Podkayne of Mars

Podkayne of Mars was serialised in Worlds of If in three issues between November 1962 and March 1963, and it appeared in hardcover in 1963. It is one of the novels Heinlein wrote for younger readers, and it is narrated by a Martian girl rather than by the boys who feature in most of the others.

The book takes the form of the diary of Podkayne Fries, known as Poddy, a girl of fifteen who lives on Mars with her parents and her eleven-year-old brother, Clark. Her parents have to cancel a trip to Earth when three test-tube babies arrive early, and she is miserable about it until she confides in her great-uncle, Senator Tom Fries, who arranges upgraded passage for her and Clark on a luxury liner, with himself as their escort.

The voyage is meant to be a holiday, and it does not stay that way. Clark, who is clever and not always careful about consequences, causes trouble from the moment they board, and the trip turns into something much more serious than either of them expected, with the two of them having to work out what they think about the world they are being shown.