I first read this book when I was 14 or 15; now that my daughter is about that age, we made it a family read-aloud and I was surprised at the pleasure the book could still provide. Told from the point-of-view of a typical adolescent male, this story also features one of Heinlein's (in fact, one of Science Fiction's) most adorable pets - Willis, the martian "bouncer."This book contains many of the typical Heinlein themes - alien climes, the risks of power abused, the nature of sentience (an important issue in these times) and the hazards of assuming too much.A terrific book with surprising depth