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The Mushroom Planet #5
Jewels from the Moon and The Meteor That Couldn't Stay - Mushroom Planet Series
This is the original, rare softcover book. In the mid-1960s, author Eleanor Cameron was asked to write a pair of short stories to be used as part of a reading program for schools. Her stories were taken from the characters in her "Mushroom Planet Series" books and feature many of the same characters as well as a couple of new ones. Printed in small quantities and by a company that was only in business for under two years, this has all but been lost to history and rumor or history. Here is your chance to own it.
64 pages, Staple Bound
First published January 1, 1964
1 person is currently reading
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About the author
Eleanor Cameron
34 books52 followersEleanor Frances Butler Cameron (1912 - 1996) was a Canadian children's author who spent most of her life in California. Born in Winnipeg, Canada in 1912, her family then moved to South Charleston, Ohio when she was 3 years old. Her father farmed and her mother ran a hotel. After three years, they moved to Berkeley, California. Her parents divorced a few years later. At 16, she moved with her mother and stepfather to Los Angeles. She credits her English mother's love of story telling for her inspiration to write and make up stories.
She attended UCLA and the Art Center School of Los Angeles. In 1930, she started working at the Los Angeles Public Library and later worked as a research librarian for the Los Angeles Board of Education and two different advertising companies. She married Ian Cameron, a printmaker and publisher, in 1934 and the couple had a son, David, in 1944.
Her first book came out in 1950, based on her experience as a librarian. It was well received by critics, but didn't sell well. She did not start writing children's books until her son asked him to write one starring him as a character. this resulted in her popular series The Mushroom Planet.
With the success of the Mushroom Planet books, Cameron focused on writing for children. Between 1959 and 1988 she produced 12 additional children's novels, including The Court of the Stone Children (1973) and the semi-autobiographical five book Julia Redfern series (1971–1988). She won the National Book Award for Court of the Stone Children in 1973, and was a runner up for To The Green Mountains in 1979.
In addition to her fiction work, Cameron wrote two books of criticism and reflection on children's literature. The first, The Green and Burning Tree, was released in 1969 and led an increased profile for Cameron in the world of children's literature. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s Cameron worked as a traveling speaker and contributor to publications such as The Horn Book Magazine, Wilson Library Bulletin, and Children's Literature in Education. She was also a member of the founding editorial board for the children's magazine Cricket, which debuted in 1973. In 1972 she and Roald Dahl exchanged barbs across three issues of The Horn Book, a magazine devoted to critical discussions of children's and young adult fiction. Her second book of essays, The Seed and the Vision: On the Writing and Appreciation of Children's Books, came out in 1993. It is her final published book.
From late 1967 until her death Cameron made her home in Pebble Beach, California. She died in hospice in Monterey, California on October 11, 1996 at the age of 84.[
She attended UCLA and the Art Center School of Los Angeles. In 1930, she started working at the Los Angeles Public Library and later worked as a research librarian for the Los Angeles Board of Education and two different advertising companies. She married Ian Cameron, a printmaker and publisher, in 1934 and the couple had a son, David, in 1944.
Her first book came out in 1950, based on her experience as a librarian. It was well received by critics, but didn't sell well. She did not start writing children's books until her son asked him to write one starring him as a character. this resulted in her popular series The Mushroom Planet.
With the success of the Mushroom Planet books, Cameron focused on writing for children. Between 1959 and 1988 she produced 12 additional children's novels, including The Court of the Stone Children (1973) and the semi-autobiographical five book Julia Redfern series (1971–1988). She won the National Book Award for Court of the Stone Children in 1973, and was a runner up for To The Green Mountains in 1979.
In addition to her fiction work, Cameron wrote two books of criticism and reflection on children's literature. The first, The Green and Burning Tree, was released in 1969 and led an increased profile for Cameron in the world of children's literature. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s Cameron worked as a traveling speaker and contributor to publications such as The Horn Book Magazine, Wilson Library Bulletin, and Children's Literature in Education. She was also a member of the founding editorial board for the children's magazine Cricket, which debuted in 1973. In 1972 she and Roald Dahl exchanged barbs across three issues of The Horn Book, a magazine devoted to critical discussions of children's and young adult fiction. Her second book of essays, The Seed and the Vision: On the Writing and Appreciation of Children's Books, came out in 1993. It is her final published book.
From late 1967 until her death Cameron made her home in Pebble Beach, California. She died in hospice in Monterey, California on October 11, 1996 at the age of 84.[
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 11, 2023
Just two brief stories. The first ended a bit abruptly and the second really didn't have too much to interest in it but both included characters from the series.
December 21, 2012
Two short stories set in the author's Mushroom series.
In JEWELS FROM THE MOON, David and Chuck go exploring on a beach, asking David's father, Dr. Topman, to let them out and pick them up on the way back. They meet a little woman named Miss Bronwen who serves them mushroom soup ad they learn she knows Tyco Bass, being a member of the spore people.
They agree to come back the next week with their families and Tyco for dinner.
The boys dream, separately, of flying off into space with Miss Bronwen, each holding a hand, and visiting all the planets. Sailing off to visit other galaxies as well.
Or was it a dream?
THE METEOR THAT COULDN'T STAY finds the boys on a scientific mission with Prewytt Brumblydge to find bits of brumblium after he gets a letter from Clem Peachtree in response to an ad placed by the little scientist. He knew where a meteor crater lay and had found bits of a very heavy metal.
While digging out more bits of meteor, the four barely avoid a meteor that comes down exactly where they worked, it changing course at the last instant.
In JEWELS FROM THE MOON, David and Chuck go exploring on a beach, asking David's father, Dr. Topman, to let them out and pick them up on the way back. They meet a little woman named Miss Bronwen who serves them mushroom soup ad they learn she knows Tyco Bass, being a member of the spore people.
They agree to come back the next week with their families and Tyco for dinner.
The boys dream, separately, of flying off into space with Miss Bronwen, each holding a hand, and visiting all the planets. Sailing off to visit other galaxies as well.
Or was it a dream?
THE METEOR THAT COULDN'T STAY finds the boys on a scientific mission with Prewytt Brumblydge to find bits of brumblium after he gets a letter from Clem Peachtree in response to an ad placed by the little scientist. He knew where a meteor crater lay and had found bits of a very heavy metal.
While digging out more bits of meteor, the four barely avoid a meteor that comes down exactly where they worked, it changing course at the last instant.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews