What a disappointment! I generally appreciate and enjoy this author's books, even most of his earlier juvies but I won't be finishing this one. It started so well, included some of Heinlein's social commentary that has shown to be prophetic, and I found the more technical aspects to be intriguing. But then he lost my interest with a plot twist that was almost cartoonish, outlandish, bizarre, like a skit from Monty Python. Abandoned after fifty pages. No stars.

Contains a couple of early in the book spoilers!!!

One of Heinlein's first YA SF works. Exudes 1950's optimism and values...not another dystopia of the future. Instead life just a little bit in the future but changed enough to be attention grabbing.
We have a moon base but not heading to the stars.
Our hero wants to go to the moon. His father says'"Sure...if you can come up with the money and means"
So our hero Kip, works as a soda jerk in a drugstore and finds out a soap company is giving away a trip to the moon as a grand prize for a new jingle. Kip becomes the salesman of the ages and the best con man to get the wrappers to send in. He wins....2nd prize along with a bunch of folks who submit the same jingle.
The company gives a "real live" Spacesuit from the base.
. Then they offer to buy them back after a publicity campaign. Kip being gifted in science and a knack for tinkering...decides to totally refurbish the suit before selling it back for college tuition money so he can start college.
He gets the suit in prime shape and decides to take one last walk in the suit. Suddenly there is an answer to his radio tag line and his life changes.
Lots of interesting changes, events and characters follow. Heinlein didn't write down to his audiences and threw in math and science, fully expecting the reader to "deal with it".
Great read for preteens, fun for us older kids at heart. ( )

Kid's book, but definitely fun to read. Our hero wins a space suit in a jingle contest, a '50's type event in a book from the '50's, which suits him just fine. His post high school dream is to fly into outer space. His dream comes true in a most unexpected way and leads to more extraterrestrial adventure than he could ever have imagined. Let's face it, only Heinlein could dream this up. But for a quick, fun read this perfect. ( )

A juvenile novel starring one of the space suits from Starship Troopers. Meant for kids and I read it as a kid. It’s ok: there’s no long rants from a crypto militaristic libertarian POV. If you put a gun to my head and said I have to recommend a Heinlein novel to someone … or else … this would be it.

Say what you will about Heinlein in his later years (misogynist, narcissistic, etc.) he did know how to write science fiction with punch. And he doesn't pull punches in this story, for all that it's aimed at teenagers, which is why it appeals to adults too, I think. People die, planets get rotated out of existence, Earth and its people are put on trial (a theme which has appeared in a number of SF stories over the years), kids are abducted from their homes and adventure happens. What else can I say?

Fun stuff and good for trips to and from work! Also, the Full Cast Audio folks deserve kudos for making the story all that much more fun! ( )