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.