3.5 Blast from childhood. You can't get any of Cameron's books at the library. Fun ride.

My favorite book when I was a kid.

I read this as part of Dead Writers Society genre challenge for March. This was a really cute and quick read so I am glad that I finally read it yesterday.

The book follows two friends, Chuck and David who respond to an ad that requests that a boy or boys build a spaceship. The two boys take up items that they find and build a spaceship and go off to meet the man who put the ad in the paper, Mr. Tyco Bass. Once they meet Mr. Bass and hear about the mysterious planet that he wants them to take off and explore, the story picks up.

With books like these, I often think they are easier to read as a child. As an adult your first impulse is to scoff at two kids being able to build a spaceship and hurtle into space and walk out onto a planet with no oxygen about. Since this book was not written for me, I thought it was perfect for someone between the ages of 6-9. I think if I read this at age 10 I would have probably said cute story and went back to my Nancy Drew books.

The setting of the "Mushroom Planet" was pretty funny. I liked the character of Ta who acted imperious, but we quickly find out has a soft heart.

This book is first in a series starring these two boys.

This is a great book. It's a simple enough story, but it encourages all of the following:

- belief
- imagination
- scientific experimentation to find the answers to questions
- the power of children

I imagine this book has awakened some budding scientists in its day!

I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

82%

This book was written in 1954, and you can certainly tell - it's got a certain nostalgic charm to it that I can't quite put my finger on. Is it the way the characters speak a little unusually or the way they react to everything with logic? Is it the fickle pacing? Is it the hopeful imaginations of a pre-moon landing era? Hell, maybe it was even the imperfections in the font? Maybe it was all or none of things, but whatever it was, I was thoroughly charmed by it.

First published in 1954, before the Apollo mission. I found this book fascinating in how the writer described seeing outer space. This book was a warm blend of Scifi and a little magic. And a lot of imagination. I never read this as a child and would have loved it! Right now, I feel lulled and comforted by Eleanor Cameron's writing. Book two, please! Called: Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet.

Loved this book when I first read it as a kid--I was probably around the same age as the main characters. This might very well have been my introduction to science fiction.

Not sure how it stands the test of time, but for a nine or ten-year-old in the pre-Star Wars era, this was a great read.

I must say that I truly enjoyed this book, and its sequel, as a child. The gentle humor and appealing fantasy of the story of children building s rocket ship and going to the Mushroom Planet with their neighbor (who turns out to be a native of that planet) was a lot of fun, and inspired much daydreaming on my part.

I don’t know, this one was odd. I expected much more of the story to focus on the planet itself, but almost 2/3 of the book happens on earth. Maybe prepping for space flight was more exciting before the moon landing?