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    Youth
    Youth
    Youth
    Ebook68 pages46 minutes

    Youth

    By Isaac Asimov

    3.5/5

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    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateMar 14, 2010
    Youth
    Author

    Isaac Asimov

    Isaac Asimov was the Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America, the founder of robot ethics, the world’s most prolific author of fiction and non-fiction. The Good Doctor’s fiction has been enjoyed by millions for more than half a century.

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    Reviews for Youth

    3.5/5

    52 ratings7 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This was the first Isaac Asimov piece of writing I’ve read. It was entertaining enough and the surprise ending was clever.
    • 3/5
      Classic Asimov: a story filled with great ideas, executed in a competent - but not much better - fashion.
    • 3/5
      Nice twist at end but cover would give it away.
    • 4/5
      A cute first contact story, a couple surprising twists and only minor injuries.
    • 4/5
      This short story first appeared in Space Science Fiction in May 1952. It's currently available through Project Gutenberg. I confess, I guessed the reveal fairly early on in the story, but it didn't take away from the fun of it one bit. In the story, two kids have found a couple of very small animals that they plan to keep and feed and use as their ticket into working for the circus. Their fathers are waiting for a space ship with very small aliens to land so they can initiate business between their two peoples. I think you can see where this is heading. The kids make the connection before the adults, naturally. Like Ray Bradbury, Asimov values and idealizes boyhood mischief and so forth. That shines through in the way that the Industrialist treats his son who tells his wife at one point to stop chivvying the boy after he's told to get rid of his animals, understanding that once told, he will do it. (Side note: I love the word "chivvying.") This is a great little story. Look it up and enjoy!
    • 3/5
      Classic Asimov short story - he subtly has you thinking what he wants you to think so he can surprise you with a twist at the end. Fun, quick read.
    • 3/5
      Cute story for its Genre.

    Book preview

    Youth - Isaac Asimov

    The Project Gutenberg EBook of Youth, by Isaac Asimov

    This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

    almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or

    re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

    with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

    Title: Youth

    Author: Isaac Asimov

    Illustrator: Schecterson

    Release Date: March 7, 2010 [EBook #31547]

    [Last updated: February 22, 2012]

    Language: English

    *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YOUTH ***

    Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online

    Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

    YOUTH

    by ISAAC ASIMOV

    Red and Slim found the two strange little animals the morning after they heard the thunder sounds. They knew that they could never show their new pets to their parents.

    There was a spatter of pebbles against the window and the youngster stirred in his sleep. Another, and he was awake.

    He sat up stiffly in bed. Seconds passed while he interpreted his strange surroundings. He wasn't in his own home, of course. This was out in the country. It was colder than it should be and there was green at the window.

    Slim!

    The call was a hoarse, urgent whisper, and the youngster bounded to the open window.

    Slim wasn't his real name, but the new friend he had met the day before had needed only one look at his slight figure to say, You're Slim. He added, I'm Red.

    Red wasn't his real name, either, but its appropriateness was obvious. They were friends instantly with the quick unquestioning friendship of young ones not yet quite in adolescence, before even the first stains of adulthood began to make their appearance.

    Slim cried, Hi, Red! and waved cheerfully, still blinking the sleep out of himself.

    Red kept to his croaking whisper, Quiet! You want to wake somebody?

    Slim noticed all at once that the sun scarcely topped the low hills in the east, that the shadows were long and soft, and that the grass was wet.

    Slim said, more softly, What's the matter?

    Red only waved for him to come out.

    Slim dressed quickly, gladly confining his morning wash to the momentary sprinkle of a little lukewarm water. He let the air dry the exposed portions of his body as he ran out, while bare skin grew wet against the dewy grass.

    Red said, You've got to be quiet. If Mom wakes up or Dad or your Dad or even any of the hands then it'll be 'Come on in or you'll catch your death of cold.'

    He mimicked voice and tone faithfully, so that Slim laughed and thought that there had never been so funny a fellow as Red.

    Slim said, eagerly, Do you come out here every day like this, Red? Real early? It's like the whole world is just yours, isn't it, Red? No one else around and all like that. He felt proud at being allowed entrance into this private world.

    Red stared at him sidelong. He said carelessly, I've been up for hours. Didn't you hear it last night?

    Hear what?

    Thunder.

    Was there a thunderstorm? Slim never slept through a thunderstorm.

    I guess not. But there was thunder. I heard it, and then I went to the window and it wasn't raining. It was all stars and the sky was just getting sort of almost gray. You know what I mean?

    Slim had never seen it so, but he nodded.

    So I just thought I'd go out, said Red.

    They walked along the grassy side of the concrete road that split the panorama right down the middle all the way down to where it vanished among the hills. It was so old that Red's father couldn't tell Red when it had been built. It didn't have a crack or a rough spot in it.

    Red said, "Can

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