Rating: My bookshelf

Reading Level: Late Elementary

Sparks the imagination: what might it be like to live in a small colony on Mars? What might kids who never lived on earth think? Issues of environment, politics, and obeying orders are skillfully woven into this adventurous and heart-warming tale.

Potential issues:

  • Age of the earth. Conservatives on the age of the earth will not like one mention of Martian lava tubes being millions of years old.
  • Romance. There are a couple mentions of kissing; adolescents see grown-up kiss and they also catch a pair of teenagers kissing.  There are no details; the adolescents decide it’s gross and move on.

Overall, this is a brilliant sci-fi story that really makes you think and dream, yet is grounded in the realities of the human condition.