Author:	Robert A. Heinlein
Copyright:	1955
Date Reviewed:	8/23/84
Rating:	8.5

Synopsis: The Advanced Survivals course is given to seniors in high school and colleges students. It is a prerequisite for anyone who hopes to one day live on another planet. The final exam is a five to ten day solo survival test on some primitive planet; usually with wild animals running about. Rod Walker and some of his classmates take the test by going through a "Tunnel" to another planet. But there is a problem. After they are dropped on the planet, the tunnel disappears. When it's obvious that the pick up date is long overdue, the students band together to form their own town. Rod initiates the building of the new town but in the first election is defeated in his attempt to become mayor. Later, when the mayor dies, Rod takes the office. The community grows and the citizens become accustomed to the hostile planet. After two years, the tunnel re-appears and contact with Earth is once again established. To Rod's disappointment, all the student abandon the town and go back to Earth.

Review: "Tunnel in the Sky" is the sixth Heinlein book that I've read that had about the same plot. A teenage boy, just on the threshold of manhood, encounters some situation, always in space, which requires him to mature quickly. The young man is always very sharp and always rises through the ranks quickly because of his wit. All of these novels were written in the 1950's. You might think that I would be tired of these stories by now but I'm not. They are extraordinarily well written.

I got into this book quickly and throughout most of it I found it extremely hard to put down. In the final review, that is the most important aspect of any book. There was a definite plot as it lead from the students first landing, through the growth of the colony to their eventual rescue. I would have preferred it if more detail was given to the success of the colony.

Most of the book is about the struggle to set up the colony. Then, all of a sudden, two years have passed and everyone is happy. The transition came too suddenly. The one real problem I had with the story was the ending. First of all, I find it impossible to believe that the technicians from Earth would re-establish the tunnel and then treat the colonists as children. Any group of people who have survived for two years in a hostile environment are not children. The bit about the reporters and war paint was ridiculous. I also can't believe that everyone in town, except for Rod, would leave in one afternoon; especially since the night before everyone said they would never leave. I could understand a few or even half but certainly not all! I would also have expected that there would be some debate on the matter.