Robert A. Heinlein wears imagination as though it were his private suit of clothes. What makes his work so rich is that he combines his lively creative sense with an approach that is at once literate, informed and exciting. "Have Space Suit—Will Travel" … carries the reader into the universe in the company of Kip (Clifford) Russell, a lad whose ambition is to go to the moon, and his unexpected traveling companion, Peewee (Patricia) Reisfeld, a terrifying 10-year-old genius whose penchant for getting into trouble is at least equal to her IQ. When the two team up with a lovable, fuzzy creature of vast capabilities, called simply Mother Thing, against some ghastly intruders dubbed Wormfaces, the reader is propelled into a yeasty—and often sobering—fantasy.

Robert Berkvist, "Teen-Age Space Cadets," in The New York Times Book Review (© 1958 by The New York Times Company: reprinted by permission), December...