Content levels
Trigger warnings
Positive tags
Hero archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Synopsis
"We'll thunder off to Io, Out in the Jovian Moons. We'll feast our eyes and seek the skies And plunder Martian ruins!" The "Spaceman's Chant" turned from a spirited to a heartbreaking refrain when Cadet Peter Hodges learned that he would never be allowed to "thunder off to Io." Bitter disappointment, to a youth whose father had been one of the first space captains, motivates this gripping tale of the future. Studded with detail of the spaceports, ships and men that handle interplanetary flight, Earthbound is the very human drama of a disillusioned cadet forced by circumstances to help plunder the very space liners he was trained to protect. How Pete Hodges became involved with interplanetary racketeers, his dramatic escape, his flight to the asteroids on a mission the authorities knew could not succed, is a finely wrought drama that only an author of Milton Lesser's stature could write. Fired with suspense and action, this story of one young man's determination to face the speckled blackness of outer space is science fiction at its best!
Tags
Is Earthbound appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 10 and up.
A classic 1950s space adventure about a young cadet who loses his dream of spaceflight and falls in with criminals before seeking redemption. Mild action and tension appropriate for middle grade readers.
What to know going in
This book has mild violence, no sexual content, and clean language. Content notes include deception.
Who'll love this
Readers will root for Pete as he fights to reclaim his dream of becoming a space captain despite impossible odds.