Castor and Pollux Stone are two moon-dwelling twins. They want to see the sights of the solar system, so their family buys a used spaceship and heads for Mars.
Once they get to the Red Planet, the twins get their little brother a pet, a Martian flat-cat called Fuzzy Britches. Then they take off for the asteroid belt to get rich.
Before they know it, Fuzzy Britches has gotten them into deep trouble. Martian flat-cats have lots of kittens, and soon the ship is overflowing with purring, fuzzy aliens....
The Rolling Stones features a believable family that must deal with both traditional conflicts and the new problems of living together on a spaceship.
It's nice to see that not all families are "stuck-in-the-mud groundhogs," as the twins call people who spend their whole lives on the same planet. We could use more books about families in space.
Beyond that, the flat cats are an extremely entertaining creation, very similar to the tribbles on Star Trek that they would later inspire.
The Rolling Stones is currently available in paperback.
The X Factor, by Andre Norton
Diskan Fentress doesn't think he fits in on the planet Vaanchard, so he swipes a spaceship and one of his space explorer father's "travel tapes" and flies to Mimir, a cold and puzzling world.
Once he gets to Mimir, he crash-lands and loses almost everything he owns. Can he survive with nothing but the clothes on his back? Is there intelligent life on Mimir? Who or what are the Brothers in Fur, and why are other people moving around on the planet?
Andre Norton is famous for her juvenile science fiction and fantasy novels. and when she writes a story on her own, no one else can touch her readable and enjoyable style.
Unfortunately, she's not nearly as good when she collaborates with other writers, so it's best to stick with her solo work at first.
The X Factor has been out of print for some years, but can be found in used bookstores.
Many libraries also have an excellent selection of Norton's juvenile novels. If your library doesn't have The X Factor, ask your librarian if they can get it via Inter-Library Loan.
Scavengers in Space, by Alan E. Nourse
Alan E. Nourse is best known for his medical science fiction novels for younger readers, but he writes excellent space-oriented SF as well. Scavengers in Space is a good example.
Grgory Hunter and his twin brother Tom live on Mars -- there seem to be a lot of twins in juvenile SF. When their father dies in a suspicious mining accident, the two brothers and a family friend set out to learn what really happened to him.
The rumor on Mars is that their father found a bonanza of valuable minerals out in the asteroid belt, so a mining company killed him in order to jump his claim. Can Greg and Tom find out what really happened, or will they get into more trouble than they can handle?
Nourse paid careful attention to the science in Scavengers in Space, but he didn't neglect his characters in the process. The Hunter twins and most other people they meet have well-rounded personalities, with plenty of good and bad aspects.
Scavengers in Space, like The X Factor, is out of print, but both books are well worth searching for.
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