose. Heinlein's outlook on such people is that they are necessarily weak because they have no inner compass, no internalization of the benefits of the society they live in, no guiding light beyond themselves. Heinlein hammers this point home in his depiction of the human accomplices here, showing them to be remarkably stupid in an area that really counts - what makes life worth living.

As usual in a Heinlein novel, he presents some items that will make you think. Kip's family organization is not typical, his father's ideas on how to raise a child are quite different from the norm, and his opinions about the adequacy of the public school system will resonate with (or disturb) any parent reading this. Kip's father's approach to income taxes and the IRS should also raise some questions about the proper role of government and just what actions private citizen can or should take when dealing with such entities. Whether mankind as a species `deserves' to survive, given our violent and bloody history, whether our trait of stubborn determination in the face of overwhelming odds is a good or bad thing, whether the seemingly ever-increasing rate of technological development will help us or eventually overwhelm us if not balanced by a concomitant development of ethical standards that are actually adhered to by all come in for a telling examination.

A grand, rollicking read, fun for everyone, with a lot of heavy-duty philosophy lying just under the hood

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

Kip Russell lives in average small town America with slightly eccentric father and loving mother, when he wins a space suit in a competition. He rehabilitates same and is suddenly kidnapped and finds himself in an alien spaceship headed to the moon. He teams up with a supergenius little girl and a friendly alien to defeat the aliens and save the world.
While this is a simple adventure story on its face, it has deeper levels. First of all, there are discussions of science which are interesting and educational--look at where Kip figures to himself that they are really going to Pluto, and how he schemes to fill the cell he is in with water so he can float out the top.
There are also social messages woven in. Kip learns to appreciate his parents a bit more--to him, they are just "his parents", but through hints dropped several times in the book, we come to appreciate his father far more than for just, rather oddly, bundling up a box of small change and shipping it off to the IRS every April 15. Even if we were not explicitly told about Mr. and Mrs. Russell towards the end (and, frankly, I wish we weren't, it is too unsubtle), we would come to appreciate them for the way they steered Kip to maximize his potential. However, they were less successful in making Kip a social individual, and that is what starts to change during the novel.
At the start of the novel, Kip displays really good relations with adults, but limited, and not so good, relations with his peer group. Kip starts out a bit of a loner--he has friends, but none seem really important to him (certainly no one helps him in Oscar's renovation). At the end, he's more assertive and, having identified himself with humanity in the climactic scene, may have found himself quite a bit more. I suspect there's a lesson for Heinlein's juvenile readers there, many of whose spiritual home was in the stacks of the library. Nothing wrong with that, but . . . Heinlein manages this better than he does in Glory Road, where Scar comes home, wins the lottery, kicks sand on the bully, etc., etc.
A good read, but then go back and read it again.

Capsule Summary: Kip wants to go to the moon, but tickets are far too expensive. He enters a contest, and ALMOST wins the trip... but, instead, gets a spacesuit. His decision to keep the spacesuit and refurbish it is the catalyst that sends him on a literally Galaxy-spanning series of adventures, starting with an alien invasion and ending with the fate of the entire Earth resting in the balance!
Review: This, like Citizen of the Galaxy, is one of RAH's best "juvenile" novels. Unlike the latter, however, Have Spacesuit... retains the flavor of the era in which it was written; overall, Heinlein did not extrapolate much on the civilization of Kip's time and it is -- especially where Kip lives -- still a mirror of the 1950s, right down to the way in which television programs were promoted. This isn't really a failing of the book, as it's a useful sort of mirror to look at the past in, and other than that it isn't dated much. The prose reads smoothly, the characters are fun, and like so many other RAH juvenile heroes Kip has to THINK his way out of his problems.
This book also emphasizes one of Heinlein's favorite themes, which was that it was important for a man to get a broad AND deep education. Kip starts the book out drifting along through school -- bright as hell, but the schools he goes to aren't interested in pushing him. When he becomes obsessed with space, however, his father points out just how much he's going to have to know in order to get into any college that might possibly get him a spacegoing job, and Kip starts learning on his own. As it turns out, the wide-ranging subjects he learns -- ranging from pharmacy to Latin to orbital mechanics -- have essential application in his adventures across the Galaxy.

At the beginning of Have Spacesuit Will Travel, Kip is just an ordinary boy who'd like to go into space. The story is placed in the near future when the moon has a colony and tourists. The nearest Kip thinks he can get to the moon is by winning an old spacesuit in a contest. The whole opening of the book is his cleverness and resourcefulness in figuring how to win the spacesuit and then in repairing the old spacesuit. Heinlein has a lot to say here about the importance of independence, resourcefulness and initiative. The lesson the book gives is that if you want something, go for it. Heinlein gets in some real swipes at the public school system that are as valid today as when it was written. His solution, if you feel you're not being educated in school, continue to attend school but educate yourself. Read, look up information. This doesn't mean the book is dull. All I've mentioned only begins the adventure. Having fixed up his spacesuit to the point that it's spaceworthy, Kip one night wears his spacesuit and turns on its radio, intercepts a call for help, tries to rescue a kidnapped girl who is fleeing her captors, gets kidnapped himself, gets his wish to go into space in a way he never dreamed of and suddenly the rest of the book is non-stop action. The scope of the book suddenly takes a giant leap out into the universe, a universe filled with alien races who frankly don't think much of the humans from earth. In a very moving scene, it's up to Kip to present a defense of the human race, with his life and the life of humanity hanging in the balance. It's a wonderful story and as good today as when it was written. If you have preteens who are ready to "graduate" from reading Harry Potter, this is the perfect book.

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 the store 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.

What are the odds of a alien space ship landing in the corn fields in the mid west at the same time a techy teenager is testing out a used space station space suit he won in a advertising soap contest? At night? Better yet, with a young girl named PeeWee (who's a genius) and an alien creature who turns out to be a "Space Cop"? With that, Heinlien takes you on a wild adventure from moon base to Pluto and somewhere in the universe to save life on this world as we know it. Heinlien, must have thought this plot up, hoping to delay his publisher while he came up with a real plot... But the publisher called his bluff. It provided the framework for great dialogs between the teenager (Kip) and PeeWee (young girl) and the best justification in fiction for the human race I've ever read. This story enthralled me, I've been a fan of Heinlien since.

The story is outrageous, but I still remember the way it made feel about the future of mankind. The future for mankind is space..with worlds to explore...battles to be fought..races to learn from..to put our fingerprint on the stars! Corny? You bet! But its what we do! The great stories of history are no more/no less.

Have Spacesuit Will Travel is a fun book about a high school senior getting caught up in an adventure accidentally. His desire to go to the moon leads him to enter an advertising contest in hopes he will win his way(this after his dad says 'ok, sure, you can go to the moon son' and then Kip discovers it's just up to him to figure out how).
The storyline has been covered in several other reviews here, so I'll not cover that. Instead, what I gleaned from this book was that this is something excellent for jr high/high school students to read (well, anyone really, but it would be most benificial to this age group), and I'll make sure my kids do so when they're at that age(along with a stack of Heinlein's other 'juvies') as it really makes mathmatics and science sound like fun. I was even inspired to pull out my husbands ancient sliderule and figure out how to use it(ok, that part will take some more work). This also demonstrates the virtues of courage, self-reliance, honor and perserverance.
The story is quite entertaining, and quaint in it's 50's style setting. A fun book which should be in any sci-fi fans collection, and an excellent gift for any young person you may know.

This is the first book I've ever read by Heinlein, and I suspect that this will not be the last. Any book/author that encourages youngsters to learn more about science and the applications of math, enhances the imagination about the far reaches of space and what it holds, and makes it fun and entertaining will, of course, be highly recommended by me.
This is the story of Kip Russell who's biggest desire is to make it to the moon. This story not only takes us to the moon but also to the edge of our solar system and beyond.
There were two things that I really liked about this story. The first was the desire by Kip's father that Kip obtain a REAL education, not just the simplistic and spoon-fed "education" of our public high schools. I was also very impressed that this book shows the applications of math in science, though now-a-days a computer or a good calculator would be used instead of a slide-ruler.
There were some things that bothered me about this book, though. First, the dialog was a little bit surreal and watered down. The two "geniuses" seemed to be spending WAY too much time explaining to each other what was going on. The other was the trial of the human species at the end of the book. Actually, it was a trial of two different home worlds and it struck me that while there was very little difference between the two races, they received two very different sentences. Those who stood up to support the human race did nothing to support the "worm faces," and the result of the trial didn't amount to very much anyways.
However, I would highly recommend this book to anybody who enjoys science fiction and I'm looking forward to picking up more works by this author.

Have Space Suit - Will Travel, is an excellent example of Heinlein's juvenile works in his early career. The plot is deceptively simple. Clifford 'Kip' Russel is an average (but fairly bright) teenager who wins a second hand space suit in a contest. Through the influences of his father, and his own desire to visit the moon he educates himself and brings his dump-ready space suit up to operational readiness. Of course he becomes enmeshed in an interstellar plot filled with exotic life forms and intergalactic politics.
Like so many of Heinlein's novels this one draws you in with its adventure and accessible characters. As always, the plot is built upon a foundation of solid science and technology. It is a wonderful way to press knowledge on young people in a palatable format. I know it worked on me as a youngster.
One of the things I love about this book is its datedness. While it is nominally science fiction it provides a fascinating view of the life and culture of the 1950's. As is so often the case with science fiction they make drastically unrealistic leaps with their visions of the future, while society and its moral and political structures remain fixed as they were when the novel was written.
Despite its having been aimed for a pubescent audience, I find myself digging this one out to read at least once a year. I would highly recommend it to you as well.

Have Space Suit--Will Travel represents Heinlein at his storytelling best. Free of the esoteric themes that would appear in his later writings, this book is pure science fiction seemingly written solely for the enjoyment of the reader. Originally published in 1958, the story stands up well even today and will surely be read and enjoyed by untold generations to come. I am sure that many a young person read this book and yearned to reach the moon in the decade before the Eagle finally landed.
This is generally classified as one of Heinlein's juvenile books, but Heinlein's writing is for all ages. I am sure the book appeals to many young people because its protagonists are themselves young people: Kip is a high school senior, and Peewee is a girl of about twelve. Kip develops an overpowering urge to go to the moon, and he is lucky enough to win a real space suit in a contest. Heinlein's description of the many different features of the suit is fascinating. Resigning himself to selling the suit for college tuition money, Kip goes for one last walk; somewhat playfully calling out on the radio, he is surprised to hear an answer to his call. He is amazed when a space ship soon lands in his backyard and a decidedly alien creature comes out and collapses. A second ship lands, an entity gets out and conks Kip on the head, and the next thing Kip knows he is trapped inside a space ship on his way to the moon, suddenly in the company of a little girl. His captors are "Wormfaces," a species of alien that has been in hiding on the moon, looking at the earth with evil intentions. Peewee introduces Kip to the "Mother thing," a Vegan entity (and interstellar policeman) who radiates love and warmth, effectively communicates with the pair in a bird song type of speech, and inspires undying love and devotion. The book revolves around the youngsters' attempt to rescue the Mother Thing from the Wormfaces and eventually return to earth. Along the way, they endure captivity on Pluto, stare death in the face a few times, and ultimately find themselves representing Earth in an interstellar courtroom, the very future of earth shakily balanced in their own young hands.
There are juvenile elements here, such as Kip's tendency to hold back-and-forth conversations with his space suit (whom he dubs "Oscar"), but Robert Heinlein does throw in several sections full of mathematical formulas, high-level theorizing, and advanced scientific concepts. I dare say that these areas of tecnospeak will turn off some young readers and may well stymie a good number of adults. Aside from the mathematics of the thing, Heinlein can make any kind of scientific notion sound feasible and believable, and that is part of his magic and effectiveness. Most of all, though, Heinlein presents vividly real characters doing exceedingly interesting, heroic things. Heinlein's couple of technical forays may be literary speedbumps, but young readers will revel in and be inspired by this book. Adults who have not yet lost all of their imagination will also relate to the main characters well and delight in a good story line which takes the reader from the earth to the moon to Pluto to another galaxy and back again.

Written in 1958, Have Space Suit--Will Travel is a classic science fiction book portraying how a young man inadvertently ends up on a whirlwind adventure on the Moon, Pluto, and an alien planet. In the story, Kip Russell (the main character and narrator) is eventually placed on trial by aliens because they (the aliens) view the human race as too violent. Though a little dated and meant for younger readers, modern readers and adults will like this fast-paced and fun book. If you are looking to start reading Robert Heinlein books and do not know where to begin, you cannot go wrong with Have Space Suit--Will Travel.

I read this one for the first time in 1959, a year after it was published. This story has never left me. For some reasone it left quite an impression. Recently I ran across a copy at a book sale and purchased it, took it home and read it again. I now know why it has stayed with me all these year! It is good! I have, over the years read quite a number of Heinlein's works and I must admit that this is probably my favorite of the bunch. I realize that it is considered a juvenile book and it is certainly an appropriate read for the younger reader, but, as I just found out, it is quite a nice read for the older reader also. As I remember, looking back, this book rather inspired me in many ways, and doing better in school was by no means the least. Some of Heinlein's later work was rather difficult for me to digest, i.e. I simply did not like them. I rather wish he had stuck to simply telling well told tales as he did with this one. Recommend this one highly.

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.

This is one of those books that seems like it's a byproduct of the true publication date (it's old enough that people use slide-rules, not calculators). Many of the science fiction works of yesteryear are outdated leftovers, left behind because technology has far surpassed the writer's wildest dreams. Not so for Heinlein, whose vision is powerful enough to make this book still enjoyable (despite the ever present slide-rules). It's one of those "perfect timing situations" in which the main character wins a spacesuit as a second place prize, refills its airtanks, and then when he realizes he has no use for a spacesuit at all, is kidnapped by aliens -- of course! Although it may seem like light-hearted pulp fare, it has an underlying seriousness that makes the novel exceptional. It may also be a sad testament to our own space programs that Heinlein's work, after all these years, is not yet outdated.

Highly recommended fun Sci Fi book for all ages. I first read this at about age 10, and heard it again as an audiobook this past week. It is a timeless story and fun entertainment at any age. Robert Heinlein wrote Hard Science Science Fiction, along with very detailed characterization and plot detail. One can become lost in the story, and be a 16 year old teen from the future/past experiencing a once in a lifetime experience that "saves the world". A sense of humor carries the story, and the end of the book arrives much too quickly.

Have space will travel was the very first science fiction novel I had ever read. I was 12 years old and staying with my aunt in North Carolina. She had a library card that was mine to use at will. The libraian was carful that no "adult" fiction came into my hands. This book gave her pause when I brought it to the check out desk, but since I had already read over 50 books since staying with my aunt, she relented and let me have it. I read that book in one day, and then I read it again. My appetite for Heinlin was almost to much to handle. I read every book the library had and then what ever she could order from other libraries. This was a summer to remember. I read each book Heinlin ever wrote and continued long past his death. Many books I read over and over, but I came back to read "spacesuit" at least once a year. I love this story.

Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.

More than anything, Kip Russell wants to go to the moon, and that means he needs to go to college first — the best college he can manage to get into and pay for. So, with the encouragement of his father, who has (gleefully) pointed out the deficiencies in Kip’s public education (and complained extensively about taxes), Kip educates himself and works hard to earn money. When he enters a slogan contest for a national soap company, he hopes to win the money he needs for tuition, but instead he wins an old space suit which he engineers into a functional suit.

During a trial run in his new decked-out suit, Kip gets picked up by ugly evil aliens. On their spaceship he meets an eleven year old American girl named PeeWee and a cute cuddly alien they call The Mother Thing. Kip, PeeWee and The Mother Thing must foil the plans of the evil aliens. In the process Kip, who thought all he ever wanted to do was go to the moon, goes on a universe-spanning adventure and ends up on trial representing the human race.

Have Space Suit — Will Travel is another of Robert A. Heinlein’s appealing children’s space adventures. Most of them have intelligent and hard-working young protagonists (both male and female), are fast-paced and exciting, and most of them try to Say Something About Life. Often there’s a less-than-subtle attempt to indoctrinate kids with a bit of libertarian propaganda. In Have Space Suit — Will Travel, the virtues of education, hard work, and courage are extolled while taxes and public education are maligned. Thoughtful children may notice that Kip and PeeWee are required to defend the barbarous human race in front of the more highly evolved aliens, and this is not an easy thing to do!

Have Space Suit — Will Travel isn’t one of my favorite Heinlein juveniles for a couple of reasons. It gets rather gadgety as Kip works with his spacesuit, and these technical passages tend to run on. But most objectionable is that Kip and PeeWee are hard to believe in. They are experts in pretty much every academic discipline you can think of — biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, philosophy, history, languages… I could go on. I found their vast stores of knowledge to be implausible and their smugness to be a tad annoying.

However, in general I much prefer any of Heinlein’s juveniles to his novels for adults which tend to be sexist and provocative in a creepy way (e.g., nudity, boobs, and incest are common elements). In Have Space Suit — Will Travel, the sexism is seen when Kip keeps calling PeeWee “honey” in a condescending manner, but at least this story, and many other Heinlein juveniles, feature women who are smart and/or educated.

Have Space Suit — Will Travel is likely to please the target audience and many adults, too. Besides, it’s a classic, and every SF fan should read the classics. I listened to Blackstone Audio’s recent version which is almost nine hours long and expertly read by Mark Turetsky. I thought Turetsky’s voice was perfect for this children’s story — his enthusiasm and inflection sound just like a young teenage boy.

The classic sci fi book, Have Space Suit Will Travel, by Robert Heinlein is a wonderful adventure for all ages. The main character, Kip, is a graduating senior who wishes he could go to the Moon (as is a tourist option in this book.) However, it is way too expensive. When a soap company sponsors a contest with First Prize offering just that, he proceeds to buy every bar of soap he can lay his hands on and enter the contest hundreds of times. From there, the story begins, and Kip does travel to the Moon, but not the way Kip had in mind. This would have made a wonderful movie as other Heinlein books have including Starship Troopers and The Puppet Masters. In any case, although this book is little known today, I would encourage everyone who has the slightest interest in sci fi and a sense of humor to read this. You will be thoroughly entertained, I promise.

Clifford 'Kip' Russell has a dream, he wants to go to the Moon and while his father thinks its a great idea but its up to Kip to find a way to get there. Fortunately for Kip a soap company is running a contest with a grand prize of....a trip to the moon. Kip manages to win, but not the grand prize, instead he got a space suit. While trying out his new prize Kip is swept up - literally - and finds himself on the way to the moon. What he had never imagined was that he would be taking the trip in the company of aliens, human thugs, and a 12 year old girl named Peewee. Even more amazing he finds himself preventing an alien invasion and defending the entire human race in an alien court.

This 1958 book is one of the 'juveniles' that Heinlein wrote in the '40's and '50's. While the plot is obviously fantastic and very much aimed at the youth audience, it is an enjoyable read for any age reader. Kip and Peewee have to face the challenges of defining just what defines a 'person' and what responsibiities a person has to themself and to his fellow beings.

Are there flaws in this work? Absolutely, many of the characters are there just to say or do their piece and then move on, we do not ever learn just what their motivations are. The young heroes are just a bit too perfect and the coincidences are often just too convenient. At times Heinlein's handling of the dialog is not as skilled as it will be in later works, and, as often is in Heinlein's work a little more editing would not be misplaced.

Often in Heinlein's early works there are very stereotypical attitudes concerning women, they are relegated to subservient roles, i.e. Kip loves his mother but we learn very little about her, also Peewee's mother is portrayed as more of nuisance than anything else. In this novel though Heinlein is beginning to change this, Peewee is shown to be Kip's equal and the alien guardian is definitely female.

This book is fun, light reading that, like the rest of Heinlein's work, slips some serious ideas in when the reader least expects it. There is also the fun of seeing just what developments Heinlein predicts correctly and which he misses. In this one the hero still computes on a sliderule, an item that most highschool students of today have never seen, much less used.

I think I must have been around 9 or 10 when I read "Have Space Suit Will Travel". I found it in the school's library and was immediately taken with the book. I must have read it and re-read it a dozen times by the time I moved on to Junior High. Heinlein took a common theme in boy's literature- the young boy who goes off to sea- and moved it into the twenty-first century in this tale of a boy who finds himself suddenly swept off Earth and involved in a struggle far away in space.
I recently gave a copy to my nine year old nephew who is similarly entranced with the book; not bad for a sci-fi epic written over fifty years ago. Any book that can drag a twenty-first century schoolboy away from the high-tech amusements of today certainly qualifies as a classic.

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.

This book had everything I wanted as a kid; adventure, discovery, and a kid my age with his own space suit. I've probably read this book a half-dozen times. There's never been a winter since, that I didn't recall the trek through the frozen ice of Pluto when I'm bundled up outside in the snow.

I guess this story has stuck with me all this time on many levels. I recently wrote a book of my own about a 14 year-old boy who finds pieces of an alien flightsuit. It's available here...Flightsuit. I wanted to capture the same sense of discovery and adventure that I enjoyed reading all of Heinlein's books, but this one in particular.

Readers of both books will notice that I named one of the principle character's dog "Oscar". This is a terrific book. It makes me sad that kids today might be less likely to read it because of the older technology described.

What a great book, you gotta read this one. If you don't you'll have to read something else by Heinlein, anything at all in fact. I was sickened by one of the reviews here calling Heinlein's adult books "pornographic." Double Star, The Door into Summer, Starship Troopers, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, perfect examples of his adult books which are distinctively not pornographic. I am yet to read one which is. Oh yeah, almost forgot, Stranger in a Strange Land is considered to be one of the most important novels of this century and to be a literary landmark. I found it hard to believe that someone with enough incompetence to call Robert A. Heinlein a pornographic author, could have the good sense to call this a good book. Well, nobody can be all bad I guess.

Apart from the kitchy title, this book represents a modest effort from Heinlein. The acknowledged master of juvenile science fiction isn't really at his best here, but longtime fans will certainly enjoy this sample of his work. After winning a used space suit in a contest, young Kip Russel is not long in finding a use for it, as bizarre coincidences and intergalactic invaders conspire to take him on a wild adventure to the Moon, Pluto, and beyond. Kip has just graduated from high school (a favorite age for the hero of a juvenile) and is trying to figure out how to pay for college, when he is captured in his own backyard by extraterrestrials. He meets a fellow prisoner, Peewee, who is a very typical Heinlein grrl: boyishly skinny, terribly spoiled, and absurdly intelligent. Despite her genius IQ, however, it always seems to come down to Kip's courage, determination, and perhaps most of all, his suit, to save the day. Heinlein takes great pains to describe the suit in loving detail, explaining the repairs needed to make it serviceable, how the various controls work and why they're needed, what manner of improvements Kip made to the design and why and how he paid for them, what sort of items were supposed to be kept in it and how he obtained them, or what he used in their place, etc... Of course this novel was written well before the development of modern space gear, and there's no doubt that some of Heinlein's suggestions were considered by the scientists who designed the real article; but for today's young readers, a space suit is probably a lot less interesting in and of itself than Heinlein makes it out to be. This book seems long for a juvenile, too, although things move fairly quickly except for a few slow patches: Kip's wearying moon trek, his very tedious imprisonment, and the whole last third of the book, after the real action is already over. More tellingly, the story is packed with melodramatic unpleasantness, as Kip and Peewee seem to be constantly near death or worse. Perhaps Heinlein thought that younger readers wouldn't see just how far over the top he was going with this book, but for a more realistic look at the dangers and discomforts of space travel, read his survival epic Tunnel in the Sky, or the superb colonial novel, Farmer in the Sky. Like so many of Heinlein's gems from mid-century, this book works better for readers who were kids in 1950 than for those who are kids today.

I have read of this being referred to as "Juvenile" novel and how wrong those folks are. Its a fun romp, with ample explanation and surprisingly complicated math for our young hero to consider. In the end the novel reaches a climax that will determine Human survival and painted against the backdrop of the judgment against another species its pretty hard edged stuff.

I really really liked this. Perhaps all the more so since it was far mor than I expected.

If you liked Citizen of the Galaxy or The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress then pick this up as soon as you can and you won't be disappointed.

This was the first SF book I read as a child. I was immediately hooked. From that point over the next 28 years I read an average of one SF book a week. SF was largely responsible for my later love of mathematics, science and especially computer science. It taught me that real magic was there. Otherwise the typical dreary public school math and science courses would have bored me to tears. I owe so much to SF and especially to this giant of the genre.

Kip wanted to go to the Moon! Unlike most of us nowadays, he did something about it. Of course you should always be careful what you wish for!
This book should be required reading in every junior high school or perhaps every university. RAH has the gift of keeping you entertained, intrigued, and making you THINK all at the same time! Shakespeare is a quack beside him. This book was written 45 years ago and is as valid now as it was then (perhaps more so).
The question you have to ask yourself is if YOU had to stand in judgment for all of humanity would you be as qualified as Kip and Peewee? Are YOU as prepared to go to the moon?

A great read for younger readers - 14 and below, I'd say - and an acceptable one for older readers who like their SF "light".

It's a great adventure story, and gives the protaganists (and the readers) many opportunities to try to think and act their way out of several fixes, and it takes itself seriously enough to engross the reader.

My favorite chapters are the last few. The book closes strongly, with a defense of the human condition, and its history and potential, to an alien court, with the fate of the world at stake. Even as an adult, that section of the book is still quite a read.

I avoided reading this book for so long, assuming it would be too dated to enjoy, or that it was written for juvenile readers only.

But this is classic, excellent Heinlein. It's a fun story, enjoyable in its own right and not merely for "historical interest in the sci fi genre."

If it bothers you that this book was written in 1958, then just imagine the author is writing now and intended it to be specifically *set* in 1958. You might enjoy it more.

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.

"Have Spacesuit, . . ." is one of Heinlein's best Juveniles for young readers. I was in college when I first read it and I wished it were a bit stronger in the science-fiction department and had a bit less in the 'adventure' department. (Be sure to buckle your seat belt, the story takes some wickedly sharp turns!) However, quibbles aside, it is a terrific book for youngsters in early high school. (Do American kids still take Latin?) Forty plus years after first reading it, I still enjoy re-reading it.

I read this novel during a long, boring summer between 6th and 7th grade. It made quite an impression on me at the time, and stoked my interest in math and science. (In fact I got my first A in math probably from the motivation derived from this book.) There is no getting away from the fact that this novel is aimed at pre-teenagers and mostly hits the mark. The plot-line is silly and the prose is too. After having said that, I must also confess that this novel is a guilty pleasure for times when you want to read something that requires no mental effort whatever. Further, there is some interesting scientific and social speculation going on here. Try it. You may just like it. I did. RJB.

I first read this book in 7th grade. Now I'm 41, and when I re-read it, the novel still leaves me with a sense of awe and deep pleasure akin to the special feeling I get from The Wind in the Willows or The Hobbit. The storyline flings the heroes further and further away from home, and the stakes rise steadily, making for a riveting read. This technique - the expanding sphere of influence of the action - means that the book must keep one-upping itself to deliver. Which it does, admirably.
The novel has some unforgettable prose: at one point the hero says of the villain/monster, 'I had a dirty hunch I knew Wormface's home address." Capturing perfectly the book's Boy Scout sense of morality and adventure, he asks his companion, who is tying a knot on their vital oxygen tank, "Is it a square knot?" Peewee answers, "It was a granny, but it's a square knot now." This coming of age novel has some thoughtful insights into young Kip's budding sense of ethics, like when he is given a chance to speak in defense of the mailicious race that planned to destroy humanity and he decides not to: he reasons that there are limits to mercy and that, "when you see a black widow, you step on it."
This book will forever be in my pantheon of cult classics, because it helped me fall head over heels in love with reading, and I have never lost that feeling.

When I was in 4th grade the librarian noticed that when our class made it's weekly visit to the library I absolutely refused to check out a fiction book. One day she took me to a section I'd never noticed before, where little spaceships with a stylized atom orbit were on the spine of each book. She pulled one down and said "I think you might like this." That book was "Have SpaceSuit -- Will Travel" and to this day I wish I could thank her for what she did.
HSWT was the first fiction I had ever seen (at the advanced age of 9) which was not of the "see Spot run" variety. The hero, Kip, is a normal kid a few years older than I was at the time, who has willingly learned latin and french, can do math, has read history, and desperately wants to go to space. He's not a genius, just a normal, smart kid.
While walking in his back yard one night pretending to be on the moon he accidentally contacts (via radio) a spacecraft in earth orbit. The spacecraft (to his utter surprise) then lands almost on top of him. Kip meets Pee-Wee, a 9 year old girl smarter than him, the Mother-Thing, and Wormface. He gets to travel to Luna and the Magellanic Cloud and save the earth. This book has everything young people should be exposed to: action, intelligence, a non-condescending authorial voice and, MOST importantly, STRONG moral values, such as loyalty, bravery, and the importance of education.
In one scene, Heinlein teaches the reader a mnemonic for memorizing some important facts about our solar system and demonstrates how to solve a problem involving the speed of light mathematically.
Importantly, Heinlein was generations ahead of his time when he made the girls and women in his books as smart and brave as the males. Protagonists in all of his juveniles (including HSWT) are of various races and both genders, which makes them great for both boys and girls today.
When I finished (in two days!) HSWT I went back to the library and proceeded over the next few years to read every book it had with the little spaceship & atom logo. To this day, I read voraciously, and I know that if I hadn't become one of Heinlein's Children, I would not be the man I am today. If you want to give your kis a reading jones, buy this book. Trust me!
(PS: Heinlein has an entire string of juveniles which are still in print. "Podkayne of Mars", "The Puppet Masters", "Citizen of The Galaxy", "Space Cadet", "Starman Jones" and "Tunnel In The Sky" were some that I loved best as a kid."
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I didn't know that this book was more or less for teenagers, but the tone gives it away in the first chapter already. Yet that doesn't mean I did not enjoy it. I enjoyed it very much. Well written and with ideas that could also fit in an Douglas Adams book or even Asimov. Funny, easy to read but it will still blow your mind. Great read.

I had the pleasure of listening to this book on tape on a road trip. I was more interested in the return trip and story than I was the visit (sadly.) When humanity hangs in the balance of the witness of a boy and girl you'll be glad it was this boy and girl. Great story, interesting characters, interesting aliens, they were very 'alien.' I actually had 'nightmares' about them (nothing serious, but the image of them stuck in my mind.)

"Have Space Suit - Will Travel" is one of the few Heinlein books which doesn't work very well for me. The characters are fine, but the plot simply doesn't hold up very well, even for a book aimed at younger readers. Published in 1958 in the August - October issues of "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction"; it is the last of Heinlein's juveniles to be written and published. In 1998, it was remembered by fans when it tied for 48th on the Locus All-Time Poll for Science Fiction novels from before 1990

Clifford Russell (known as Kip) is a teenager who is finishing high-school and though he has passed the College Boards, his big dream is to go to the moon. His father has also made it clear that he needs to make his own way in the world, and so whether he goes to college or to the moon, he will have to find the means. The first part of the story covers his desperate attempt to win the Skyway Soap contest with its prize of a trip to the moon. Through hard work, the help of family and friends, and the whole town where he lives, Kip manages to put together nearly 5,800 entries to the contest.

Unfortunately Kip doesn't win the grand prize, but he is one of the people who is awarded the runner-up prize of a space suit. While it was a real space suit, it has been stripped down, so Kip decides to work hard at fixing the suit up, and this becomes the focus of the energies. As fall approaches and he has finished the suit, he realizes that he will need to sell the suit in order to attend college, so he decides to take one last walk in his fully functional space suit.

The story in this initial section is pretty straight forward. Heinlein develops Kip's character well, and there is a reasonable scientific basis for his repair of the space suit. At this point though, the story moves into more of a space adventure story. A rather implausible scenario results in Kip being kidnapped and aboard a space ship heading for the moon with a genius child, Patricia Reisfeld (known as Peewee) as a fellow prisoner as well as the Mother Thing (an alien), all of which are prisoners of Wormface (another alien) who is part of a race which seems intent on taking over the Earth.

While the jump into the space adventure part of the story is rather drastic, and completely changes the setting from one which was fairly plausible to one with two previously unknown aliens species and space ships using previously unknown drives, far beyond the technology of Earth, the transition does take place early enough in the story that the reader is willing to forgive the abrupt change. This part of the story ends up taking our characters to Pluto and puts them in a dire situation from which it appears impossible for them to escape.

At this point, Heinlein is forced to help the characters out of their dilemma, and then once again changes the reality of the story he was telling, to something else entirely. Now we find ourselves in a universe with space ships and drives which are capable of near instantaneous travel anywhere, and we move from an alien invasion story to one of morality. First we have the Wormface race put on trial, and then humanity itself. It is not clear why Heinlein decided to add these things in such a weak way so late in the story. One can only guess that it would not have been long enough without this section, but that doesn't change the fact that it weakens the overall story to a great extent.

If you know Heinlein, then you know that his characters are interesting and that his writing is very engaging for the reader. Both of those things are certainly true for this novel as they are for most of his work. However, this really is one of his weaker efforts, and I would strongly suggest that you do not select this novel as an introduction to Heinlein.

Written in the 50's, still as awesome as ever. Strong on science, all-ages appropriate. Young Kip Russell wins a real spacesuit in a contest. Which is a good thing, because when he's romping around in it, he's abducted by aliens and then taken to the far side of the moon! He escapes but is recaptured and eventually ends up on Pluto. Good stuff.

This was my very favorite heinlein book! It went far above my liking of any otheer book. When I read it I promtly fell in love with pewee and wanted kip to be my friend. This book did have some rather strange stuff in it but that just made it more interesting. I think anyone should reas it old and young alike. It is a good book for children to read to get started liking good books. It is muxch better than sitting and watching telivishion"

"Kip" Russell wants to go to the moon, so he enters a contest. He doesn't win the contest, but he does win a space suit he calls "Oscar". While pretending to be in space, Kip is captured by Wormface along with a girl and a Mother Thing. Kip really does go to the moon...and beyond!

Full Cast Audio does a great job of this 1958 story by Heinlein. It's great if you haven't read the book, because it's unabridged.

In a novella where the main character can win a space-suit by writing a slogan for soap in one of those "Box-top" contests and the story not end up being cheesier than some B-rated movie, it has to be good. This novella is definitely worth reading. It is simply an adventure story, with many odd twists and turns, but yet it makes a reader feel good. If you have a spare hour or two, I suggest reading this book.

I read the book HAVE SPACE SUIT-WILL TRAVEL by Robert A. Heinlein. The book is about a boy named Kip who is in his college years. Kip wins a contest that he is so excited about. He loves outer space and all of that stuff, but this time he got a real souvenir-a real working space suit!
Later on in the book, more amazing things happen that are out of this world! One exciting thing after another happens to Kip!
I liked this book and recommend it to people who like books with action and a lot of stuff going on.

I truly think that this book was an excellant choice to read when I was 11.Now I'm thinking of reading this book AGAIN because I loved it so much the first time.It has shape shifters and a child kidnapped because of what he knew.Traveling from Pluto and back again and nearly dying on the moon was the real suspense that I loved of this book.
If you love scifi books as much as I do I recommend you read it.

I first discovered this book as an 8 year old in the public library in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The title reminded me of "Have Gun, Will Travel" and the line drawing on the cover intrigued me. I read it once, checked it out again, and re-read it countless times throughout the years. As a child, I paid no attention to the author; then as a teenager, I found out that the author of "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "Glory Road" was also th eauthor of my beloved childhood friend. I defy you not to get the heebie-jeebies from the Wormfaces, or be haunted by Heinlein's description of a forced march on Pluto, or be moved when Kip has to defend the entire human race against destruction... This book Started Me Thinking about the world around me at an early age. It is also gently subversive about American education and conformity, and carries the wholesome message that it's ok to be different...I envy anyone reading it for the first time.

I echo the review I just read at this site--I read this also in fourth grade, and never forgot it. Now I have a 7 year old son who is a book nut like I was, and I had a revelation--wow, I can try to find it for him at the store (all I remembered was the title), and lo and behold--not only was it there--but seeing the review reminded me so much of me, it was a real kick.

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I read this book at an early age, and it introduced me to a whole new way of thinking. Kip's rugged individualism and determination inspired me like nothing else in my life. This book also served as a springboard to other Science Fiction books and authors. Kip, a "typical" teen, wants to go to the Moon. Following his father's advice, he eventually wins an old space suit, which he meticulously rebuilds and eventually tests in his back yard. Then a space ship lands on him. Captured by space pirates and their alien master, Kip meets Peewee, the daughter of a famous Princeton thinker, and her Vegan companion, the "Mother Thing". After adventures and defeat on the Moon, the action shifts to Pluto, where escape seems impossible, and death inevitable. The "Mother Thing", however, proves to be more than a match for the alien "Wormfaces" who are intent on conquoring the Earth. After a stay on Vega, the story culminates with a trip to the Lesser Megallanic Clouds, where Kip and Peewee must stand trial in the name of all mankind. I recomend children of all ages read this book. It is filled with wonder and adventure that nobody should miss.

Contest win adventures.

A boy keen on the space travel thing enters a contest for just such a trip, complete with the right gear.

This leads to adventures, a kid sidekick, an alien mentor, gangsters, and getting to represent the human race and explain all their badness.

A pretty entertaining kid's romp.

3.5 out of 5

It's been almost four decades since I read this book, but still whenever some particulary heinous episode of human idiocy appears in the news, my mind throws out a mental footnote quoting the teenaged hero's passionate defense of humanity before an interstellar tribunal deciding whether to wipe away Earth. Depsite the hokey title and its "juvenile" status, it has lots to offer.

Due to how much I absolutely loved Stranger In A Strange Land, I picked up this little novel.
Unfortunately, it's a kid's book. Not that this novel was not interesting because it was, just that it was no where near as good as Stranger In A Strange Land.
The story is about a boy who wins a real spacesuit. He unwillingly must save mankind. It started off pretty slow and childish I thought, but then you really get into it. It becomes and adventure novel with Kip (the boy) getting whisked into space and having all types of adventures. I can't say I didn't like this one.

This is a great book for all ages; Heinlein takes an idea that's just the right amount of silly and blends it with wonderful characters and a grand quest to produce an excellent story that definitely deserves a place on a sci-fi lover's book shelf.

No one was a better SF storyteller than Heinlein. I especially like his engineering description of a spacesuit, and explanation of motion equations. Good hard science based fiction there. The far out intergalactic travel stuff is fun too. There is one thing about the novel that bothers me, though: Since it refers to a lunar base and a space station, it's obviously set in the future, but Heinlein makes almost no effort to make the reader believe Kip is actually in a future society. In fact, it's rather obvious that the book is set in the year it was published--1958 (there is no way a soda fountain drink costs only 35 cents in the "future").

I first read this book almost 40 years ago and I still enjoy revisiting Kip, Peewee and the Mother Thing every few years. As a celebration of American values and great storytelling, "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel" has few peers. Although it is considered one of Heinlein's "juveniles," this book is enjoyable by young and old alike.

Not a true review but I cannot resist. Although not perfect, for many years this was my favorite Heinlein novel. I have, however, finally read it too many times. Even after all these years I know what is going to happen next from page to page to such an extent that I am unable to finish the book for the first time ever. Prime Heinlein though.

I read this book in my school library thirty years ago and finally bought it this year. I remember it being a great story when I was a kid and as an adult I enjoyed it so much more. A great author writes stories that you can remember years after reading them. This book is one of those. Great for adults and children as well

Robert A. Heinlein is justly considered one of the great writers of Science Fiction, and his young adult novels of the 1950s are considered some of his best work. HAVE SPACESUIT -- WILL TRAVEL is perhaps the most famous Heinlein juvenile (along with RED PLANET), so its a good place to start if you're interested in trying one of them.

SPACESUIT is a fun book overall. This novel is essentially an action-adventure story, with a surprisingly large amount of science thrown in. As always, Heinlein's sharp, witty prose is a pleasure to read. Again, this is a novel intended for middle schoolers, but its well written enough for an adult to enjoy.

The major flaw with SPACESUIT is its dated quality. Heinlein spents a lot of time explaning how the spacesuit in the story works, but relies upon technology that has long since expired. Some sections of this book read like a 1950s textbook on science. While this may be nostalgic for some readers, I found it tedious, and I suspect most modern children would share my reaction.

I enjoyed SPACESUIT, but its a reminder of how dated SF can become over time. Its a shame we don't have a modern-day Robert A. Heinlein writing books like this for a 21st century audience.

While other reviewers have covered the content I'd like to cover the format here. The production is excellent. This is not a radio adaptation being faithful to the words on the page but it feels like one. Having different voices for the characters, music, and sound effects enhances this recording and makes it well worth your time.

Okay, some of it's dated -- though drug stores that serve malts are making a big comeback! But the story is great, the characters are interesting, and like all the Heinlein juniors it illustrates the importance of responsibility, competence, and loyalty. It succeeds just as well for adults as for kids. Just a great book.

I read this book when I was in Junior High and the next thing I knew I was carrying around everything I might need to survive on a like adventure. Well written, I got a paper back copy and read it to my wife recently (we are both over 60) and she loved every minute of it. That is a story that stands the test of time. I am a Heinlein and I actually like his "juvenile" books the best - they were pure story telling at its best.

Have Spacesuit, Will Travel is one of the best of Heinlein's so-called juveniles (which I've always believed were some of his best writing) and now it is available is a really excellent audio recording. The Full Cast Audio treatment takes a great story and makes it come alive. Highly recommended!

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.

Like many of the others here, I read this about the third grade. It was my first SF book and I've been hooked ever since. For the young person (or any age, I supose) it grandly illustrates the values of determination and preparedness. As one of the characters stated, "luck" is something that happens to people who prepare for it. Because Kip had a spacesuit, he was able to go to the moon, Pluto, and even another galaxy. I've seriously thought of getting my own space suit, to be ready for a similar opportunity!
Though written for the young reader, I enjoy this book as much at 40 as I did at 8. Highly recommended for any age, but especially for young folks.

In 1958 using a take-off on a current TV Western as the title, Mr. Heinlein wrote a very popular juvenile novel: "Have Space Suit Will Travel". The counties preoccupation with the "space race" and obsession with the Russian Sputnik could only have contribute to the success of this title.

Heinlein use's his considerable writing and scientific talents to craft an unbelievable tale that, nonetheless, inspired many a young space cadet, well, yes, like myself. In light of today's knowledge [2010] the story does not hold up very well and is only of academic interest to serious followers of SF history and the writings of Heinlein.

Kip Russell wins a used spacesuit in a contest sponsored by a soap company. He refits the suit as best he can to the condition he believes would be necessary to use in space or on the moon. While on a nocturnal walk in the suit his radio is mistake as a beacon by "space pirates". Kip is hustled away to the moon where he meets Peewee and The Mother Thing both hostages of Wormface. Things pick up and next stop the stars. Thin stuff indeed, but a writer like Heinlein can make cold cuts taste like sirloin.

Although dated (and what isn't dated today), this is another great book by Heinlein. I remember finding this book in the school library when I was a kid and never forgot reading it from cover to cover. Now I am sharing it with my kids. Great adventure! Great times with my kids!

It was the first science fiction book I ever read and it got me hooked. I read it and then said to myself,"This is a great book." Ever since then I have loved to read, especialy scince fiction. I have read almost every book by Robert A. Heinlein and this is one of his best

...I might have had a social life in high school. Instead, I read all the sci-fi I could get my hands on and wore lime green tube socks way into tenth grade. This was the book that made me realize not only that science was way cool (I can say that now that I have dispensed with the aforementioned tube socks) but that we never really know our parents. Now that I am looking to become a parent in the ever so near future, it gives me hope that my kid may some day read Have Spacesuit and realize that his old man is more than just the familial breadwinner.

One of the great books, "Have space suit, will travel" has a lot of heart, and excitement, while remaining insightful and meaningful. If you can't enjoy this "best and most beloved" of books, there is probably something wrong with you.

I read this book as a youth. When my son was young, my wife and I read it to him. It was his favorite book and probably responsible for his learning to read early so he could read it himself. Now, this Christmas, I gave him an original Hardback edition to read to his son. RAH gave us the ultimate adventure story that families can enjoy together.

This is the first science fiction book I ever read. And is still one of the best. Every 5-7 years I pull it out and read it again. Down to earth and written in everyday language. Kip is like the boy next door. Even today, it criticizes public schools, commercials, and the government. One of Heinlein's best!

Kip Russell tells his story. One minute, he's playing in the backyard of his house with an old space suit named Oscar, and a friend named Ellie, the next thing he knows, he's abducted by aliens who take him to the moon. Blair Colquhoun @cybertours.com

This was the first Science Fiction novel I ever read. It not only infected me with a life long craving for Science Fiction but lit the ember that became my love for reading and literature that has added so much to my life.

One of Heinlein's better juvenile novels, 'Space Suit' holds no thematic surprises: Right-thinking, clean-living, and hard-working intelligent young man is in the Right Place at the Right Time to save the world.
'G'-rated without a doubt.

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!

I remember reading this as a child,It kept me thinking upward. The male character comes to know himself and then decides to work to make his dreams come true. I loved it and probably have read it a dozen times.

This is the first science fiction book I recommended our three children read. They all enjoyed it and this has led them to more Robert Heinlein books. An excellent starter book for children 8 years old or more.

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...

I first read this book when I was in the 5th grade. I bought this book because the cover looked interesting, but I didn't find the first few pages too interesting, so it took me a while to really get into it. I'm glad I did though, because the book evokes a sense of wonder that's beyond description. Like another reviewer wrote, I truly envy someone who is reading this book for the first time!!

I read this as a young teen and it started me off on a glorious quest of good Sci-Fi. I read all the Heinlein I could get my hands on. Thank goodness our library did not have the Heinlein Adult Books! Do not read those or you will be sorely dissolutioned. He is totally pornographic in those books and they are not suitable for anyone to read. But, his children's books are divine. Read all of them you can and then read them again.

This was one of the two books that started me on the road to science fiction, the other being Pebble in the Sky. A lighthearted romp through the world of science with a healthy dose of adventure thrown in for good measure. I have read nearly all of Heinlen's books since then. A beauty to read.

Have spacesuit will travel feels like a soccer game which starts excitingly, with a nice tempo, and both teams giving their all. Somewhere after the 10th minute, not only the would-be Peles and Maradonas lose the magic touch, but heavy rain also starts pouring down, and the spectacle becomes dull, almost irritating, until 5 minutes before time or so, when the rain stops, the players wake up again and end up the match in style.

So, in a few words: I really liked the first person narration of the star boy, and I do understand how it may have inspired future astronauts, one among the many Heinlein novels to have done so back then. As a matter of fact, I believe that even today, wannabe astronauts are influenced and inspired by Heinlein novels, no matter how hard Scalzi tries to dethrone the master.

Heinlein's juvenile or not, I disliked the wizard kid. Furthermore, the tedious and unnecessary Luna and Pluto trips did not really make me fall in love with the novel. Things got a bit more interesting in Vega and yes, the grand finale in the Magellanic clouds deserved a biz.

All in all, Heinlein's indelible mark on modern SF is in other works. 2 1/2 stars.

A good example of Heinlein's way of making a typical boy struggle and reach greatness by being self reliant, brave and sumewhat bullheaded. If only today's kids had all these characterestics, instead of only the last one.

I read this book at age 8 and remembered its fantastic story so many years later that (thanks to Google-searches) I was able to buy three more copies three decades later. What better review than to say; Although I didn't remember the title - I remembered "Mother Thing" and was compelled to seek out this novel, as a present for a young reader!

I recently gave this book to my ten-year-old to read and he pronounced it "the best book ever". (Yes, he has read Harry Potter, his previous favorite.) Having re-read it myself, for at least the tenth or twelfth time, I can't disagree. Like all great books, its themes are so universal, it would require only minimal editing to be published today.

As a 13-year-old (30 years ago), I devoured this book and became hooked on Science Fiction for life. Asimov, Clarke, Bradbury and Herbert followed, along with many more by Heinlein. But this is the one that captured my imagination. I recently bought it for my own 13-year-old and she has had the same experience. Good story telling holds up.

This was my first and is still my favorite Heinlein novel.

It's fairly dated, but that's the inevitable fate of all sci-fi books. It's still very entertaining, so much that I've read it 4 times.

This is by far my favorite Heilein novel. I love its simplicity and fun in the adventure style. Its early 50s vintage and the storyline show it. I doubt if it will make a good movie in today's movie environment. Its easy reading with a fun twist. I fully recomend this to young readers.

While the spankmeisters at the store can blithely recommend that your 1st and 2nd graders can tackle the GrandPooba of Skifi, YOU may want to wait a few years before unleashing your kids unto the world of Rah. (Rah! Rah! Rah!) A great yarn, with inspiration, adventure and a smattering of politics and complex ideas buried under rockets and ray guns, this is easily onf of Heinleins finest Juvies.

I've read lots of Heinlein and generally like all of his Golden Age books (I loathe his later writings). This one however, I did not like. It reads like a juvenile novel (which it is) but it just gets bogged down with details. He goes on and on to describe jury rigging the spacesuit, for example. In another format this might work, but with the type book this is,the story is more important. the details just seemed like filler.

Have Spacesuit Will Travel ranks with Citizen of the Galaxy and Double Star as one of Heinlein's best novels. It is well written, a good adventure story, and full of marvelous ideas and characters. It's highly recommended. Don't let the title put you off.

Have not bought the book but Will not pay so much for a kindle edition Please check pricing compared to print and note that it is not acceptable I can probably get this book from a book exchange shop for $0.99