Night of the Sphinx, and Other Stories. (The Lerner Science Fiction Library)

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• Format: Library Binding
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0822509547
• ISBN13: 9780822509547
• Release Date: May 1974
• Publisher: Lerner Pub Group
• Length: 48 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.5" x 5.8"
• Age Range: 9 to 13 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 8

Customer Reviews

Science fiction stories for children with a significant social point

Science fiction for children is by necessity somewhat limited in the depth of the plot. Lacking the experience to understand major social or political trends, children can only understand simple plots where there is generally only one major element to the story. Each of these stories is within those parameters and includes additional features that children will find entertaining. The first, from which the book title is derived, involves a catlike creature (sphinx) with a head similar to a human face. While the adults think that the creatures are destructive and want to eliminate them, the children make pets out of them and defend them. The sphinx are also capable of speech and their favorite form of dialog is to utter children's jokes such as "How do you get down off an elephant?" The remaining stories are: *) When the Cold Came - massive sunspots have appeared on the sun and the Earth has entered a severe ice age. Mark still lives in a northern climate and it is the last day of school ever. He goes to school and tells his teacher that it should be possible to set up mirrors in space to reflect more sunlight down to Earth. *) Skyhook - Jerry is a boy whose father is a bit of a tyrant, complaining about the lack of money. Jerry buys a skyhook that he connects to the back of his shirt and then to a cloud. He is then lifted up and carried away. *) Aunt Elvira's Zoo - Aunt Elvira is a woman that owns a large parcel of land on Earth. She is a conservationist and her land is the last section of jungle and therefore, the last refuge of animals such as elephants. The story chronicles her attempt, along with her niece Julie and some robots, to save the animals by transporting them to another planet. If you evaluate these stories through the lens of science fiction targeted at children, then they are very good. They have a significant social point that is presented at a level that children can understand.