Robert A. Heinlein's Citizen of the Galaxy as adapted by Robert Lazaro

I have always been a big fan of Robert A.Heinlein. Citizen of the Galaxy was one of the first books of his that I read. I remember well meeting and getting to know the main character, Thorby Baslim. I must have reread his adventures 10 or 12 times. So I was predisposed to like the graphic novel.

The basic story starts with Thorby being bought at a slave market as a child by what seems to be a beggar. As he grows older, Thorby realizes there is more to his "father" than just a beggar. Eventually Thorby winds up on a Free Trader ship, adopted into their family as a way to repay a debt. Then he joins the military and sooner rather than later winds up on Earth, in a way that he could never have imagined. There he realizes that his troubles are far from over.

While this was a reasonably good adaptation of the story, I felt it could have been better served as a multivolume edition. There were some important subplots that had to be removed in order for the book to fit into a single edition graphic novel. I was sorry to see them gone.

As far as that goes, however, it was a good introduction to Heinlein's story that could entice new readers, younger readers, to read the book after finishing the graphic novel. I will look for a copy to put in my classroom library. It is worth a read.

The Martian by Andy Weir

Good, old fashioned, hard-core science fiction here. Andy Weir took the idea what if, on a manned mission to Mars, one of the astronauts was accidentally left behind? A simple enough idea that he fleshes out into an incredibly good book. How good? Caused me to get 4 hours of sleep two nights in a row so I could finish it.

Weir used multiple viewpoints to get the book written. He developed the characters well, especially Mark Watney--the title character. Watney's humor keeps the book from getting too depressing or heavy. It's not that he does not face dire and life-threatening situations, it's that he does so with an almost unfailing good humor. It's a big part of what kept me reading. A smart ass underdog, who couldn't like a character like that?

Weir also seems to be very up on his science. Everything he wrote about Martian conditions and the science of what was going on made sense to me. And, as I am a bit of a science nerd, that was important. The space travel aspect was also realistic.

There is quite a bit of profanity in the book. That will probably preclude me from putting it my classroom library for seventh graders. I'm not a prude, but the sheer number of f-bombs gets to be problematic for that grade level. I would recommend it, though. It is a great ride with twists and turns right up to the end.