Farmer in the Sky

Boy is an Eagle Scout. Boy has some ill-explored family issues. Boy’s family emigrate. Boy miraculously and almost-single-handledly sets up a successful farm from bare rock. Disaster happens for convenient reasons. Tens of thousands dead; no problem to our boy. Boy rebuilds. Boy gets bored and goes exploring. Finds an alien race ten pages from the end of the book. Has a burst appendix. Alien race aren’t mentioned again after miraculously saving him from a plot situation he should never have got into. Father tells boy to go to university and actually learn something. Boy disagrees; remains hillbilly (but, importantly, an Eagle Scout).

Reader wonders how this was ever published.

A relatively regular coming-of-age story, this is a young adult book which shows what the current generation is missing out on. There is little new in this book, all are familiar elements but the themes and overall morality of the book still hold true. This is a book I would be happy to hand to a 14-16 year old as an introduction to real science fiction.

Despite its target of a juvenile audience,this was an enjoyably shallow read. Virtuous and frontiering, it's not got much in the way of grit and was probably an interesting magazine spread in the fifties.