At the beginning of Have Spacesuit Will Travel, Kip is just an ordinary boy who'd like to go into space. The story is placed in the near future when the moon has a colony and tourists. The nearest Kip thinks he can get to the moon is by winning an old spacesuit in a contest. The whole opening of the book is his cleverness and resourcefulness in figuring how to win the spacesuit and then in repairing the old spacesuit. Heinlein has a lot to say here about the importance of independence, resourcefulness and initiative. The lesson the book gives is that if you want something, go for it. Heinlein gets in some real swipes at the public school system that are as valid today as when it was written. His solution, if you feel you're not being educated in school, continue to attend school but educate yourself. Read, look up information. This doesn't mean the book is dull. All I've mentioned only begins the adventure. Having fixed up his spacesuit to the point that it's spaceworthy, Kip one night wears his spacesuit and turns on its radio, intercepts a call for help, tries to rescue a kidnapped girl who is fleeing her captors, gets kidnapped himself, gets his wish to go into space in a way he never dreamed of and suddenly the rest of the book is non-stop action. The scope of the book suddenly takes a giant leap out into the universe, a universe filled with alien races who frankly don't think much of the humans from earth. In a very moving scene, it's up to Kip to present a defense of the human race, with his life and the life of humanity hanging in the balance. It's a wonderful story and as good today as when it was written. If you have preteens who are ready to "graduate" from reading Harry Potter, this is the perfect book.