A novel by Robert Heinlein, first published in 1958. Widely considered to be one of the best of his young adult novels. Set Twenty Minutes Into the Future (of 1958, that is), the plot centers around Kip Russell, a young man who wins a used space suit by writing a whole bunch of advertising jingles for Skyway Soap. (He was hoping to win a trip to the moon. The spacesuit was the consolation prize.) After spending a great deal of time and energy restoring it, Kip decides to sell the spacesuit to help pay for college. He takes it for a test drive first -- unfortunately, this results in him being kidnapped by a reptilian alien he ends up calling "Wormface". The alien is also holding captive a little genius girl named Peewee and a strange, mink-like creature she calls the "Mother Thing".