Have Space Suit—Will Travel
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Our view
Heinlein’s engineering eye gives “Have Space Suit—Will Travel” its appeal: a space adventure for young readers grounded in realistic detail. Some readers love the style and count it a classic. The turn from a realistic opening to a far stranger, darker story strikes others as abrupt, and some who come to it as adults feel they would have loved it more when young.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Have Space Suit—Will Travel is a science fiction novel for young readers by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, originally serialized in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and published by Scribner's in hardcover in 1958. The last Heinlein novel to be published by Scribner's, it was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1959 and won the Sequoyah Children's Book Award for 1961. Heinlein's engineering expertise enabled him to add realistic detail; during World War II, he had been a civilian aeronautics engineer at a laboratory which developed pressure suits for use at high altitudes.
Reading order · Heinlein juveniles
Full order & progress →- Rocket Ship GalileoStart here
–Not ranked yet - Space Cadet
7.67.6 / 10 - Red Planet
7.67.6 / 10 - Farmer in the Sky
7.67.6 / 10 - The Rolling Stones
–Not ranked yet - Starman Jones
7.77.7 / 10 - The Star Beast
–Not ranked yet - Tunnel in the Sky
–Not ranked yet - Time for the Stars
7.67.6 / 10 - Citizen of the Galaxy
7.67.6 / 10 - Have Space Suit—Will TravelThis book
7.57.5 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.2 across 145 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 50% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 7.5 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 7.2 | 145 | 100% |
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Science fiction — and a score of 7.5, the closest to this book.
