Danny Dunn and the Voice from Space by Jay Williams

Danny Dunn #10

by Jay Williams

Danny and his scientist friends decode a message sent eleven light years earlier, informing them that space visitors are en route to earth.

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Novels, Fiction, Childrens

Paperback

First published August 1, 1967

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Jay Williams (May 31, 1914–July 12, 1978) was an American author born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Max and Lillian Jacobson. He cited the experience of growing up as the son of a vaudeville show producer as leading him to pursue his acting career as early as college. Between 1931 and 1934 he attended the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University where he took part in amateur theatrical productions.

Out of school and out of work during the end of the Depression, he worked as a comedian on the upstate New York Borscht Belt circuit. From 1936 until 1941, Jay Williams worked as a press agent for Dwight Deere Winman, Jed Harris and the Hollywood Theatre Alliance. And even though he played a feature role in the Cannes prize winning film, The Little Fugitive produced in 1953, he turned his attention to writing as a full time career after his discharge from the Army in 1945. He was the recipient of the Purple Heart. While serving in the Army he published his first book, The Stolen Oracle, in 1943.

Williams may be best-known for his young adult "Danny Dunn" science fiction/fantasy series which he co-authored with Raymond Abrashkin. Though Abrashkin died in 1960, he is listed as co-author of all 15 books of this series, which continued from 1956 until 1977. Jay Williams also wrote mysteries for young adults, such as The Stolen Oracle, The Counterfeit African, and The Roman Moon Mystery.

In all, he published at least 79 books including 11 picture books, 39 children's novels, 7 adult mysteries, 4 nonfiction books, 8 historical novels and a play.

Williams and his wife Barbara Girsdansky were married June 3, 1941. They had a son, Christopher ("Chris"), and a daughter, Victoria. Jay Williams died at age 64 from a heart attack while on a trip to London on July 12, 1978.

Reviews

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fine entry in the Danny Dunn series, this time focused on radio telescopy and thermodynamics, with some nicely subtle commentary on communication.

Professor Bullfinch invents a "thermoelement" or "cryostat" (which Danny dubs The Zero-Maker), a self-contained, compact electron-driven heat pump that could prove useful in inexpensively cooling the masers used in radio telescopes. With the help of his old friend Dr. Hubert Badger (expert in SETI type astronomy), they convince Sir Edward Pomfret to test it out on his radio telescope array in England for Project GNOME, allowing the entire cast of characters (even the parents!) to travel abroad, meet new people (Meg Lucas, daughter of the innkeeper and her pet monkey Mr. Parsley) and perhaps be present at the first reception of a message from space!

What impresses about this installment is how subtly Williams weaves in the underlying message about communication - how difficult it is, how easily messages and intentions can be misconstrued (Danny thinks Dr. Badger is a hobo when they first meet, Bullfinch and Pomfret bickered years ago over trivial matters), meeting new people, being a persuasive speaker (despite Irene's statement about Danny in the preceding book, they both choose Joe to make the pitch for going abroad, as she considers him "a better talker than we’ll ever be"), etc.

As usual, science is bolstered: Bullfinch gives the patent for the Zero Maker to the American Science Foundation, Meg wants to be a zoologist because of Gerald Durrell (a childhood hero of mine as well), we learn the mnemonic device for grading/classifying stars ("Oh, Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me"), one of the scientists says “We’d never learn much if we didn’t try tackling the impossible" and Joe gets to state the aesthetic counterpoint with "To me, it’ll always be mysterious and beautiful and as clear as mud".

Also as usual, the book folds in a lot of literature references: The Sword in the Stone, Wizard of Oz, Shakespeare (Joe wants to see his birthplace), Dickens, H. G. Wells, Silas Marner ("that rotten book", Joe calls it - and I agree), The Hobbit ("a good book", Joe calls it). In fact, Joe is rapidly developing quite the literate character - he gets worked up pitching the idea of a trip to the parents and finishes by quoting Shakespeare, and later quotes Edward Eager’s "Knight’s Castle."

As a small note on the series "as a series": reporter's covering the expedition scoff at Danny's involvement with helping to invent the Zero-Maker (maybe the "Anti-Gravity Paint" spaceflight was hushed up?), but other kids on board the cruise ship know who the famed Professor Bullfinch is! Also, Danny "sets his jaw stubbornly" yet again, and Dr. Grimes has a short cameo.

There's some nice "fish out of water" comedy involving the trip to England as well. This section made me laugh:

"There were strange words, too: the gas stations advertised petrol instead of gasoline, a road sign warned against bends instead of curves, the drug stores were called chemists, and shops labeled Family Butchers made Irene squeal, “Murderers!” Once, when they saw a notice saying LOOSE CHIPPINGS they thought they were coming to a village with an odd name, but it turned out to mean only that the road was being repaired and had gravel on it."

Usually, I try to be vague about how the books end but this one deserves a little discussion in the spoiler zone, so, if you never intend to read it, join me. If so, I can promise you it's gently profound:

In the end, unlikely as it may seem, a message is received and Danny, bright boy that he is, has a brainstorm that it should be decoded as a visual, rather than a textual, message (his logic is actually very sharp in this). Decoded, the message seems to show representations of our solar system and planets, the 61-Cygnus system and a planet, possibly a ship and a pictogram of a humanoid figure with claw hands and a flattened head and midriff. Of course, due to distance, they have no way of knowing how long the message has been going out and only know that this segment was sent 11 years ago, leading to worry:

“But it is a message,” Irene said. “It’s clear, too. That being lives on a planet circling one of the suns of 61 Cygni. And they’ve sent a spaceship toward our solar system.”

“An invasion!” Joe gulped. “That’s what it is. An invasion by crab-clawed hammer-headed monsters!”

“I don’t —” began the Professor. Then he passed a hand over his face. “I don’t want to believe that. Yet I suppose anything is possible.”

Danny shook his head. “I know what it is,” he said, firmly.

He looked up into the faces of the scientists. “Maybe I’m nuts,” he said, “but if you wanted to show you were coming in peace, how would you do it? You’d show that you weren’t holding anything in your hands, wouldn’t you? It seems to me that no matter what they have — claws, pinchers, or some kind of fingers — they’d hold them up empty to show that they had no weapons.”

Professor Bullfinch smiled at him. “Perhaps that’s it. I don’t know any better way of saying such a thing.”

And so they file outside to look at stars and... wait. A gently profound ending.

[Robert Monk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book as a kid -- read a lot of the series, in fact -- and always remembered it fondly. It's about a group of kids who run around doing science things, so of course it was something I would read. So, in a moment of nostalgia, I went back and re-read it. It's... well, I enjoyed reading it, because it reminded me of being a kid. But how is it on its own merits? Dated. Reading it with a historian's eye, it has a lot going for it. One of the major characters is a girl, and she's just as excited by science as Danny. (Wouldn't it be nice if this was something you could take as given in the 21st Century?) But the characters are one-dimensional, the adults in particular are outdated stereotypes, and the cutting edge science is kinda cute in its naivete. It's certainly not a bad book. Sometimes you revisit things from childhood and go "Oh, good lord, what was wrong with me?" This isn't a situation like that. I read it now and thought, "Oh sure, it makes sense that I liked that," and I got exactly the nostalgic buzz that I was hoping for. But I don't see myself reading it to a modern kid.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel from the Danny Dunn series is perhaps the most speculative work in the corpus. Danny, Irene and Joe go to England to consult to with a noted astronomer about an invention that could help in the search for extra-terrestrial life. There are the usual elements of a Danny Dunn adventure: an accident leads to something very useful that advances the plot, Danny and his friends have an incident that almost overturns the entire project on which they and the adults are working, Danny finally comes up with the solution to a problem that puzzles the adults.
What is speculative about this is the fact that they discover something truly amazing, but just how amazing is not resolved in the end.
Still this was fun to read. I think I may have read all but one or two of the Danny Dunn series.

[Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the couple of Danny Dunn stories I read in grade school. I borrowed this one from our library because they didn’t have any of the ones I enjoyed as a kid. It’s 50 years old but the science really didn’t feel dated. How often can you say that about a sci-fi story? And the fact it’s for kids, just WOW! Very exciting and satisfying ending.

[Joe Stevens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dunn, Joe and Irene kid observers. That is the problem with this novel, the kids are just watching things happen and some of the time they don't even get to watch. The travel part was interesting, but the better books in the series have our heroes much more active in the plot.

[Chana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the earliest sci-fi story I remember reading. I must have been about 8 or 10.

[Kent Archie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice trip to London, a surprising conclusion and another really stupid blunder by Danny.
This has actually become a tedious character flaw in Danny.

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nate and I read this book, him first then me. That was fun, and it was fun to remember when I was 10 and read several of these books, just as he has. The book is good because it gets kids interested in science. This one dealt with a bit of thermodynamics and radio astronomy. Great experience!!

[Partridge Public]

Williams, Jay

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 4 out of 5]

By the end, I was convinced I read this circa 1976 (forty years ago in your time, O Faithful Reader).

[Marc Allie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one didn't grab me as much as the other books do, even coming from the adult rereading perspective. This one felt like a bunch of filler, and when the climax comes, it's just... over.