I have to give Heinlein credit for consistently trying new things, instead of sticking to the same successful formula. Here the protagonist is not a teenage boy, but a whole family. Sure, the twins Castor and Pollux, 15-year-old at the beginning, may certainly be described as main characters, but the same is true of their grandma Hazel, their father and their baby brother Buster. Their mother is a strong character too, but she doesn't have a personality as colorful as the rest and is often away helping her patients (doctors seem to be scarce in space). Meade, their sister, is more of a traditional 50s girl.

YA novels usually get rid of sympathetic adult family members early on, to allow the young characters to shine and have adventures, but here the whole family has adventures together. Most of the family members have very strong and colorful personalities, and spend a lot of the novel teasing and arguing with each other. I enjoyed the family dynamics (I enjoyed the novel more than Mark), but I have to agree with his review when he says that something doesn't work completely well there. It's as if Heinlein tried too hard to make his characters memorable. At times they are a bit too "cute", too bright, too self-assured and snarky for their own good, as if they are caricatures of themselves.

The novel doesn't have a clear plot, but follows this eccentric family as they travel through the solar system (once more Heinlein sticks to the same near-future setting) and have several adventures. In that sense, it seems like a fix-up of shorter stories.

When they are not too busy with their friendly bickering, they spend a lot of time doing mathematical calculations by hand for their travels (wouldn't it be nice if someone invented computers?). You can also see some of Heinlein's libertarian belief in the characters (like their disregard of over-regulation and Hazel's obsession with guns, another favorite topic for Heinlein). Being so individualistic, it seems a miracle these characters can function together, but you can see they care for each other deeply.

Here, Heinlein has two strong and extremely competent female characters, with a special mention for grandma Hazel (although that doesn't free them from cooking duties by virtue of their gender). The twins are surprisingly ruthless businessmen, although they occasionally show a good heart.

All in all, I found the whole thing rather entertaining. The meandering plot allows us to see several parts of the solar system, like the asteroid belt which we had not visited in previous Heinlein juveniles. Unlike Mark, I found the ending appropriate, and the adventure near the end with Hazel and Buster was a highlight. ( )

Easy enough reading.
I like Heinlein's style.
Just not much of a plot in this book. ( )

Heinlein's snappy dialog is always what I most enjoyed about his writing, and it is on full display here. The Rolling Stones also provides some nice beginner's physics about bodies in freefall and planetary navigation. If you can get past the 1950s characters, you can have an imaginative romp. ( )

The Rolling Stones was a fun re-read, especially after the recent re-read of The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (which was less fun).
I don't think this is technically classified as part of Heinlein's juvenalia, but it probably should as its pretty straightforward, light, and easily accessible.
The titular Stones are a family ala Lost In Space (thought significantly less lost, and if anything even more capable) adventuring around the solar system (mars, luna, the asteroids) essentially on a lark. Dad (a maybe sometimes professor? a scriptwriter who doesn't want to be one anymore? someone with a military and/or professional space man past?) figures dragging the family around the solar system is a good way to train and keep an eye on his genius, overachieving sons so they don't run off on escapades of their own. Those sons, Castor and Pollux, are some of the call-backs we get later in TCWTW, as is grandma Hazel. I find the Hazel here significantly more fun, interesting, and less off-putting than Hazel from the end of the World-As-Myth. Here she's at least believable as the matriarch of a family of geniuses, and isn't quite as broad ranging a polymath as she is later. This is also the origin, in some ways, of the World As Myth as the Galactic Overload is created here, by the family, as an ongoing antagonist in the scripts they continue to write to support themselves. We even get a weird hint at one point that perhaps the Overload is already real and interacting with this world.
Anyway, definitely worth the quick read, especially as it lacks some of the normal Heinlein trappings many people find objectionable. A straightforward, fun, swiss family robinson style adventure in space. ( )

Hopelessly dated but well-written, typical fifties Heinlein with competent males, obedient (but pleasantly bright) females and slide rules. There's always slide rules.

Nothing special but a nice stroll down memory lane, with more rigorous science and maths than most of what gets written in the present day. ( )