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Patti Abbott wants to do something a little different for Forgotten Books on the holiday weekend. Books for kids. So here we go.
Eleanor Cameron’s Mushroom Planet series came out back in the fifties. It was science fiction for small children. I think the series would be the perfect way to introduce children to written SF as opposed to movies.
In THE WONDERFUL FLIGHT TO THE MUSHROOM PLANET, David and Chuck respond to a newspaper ad that read:
” Wanted: A small spaceship about eight feet long, built by a boy, or by two boys, between the ages of
eight and eleven….”
The ad goes on to promise an adventure and a chance to do a good deed. The two boys build from materials at hand and haul it to the address in the ad. There they meet a strange little man named Tyco Bass, a scientist.
He paints the inside and outside of their spaceship with a “special” liquid to seal it, installs engines, fuel tanks, and equipment of his design, and they are off to the Mushroom Planet, in invisible orbit fifty thousand miles from Earth.
There they meet a race of small green men, of which Mr. Bass is one, on a world of giant mushrooms. They help them with a great difficulty, become heroes, and return to Earth. Their spaceship gets dashed to pieces by tides on the beach and Mr. Bass reportedly blows away on the wind.
The end of their adventures? Hardly.
In STOWAWAY TO THE MUSHROOM PLANET, they encounter Mr. Bass’ cousin, Mr. Theodosius, who pours over notes left by his relative, and recreates everything. A new spaceship is built, slightly bigger, and plans are made to return to the little planet. Upon arriving, they discover Horatio, a young boarder, who hadn’t believed their tales, but now wants to exploit the planet and it’s people. They also find Tyco Bass alive and well.
Adventures ensue and they all return to Earth. Everything is fine. The planet is safe.
The first two books are readily available on used book sites at reasonable prices(one and two dollars, plus S&H). But the other three are a bit more expensive Twenty dollars for the third, forty odd for the fifth. The fourth is the breaker. I’ve seen prices, ninety on the low end and two hundred fifty on the high for used copies.
Local libraries may have them(our county system has three).
It would be nice if some publisher came out with affordable paperbacks of all five. I think small children would enjoy them.
I know this small “child” loved revisiting that long ago youth.
Not The Baseball Pitcher 
This is another book(s) I remember from the cover. Just charming. Thanks for remembering it.
There was also a collection of two short stories, which is very hard to find: “Jewels from the Moon and The Meteor That Couldn’t Stay”.
The paperback versions of the first two books are very inexpensive, but they lack the illustrations, unfortunately. If you’re looking for any of these books but don’t feel like shelling out a lot of money for them, you might find them in PDF if you search the Web (or go to http://peyre.x10.mx/OldGoodStuff/mushroom.htm).
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