A tale beloved by many fans of Robert A. Heinlein, Podkayne of Mars tells the story of a young Marswoman and her inter-planetary adventures with her uncle and her genius brother.
Told largely through Podkayne’s diaries, the story details her travel to Earth with her two companions. Podkayne has very definite plans on what to do and how to do it, but not everything is as it seems. She is suddenly … seems. She is suddenly thrust into the middle of life and death situations when the liner they are travelling on makes a stop at Venus.
The original publisher of this book asked Heinlein to change the controversial ending, which Heinlein did extremely reluctantly. He felt the original ending much better suited the story line and was never satisfied with the modified “safer” ending. This edition restores the book to how Heinlein originally wrote it. It also includes a letter to his agent, decrying the changes asked for by his original publisher.
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Heinlein, ’nuff said.
Classic Heinlein
Has RAH original ending. One of my favorites. Good to see it as an ebook.
Highly recommended as or all his novels.
A very rare girl as the hero book written in the 1950’s read it as a 9 y/o boy and liked it as an adult think it was great that he wrote this way before women’s lib came to the forefront …. it shows that the man haters wee wrong not all of us males wanted to enslave them .
As I remember it, the heroine, a tween, once says of her younger, admittedly even-smarter brother, “they needed a baseball bat to get his divided attention.”
I have used that line for decades.
Also “When in trouble or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.”
An interesting treatment of how our priorities change (or don’t) as we grow up.
I read this years ago. This was my least favorite Robert Heinlein book.
I read this book when an adolescent. I loved it then and still enjoyed it now, only from an adult perspective. I love the interrelationships of Podkayne and her brother. Typically teenage, but more because they’ve had to rely on each other but try not to get to buddy-buddy about it. She respects him for his intelligence and he almost respects her interpersonal ability to get along with others.
Classic of RAH. Wonderful read. An enjoyable read from my teen years.
Among the very best of Heinlein’s young adult books. First time I read it was over 50 yrs ago. It’s still a fun read!
you cannot go wrong with this even tho it is “young adult”. It was a real page turner; hard to put down.
Originally I think it was geared towards a younger audience and I enjoyed it when I was a young girl. There are elements that are dated science fiction but is charming, sweet and entertaining.
Terrific early Heinlein. Read it years ago but still enjoyed it.
Enjoyed the book till I got to the end. Lousy, horrible ending destroyed any enjoyment.
I liked the other ending better!!!!
Classic Heinlen. A story written for adolescents, yet adults can treasure his talent for story telling. This version of the book has the ending he originally intended which is like a stab in the heart. If you like SF Heinlen is the undisputed master!
I grew up reading Heinlein. For those unaware, this book was previously published with a different ending (at the insistence of the publisher, against Heinlein’s preferences). Although I am a great Heinlein fan, I disagree with him about the purpose of the story, and prefer the ending I originally read. This version contains the ending he originally wrote and, while it’s still great Heinlein, not as satisfying to me. I won’t give more detail to avoid spoilers (even in a 50+ year old book).
This was one of the first real books I ever read. My father had left a shelf of Heinlein and Asimov books in a corner of the basement I wasn’t supposed to go into, so of course I found them. And my journey toward the Sci-Fi world began.
This is an excellent book for young readers.
I’m a sentimental Heinlein fan, having grown up on his brand of sci-fi, but I hadn’t read this before. I was disappointed with both how dated and how sexist it was. Heinlein never could write adults well, most of his characters remain somewhat immature at whatever age he makes them, but this was egregiously the case, and a sexist lesson to girls to keep within their proper sphere. Luckily by the time he wrote Friday he was more open to roles closer to equality.