The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet [Paperback]

Eleanor Cameron (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 1988 | Age Range: 8 and up | Lexile Measure: 970L (What's this?)

In print since the 1950s, the Mushroom Planet series is back with a new design by illustrator Kevin Hawkes. Don t miss the adventures of Chuck and David, two boys who travel to the alien planet Basidium in their homemade spaceship. This timeless series is a classic that is sure to be read over and over again.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The classic science fiction fantasy, about two boys and their space ship, and adventures on a planet found not far away from Earth. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Mrs. Cameron received both the Commonwealth Club of California Award and an award for her novel, A Spell is Cast. Her book A Room Made of Windows, a story about a girl trying to come to terms with her life, won the Boston Globe Horn Book Award.
All Mrs. Cameron's books blend reality and imagination with a distinction that makes them timeless.

Product Details

• Age Range: 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 226 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; 1ST edition (October 3, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316125407
• ISBN-13: 978-0316125406
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.5 x 7.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (98 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 77 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the first books I fell in love with May 1, 2000

By Michael J. Edelman TOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Oh, how I loved this book when I first read it! It must have been around 1962 when I discovered it in the school library. I was absolutely taken with the story of Mr. Bass, and the little green planet and the ship the boys built to go there. It was the beginning of the manned space age, I reading this book, I could imagine myself on board with the crew, the chicken (!), and the little oxygen cylinder going "pheep..pheep..."

Take it from an ex-eight year old; this is a wonderful book.

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most enjoyable kid's books out there. November 25, 2003

By Ryk E. Spoor VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

The first of Cameron's Mushroom Planet books, The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet still casts a spell many years after its first publication. David and Chuck, two best friends, build a rocketship (well, a full-sized model of one) after reading a mysterious newspaper advertisement asking for just such a spaceship and promising "adventure" to the boys who bring the best spaceship to an address that they're not even sure exists. Mystery piles atop mystery and revelation on revelation, until the two boys find themselves on a rescue mission to a tiny, invisible planet orbiting only a short distance (astronomically speaking) from the Earth itself!

The writing is smooth, straightforward, and engaging, and Cameron's characters are sketched out with clear and emphatic detail. There is a bizarre, almost dreamlike quality to the book itself, due at least in part to the juxtaposition of a strong and clear respect for and use of scientific approaches and terminology with truly mystical phenomena that cannot be explained by any science known to man. The scientific wizard Mr. Bass -- there's no better way to describe him -- creates inventions that sound scientific, may even BE scientific in a way, and yet his work is surrounded by all the enigmatic atmosphere of the most mysterious sorceror. At the same time, the rescue and its conclusion rest on firm, rational grounds, so that we keep being anchored back to reality.

A fascinating book and well worth the read even if -- or perhaps especially if -- you are an adult who is trying to remember why some kids' books still stick with you.

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This series comprises my most vivid childhood reading memory October 1, 1999

By [e-mail]

Format:Paperback

This book, the first in the Mushroom Planet series, enthralled me as a youth more than 30 years ago, spurring me to read the entire series. It strikes the perfect chord for young readers, especially boys, at that age when they still possess enough innocence and ignorance of reality to believe in the possibility of their own trip to an "invisible" planetoid. The characters are written well, with a spirit of youthful exuberance and confidence that draws you into their experience as if you, too, were along for the ride. I read it again as a young adult and, although tempered by my realization of the realities of science vis-a-vis the boys' accomplishments, it still was a stirring read. A children's classic!

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A true classic October 13, 2002

By absent_minded_prof

Format:Paperback

David and Chuck are just a couple of regular, ordinary, everyday kids, with a regular, ordinary, everyday chicken, named Mrs. Pennyfeather. One day they happen to answer a regular, ordinary, everyday newspaper ad. Suddenly they find themselves blasting off in a tiny spaceship, headed for a tiny planet that a local astronomer has just discovered! Before they know it, they are on a mission to save the tiny Mushroom Planet from a terrible fate. All they have to depend upon are their wits, the astronomer's mysterious advice, their own love of science -- and their regular, ordinary, everyday chicken, Mrs. Pennyfeather. What will become of them? What will become of the chicken? What will become of the inhabitants of the little planet, the Mushroom People?

I remember first reading this story, in about third grade. Eleanor Cameron makes the story so interesting, and so fun, I didn't even want to go to sleep until I had finished the book. After I finished it, I couldn't decide which was more interesting to me: reading, or doing science. Just remember -- if the kids didn't know their science, the story wouldn't have a happy ending! That's all I'll say here. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone.

This happens to be a really good time to be reading this neat little book. Did you know that real astronomers recently discovered something new in our solar system? They can't decide if they should call it a planet or not. Would you like to learn more about it? See if you can use the Internet to learn about the word "Quaoar," which is what astronomers are calling the object. Or, you could ask your science teacher about it. Who knows -- maybe we'll even find some mutant mushrooms up there, someday!

I would like to recommend another astronomy book that I loved in third grade.... It's called "Powers of Ten," by Philip Morrison. I haven't been in third grade for quite awhile, but I STILL love that book. Please take 2 minutes and see if you can find it on Amazon.com -- I bet you'll love it.

Anyway -- "The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet" is amazing. Two thumbs up! Read more ›

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Midnight....Pre-cisely! September 20, 2004

By Duane Thomas VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

"For a few seconds it was terrifying! Everything seemed to happen at once. First there was the blasting roar, and the boys were flung backward in their seats so violently by the forward impact of the ship that the breath was knocked out of them. At the same time poor Mrs. Pennyfeather lost her wits entirely and squawked and flapped and flew in their faces, beating her wings so wildly that they were completely blinded by her."

If only it were possible to give a book more than five stars. The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet was one of my favorite books as a kid. It tells the story of David Topman and Chuck Masterson, two boys "between the ages of eight and eleven" who, with the help of Mr. Tycho M. Bass, build and pilot a slim, beautiful spaceship to a small (35 miles in diameter) planet named Basidium-X.

My poor words can't begin to express how wonderful is this book. I've read other books I loved as a child - No Flying in the House comes instantly to mind - as an adult and found them a hideous disappointment. But The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet still DOES it for me. And that's pretty darn cool. If you're thinking of buying this book for your child....do it. If you loved it as a child yourself, and are wondering if it could possibly hit you as hard decades later....oh YES.