Just from reading the first few chapters alone, Leone's descriptive writing style leaves that childhood smell of exploration and wonder clinging on the clothes of his characters, just as strongly as those characters and the true-to-life situations that surround  them clings to the reader's mind. This is a marvelous start to a marvelous book. And that leaves me to wonder: if only this little bit of "Champions of the Third Planet" can stay with me this strongly, what will stay with me when these kid and their story  are shot across the farthest reaches of outer space? How will the troubles they encounter on this little blue marble transform when they reach a whole new world? I can't wait to find out.