The Earth is crowded and food is rationed, but a colony on Ganymede, one of the moons of Jupiter, offers an escape for teenager Bill Lermer and his family. Back on Earth, the move sounded like a grand adventure, but Bill soon realizes that life on the frontier is dangerous, and in an alien world with no safety nets, nature is cruelly unforgiving of even small mistakes. Bill’s new home is a world of unearthly wonders—and heartbreaking tragedy. He will face hardships, survive dangers, and grow up fast, meeting the challenge of opening up a new world for humanity and finding strengths within himself that he had never suspected existed.
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About the Author
Robert A. Heinlein was the greatest science fiction writer who ever lived. His novels have been translated into every literate language on the globe—over 50 million Heinlein books are in print in this country alone. For five decades, young readers of science fiction discovered Heinlein, then gone on to voraciously devour every Heinlein book they can get their hands on. His now-legendary Stranger in a Strange Land was the first hardcover bestseller by a science fiction writer. From 1975 on, every new Heinlein novel made the New York Times best-seller list and shipped a million copies, including The Number of the Beast, Friday, Job: A Comedy of Justice, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset. In a career spanning half a century, he wrote over forty books, and four of his novels won Hugo Awards, an unequalled record for almost four decades. For the last three generations of readers, Heinlein is science fiction.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fun novel that's less exciting than some other Heinlein juveniles,
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This review is from: Farmer in the Sky (Mass Market Paperback)
Farmer in the Sky revolves around the colonization of Ganymede, which is being terraformed to accommodate human life. Most of the first colonists are homestead farmers who are offered land in exchange for their efforts to make the land productive. Young Bill Lerner is the key player in Heinlein's story; through his eyes the reader learns about his father's decision to take a new wife and to become a colonist. The colony struggles with hardship and Bill often wonders whether he'll be able to continue his farming life or whether he'll have to return to Earth.I enjoyed Heinlein's juveniles when I was a teenager, and again upon rereading them in adulthood. Heinlein's juveniles offer an education in science that is too basic to be horribly outdated, always written in language us non-scientists can comprehend: in Farmer in the Sky, the reader learns lessons of physics, agronomy, ecology, even "population bionomics" (although Heinlein's take on the inevitability of population growth outpacing food supplies might not be well grounded in modern experience, at least as applied to human populations). At least equally interesting, I think, are the Heinlein values that shine through in his novels, and this one is no exception: his distrust of government and bureaucratic institutions; his fierce belief in individualism, coupled with a corresponding belief in the need for individuals to work cooperatively as friends and neighbors and families. The plot of Farmer in the Sky unfolds a bit more slowly than the stories in some of Heinlein's other juveniles. Frequently mentioned is Bill Lerner's joy in being an Eagle Scout and his love of scouting in general. A shorter version of the book was originally serialized in Boy's Life magazine--perhaps Heinlein included the scouting references to enhance his chance of selling the story, but since they continue to appear (often) in the novel, I suspect Heinlein simply placed great value in scouting. The scouting references don't contribute much to the story (unless you're a real scouting fanatic), but they don't detract from it either. In short, Farmer in the Sky is fun, educational, but a bit less exciting than some of the other Heinlein juveniles. For the Heinlein completist it's an essential read, but readers seeking the furious action of Starship Troopers might be disappointed.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
New Readers for Old Books,
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This review is from: Farmer in the Sky (Mass Market Paperback)
Farmer in the Sky, A very good story, Covering, " Action, Adventure, Survival & Romance. This well laid-out story takes place on another world, But could have taken place on earth. In fact, Most of the ideas found between these pages could really take place in some of the Wildernesses of, North America or along the Amazon River in South America. This book questions the reader, " How would you Act & React & Survive, Under These Environments.Well worth the time to read every word. Enjoyed by Children & Adults alike, Personally; I've read it when it first came out & at " 55 Years of age ", am reading it again.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
My favorite of the juveniles, though not without it's flaws,
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This review is from: Farmer in the Sky (Mass Market Paperback)
Farmer In The Sky is a story about an early attempt at extra-terrestrial colonization, which was a common science fiction theme in the 1950s. Heinlein writes a story that is usually compellingly inspirational about mankind moving beyond Earth.Unfortunately, at least through the view of a more modern teenager, the main character is hopelessly immature, throwing 8 year-old hissy fits when he is supposed to be in his late teens. Also, as this novel was originally (I believe) written for serialization in Boy's Life, it has a very strong Boy Scouts component. This is neither bad nor good, but it could have been written without it. As I said in my title, Farmer In The Sky is generally my favorite of Heinlein's juvenile. I read it as a teen and still enjoy it. But you do have to ignore the protagonist's immaturity.
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