The next entry in the Hugo award series is one of Robert Heinlein's juvenile series. It was another one of the retro-Hugos and wasn't awarded until 50 years after it was published. Much like I thought 'The Mule' was awarded a Hugo more for it's series than for it as an individual story, I think this book was awarded for Heinlein's juveniles. Every year from '47 to '58 he wrote a book that was pitched at young readers. Someone asked me for a suggestion for a series of books for 10 year old boys (don't remember who) and I wish I'd remembered this set. Each story is a stand alone, without overlapping characters or anything like that, but their is a uniform style that ties them together. (Er, I should probably just do a blog post on the series and get on with the review for this one.)
'Farmer in the Sky' was serialized for the Boy Scouts and the entire book is peppered liberally with scouting and and the way that scouts should act. The story is about a teenage boy who emigrates with his family to Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter, as part of the effort to make it habitable for humans. He faces difficulties from both man and nature and grows to be a better person.
The story was written nearly 30 years before we got a close up of the moon so some of the details are off but the attention to the sheer scale of the project is very well done. The entire book is filled with the pioneer spirit that Heinlein always respected so much. It's not the best of the series but it's interesting enough as a book. Certainly it's better for young boys than adults but it's worth reading.
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