The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet [Hardcover]

Eleanor Cameron (Author), Robert Henneberger (Illustrator)

Book Description

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.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (Juv); 1ST edition (July 1954)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316125377
• ISBN-13: 978-0316125376
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (89 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,288,604 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 69 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 (Huntington Woods, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet (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.

43 of 43 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 "Author, Gamer, Geek God" (Troy, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet (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.

35 of 35 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] (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet (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!