The Heinlein Juveniles Trivia Quiz

Answer: Farmer in the Sky

Due to Earth's overwhelming population and food rationing, Bill Lermer and his family take a spaceship to a colony on Jupiter's third moon, Ganymede. During the trip Bill forms a Boy Scout troop and saves the ship from a meteor impact. While on Ganymede there was a planetquake that destroyed his step-sister's pressurized room, and she died shortly after.

The family decided to stay and eventually made a success of their farm.

Answer: Starship Troopers

Juan Rico reluctantly joined the military in order to impress his classmate, Carmen Ibanez, who went on to become a starship pilot. During the course of his service he was promoted, demoted and promoted again, eventually commanding his own squad, Rico's Roughnecks.

He also found out that his dad had joined the MI after Buenos Aires was destroyed by the Bugs in their first attack on Earth where his mother died.

Answer: Starman Jones

After the Captain got the ship lost through his miscalculations he committed suicide which left no other Astrogators on board except for Max Jones, who had memorized the entire astrogation tables that his uncle had left him. The ship found itself on an uncharted planet that seemed pleasant at first but ended up being inhabited by a race that turned out to be less than friendly.

Answer: Space Cadet

One of the main duties of the Interplanetary Patrol is to monitor the network of H-bombs that orbit the planets to prevent any one government from committing aggression against others. Matt made friends with Tex Jarman and Oscar Jensen who went with him on the assignment to Venus.

The ship they discovered was the Astarte, the ship that carried the first expedition to Venus in 1971. Her crew died of a virulent fungal infection shortly after landing.

Answer: The Star Beast

Lummox ended up being what we would consider royalty for the Hroshii who were threatening to exterminate the planet Earth. Earth authorities considered Lummox to be a "dumb animal" until she later grew arms and was reduced in size by members of her race. John Thomas Stuart XI accompanied her to her home planet along with a contingent of Earth scientists and diplomats in order to improve relations with the Hroshii.

Answer: Orphans of the Sky

Both the original name of the ship, the Vanguard, and the original purpose of the ship's voyage, "the first recorded attempt to reach the nearer stars of the galaxy", were lost to history. The crew mutinied and killed all officers capable of running the ship; thus it drifted in space for generations afterward.

Although the inhabitants retained enough skill through the generations to keep the ship habitable, they lacked any real understanding of science and all knowledge of their origin and history.

Answer: Citizen of the Galaxy

It was discovered that Thorby was actually Thor Bradley Rudbek, heir to the Rudbek fortune. After finding out that many of his own companies were involved in the slave trade in the Nine Worlds Empire he dedicated himself to the eradication of slavery. He even joined the X-Corps, his adoptive father, Baslim's old unit.

Answer: Have Spacesuit, Will Travel

Although the Mother Thing was a comfort to have around during a crisis, Kip discovered that she was actually an interplanetary police officer of sorts. Although she felt affection towards Kip and Peewee, it was her job to bring the Earth to trial. Both Kip and Peewee decided that if the Earth was to be destroyed, they would return instead of staying with the Mother Thing.

Answer: Red Planet

Jim Marlowe never realized that his pet Martian, Willis, was in fact the larval form of an adult Martian. Willis could reproduce human speech exactly as if it were from an audio speaker. This talent was instrumental in foiling the plan of the Mars Company when a private conference was held in his presence.

Answer: Podkayne of Mars

Podkayne Fries, who was named after a Martian saint, was 8 Martian years old and 15 Earth years old. Her uncle, Tom Fries, was a transportee who had participated in the Martian Revolution and now served as Senator-at-Large of the Martian Republic. A survey was recently taken by Baen books as to whether Poddy should die.

The overwhelming consent was that she should die as Heinlein orginally envisioned. Podkayne of Mars was also Robert A. Heinlein's last juvenile and could almost be lumped in with his more adult novels to follow. Thank you for taking another of my Robert A.

Heinlein quizzes. I hope you enjoyed playing it as much as I enjoyed creating it for you.