The Boy Who Had the Power

by Jean Sutton, Jeff Sutton

A boy who has lost his memory is a herder on a remote planet until a mysterious man gives him a beautiful stone to help him remember.

Genres: Science Fiction

189 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[Linore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when I was about nine years old and ADORED it. I've never forgotten the suspense toward the end, the breathlessness I felt as a kid at what would happen to "the boy who had the power." I've re-read it as an adult, and I have to say the magic isn't the same. But we can never go back to childhood, can we? For youngsters, this is a great book. If I'd had an inkling at that age that one day I'd be published myself with my name on the cover of books, I'd have felt I'd joined an elite class of humanity--that's what I thought authors must be, especially ones who wrote great books that grabbed my imagination and let me soar away on wings of fantasy. (They couldn't possibly be mere human beings like the rest of us--boy, was I wrong!)
This is a fine science fiction offering; highly recommend for the tween set.

[Alyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my childhood favorites. It was probably the book that got me interested in Sci-Fi. I think about this book regularly, still. It is not an example of brilliant, mind-blowingly magnificent writing. It was, however, a story that engrossed me from the first page, and is probably the first time I really thought about what "could be". Buy it for your children, or nieces or nephews, or any other youngster who has shown an interest in science fiction, space, or reading. :)

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this long, long ago, and only just discovered who'd written it and what it had been called (thanks to Goodreads' "What is the name of that book?" group).

Fast-paced, fun, enjoyable sci-fi thriller about a boy with ESP powers, orphaned (or lost?) who joins a SF circus while coming to grips with his abilities. But all is not as it seems ...

While this may not be a children's classic, it's one of the few stories that has absolutely stuck with me all these years, without being reinforced by TV or film adapatations. I read it twice in one year, and have never forgotten it. (Except for its name or authorship!)

(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)