Back in the Spaceship Again: Juvenile Science Fiction Series Since 1945 (review)

Karen Sands and Marietta Frank. Back in the Spaceship Again: Juvenile Science Fiction Series Since 1945. Westport, CT: Greenwood

How appropriate that a book about series books should itself be a book in a series. The Greenwood Press series, Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy, has been a friendly place for children's literature scholars ever since C. W. Sullivan III became the series advisor. Back in the Spaceship Again joins several recent volumes on science fiction for young readers, helping to legitimize children's and young adult science fiction as part of the larger genre. Such inclusion reflects changing attitudes within science fiction studies, which formerly tended to relegate children's literature to a lower level of the literary hierarchy. Back in the Spaceship Again carries the legitimization process a step further by incorporating discussions of science fiction for very young readers indeed--the picture-book audience. Science fiction in picture books is hardly ever mentioned in academic writing, so it is refreshing to find it included unquestioningly as part of a study of post-1945 series books.

The book is organized in thematic chapters, each of which examines its theme as it is manifested in science fiction series for picture-book readers, for intermediate readers, and for young adults. Authors Karen Sands and Marietta Frank assess differences in treatment at each age level and posit reasons for any discrepancies. In the chapter titled "The Celestial Barnyard," for instance, the authors discuss the various roles animals play in juvenile science fiction series. Series for younger readers include familiar, usually furry, domestic pets (the major exception being Miss Pickerell's cow). Whether these animals are Earthly pets or actual aliens, their inclusion in science fiction helps "to domesticate outer space and make the unknown knowable" (26). Whereas children need the safety of familiar surroundings and familiar friends in order to face the unknowns of science fiction, young adults are in the process of breaking away from home and reaching out for the unknown. In young adult science fiction series, therefore, animals tend to be dangerous alien predators rather than domestic pets. By making the familiar (domestic animals) unfamiliar, authors help young adults create the distance they need for independence.

Each chapter follows a pattern similar to that of "The Celestial Barnyard," tracing its theme through series books for each age group and evaluating the differences in treatment. The themes include the place of females in science fiction, the accuracy of the science, utopias and dystopias, and the role of aliens. Most of the series discussed are by American authors, a fact that the authors confess is a limitation of the study. However, considering the difficulty of locating books as ephemeral as series fiction, Sands and Frank manage to cover an impressive number of series.

As a reader familiar with both science fiction and children's literature, I found occasional moments of enlightenment in this study of juvenile science fiction series but not the depth of insight or challenging ideas I have encountered in some of the previous volumes of the Greenwood Press series. I wished for some examination of the literary qualities of the books under discussion, particularly since Sands and Frank freely mix literary works like Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels with more formulaic fiction such as the Tom Swift, Jr. series. The authors do not indicate any differences between these series. One final quibble has to do with the dearth of copyeditors in academic publishing. Because I have taught freshman composition for years, the grammatical errors in the first two chapters distracted and annoyed me.

In defense of the book, however, I must state that both writing style and depth of scholarship improved markedly beginning with the third chapter. Also, since few scholars are well versed in both children's literature and science fiction...