Farmer in the Sky by Robert Heinlein

First published in 1950

Farmer in the Sky revolves around the colonization of Ganymede, which is being terraformed to accommodate human life. Most of the first colonists are homestead farmers who are offered land in exchange for their efforts to make the land productive. Young Bill Lerner is the key player in Heinlein's story; through his eyes the reader learns about his father's decision to take a new wife and to become a colonist. The colony struggles with hardship and Bill often wonders whether he'll be able to continue his farming life or whether he'll have to return to Earth.

I enjoyed Heinlein's juveniles when I was a teenager, and again upon rereading them in adulthood. Heinlein's juveniles offer an education in science that is too basic to be horribly outdated, always written in language us non-scientists can comprehend: in Farmer in the Sky, the reader learns lessons of physics, agronomy, ecology, even "population bionomics" (although Heinlein's take on the inevitability of population growth outpacing food supplies might not be well grounded in modern experience, at least as applied to human populations). At least equally interesting, I think, are the Heinlein values that shine through in his novels, and this one is no exception: his distrust of government and bureaucratic institutions; his fierce belief in individualism, coupled with a corresponding belief in the need for individuals to work cooperatively as friends and neighbors and families.

The plot of Farmer in the Sky unfolds a bit more slowly than the stories in some of Heinlein's other juveniles. Frequently mentioned is Bill Lerner's joy in being an Eagle Scout and his love of scouting in general. A shorter version of the book was originally serialized in Boy's Life magazine--perhaps Heinlein included the scouting references to enhance his chance of selling the story, but since they continue to appear (often) in the novel, I suspect Heinlein simply placed great value in scouting. The scouting references don't contribute much to the story (unless you're a real scouting fanatic), but they don't detract from it either.

In short, Farmer in the Sky is fun, educational, but a bit less exciting than some of the other Heinlein juveniles. For the Heinlein completist it's an essential read, but readers seeking the furious action of Starship Troopers might be disappointed.

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