Venus Boy: 60th Anniversary Revised Edition

Johnny Watson was the first pioneer child born in the colony of New Plymouth on the planet, Venus, and for a long time he was the only child there, with no one but his pet bear, Baba, for company. Perhaps that is why Johnny and Baba learned to understand each other’s languages and become almost like brothers. Of course, Baba was no ordinary bear. His jeweled claws and teeth were worth a fortune on Earth. That was why Johnny had to be constantly on guard to protect him from outlaws and hunters. And often Baba protected Johnny, too. Life on Venus was not only beautiful, but so dangerous that every man, woman, and child had to wear armor whenever they went outsides their houses. One day they might be attacked by giant rhinosaurs, thirty feet high, and the next, from arrow birds with their deadly bills. But Baba had a mysterious way of pacifying these hostile creatures, so Johnny was safe so long as his bear was with him. And in the end this same mysterious power of Baba’s holds the key to enabling men and animals to happily live together on the green planet Venus. A loving revision of what Fantasy and Science Fiction named the best children’s science fiction book of 1955. With the original and never-before-published art from Richard Floethe. This revision has been authorized by the families of both the author and the illustrator.