I first read these stories years ago, in junior high, or perhaps earlier. I didn't completely understand everything, but loved the idea of the People, a group of superhuman alien refugees here on planet Earth. Reading these stories again as an adult, I appreciate the net positivity of the stories, the spiritual underlayment (although I am not religious myself) because the People walk their talk, and many of the stories deal with Outsiders (usually so-called Christians) who hate and fear the People for their differences. Many of the stories feature teachers and children. The author was herself a teacher, and these stories ring with authenticity. Some are a bit slow by today's standards, and a bit dated, but I still really like them. The prose is lovely without pulling attention from the narrative, and the nuances of character are on the page, and now as a writer myself I can appreciate the craft that went into these tales. ( )

I discovered Zenna Henderson many years ago and I have a fondness for her stories. I had all of her books (all four of them) in paper back which I have misplaced during one of my many moves. I decided it was time to reread them and found this volume in the used book market on line.

Firstly this is a pre-feminist book, though many of the tales are told by women and are about woman. Despite this they hold traditional jobs. The other thing is that how much I had forgotten about how much religion there is in the book. Even the people, who are the aliens, have a religion very similar to Christianity,

Definitely not hard science fiction; however, stories are compelling and interesting. Though originally written for an adult crowd, I think that they would find a fairly large YA audience. ( )

An interesting collection of the stories of "The People" from home who crashed and had to hide here on earth because of their differences. Overall a good read. ( )

This is a charming and engaging SF collection about a group of aliens called "The People" who end up as refugees in Colorado in the early 20th, and it's lovely to read stories about people being kind to each other and taking care of each other. Apropos given our current political situation - these "illegal aliens," who are literally from outer space, are often feared or hated by the US citizens they encounter, but when they are welcomed (and often even after they've been mistreated) the aliens are consistently caring and generous with their gifts, and help however they can. The stories could have used more diversity, but I give them a pass given that they were written between the 50s & the 70s.

When read all together, there is some repetition of themes and of encounters, but to be honest, I didn't mind. ( )

The People stories were mentioned in Among Others by Jo Walton.

Well, imagine reading a book about aliens, and then noticing some strange, at least extra-continental flies crawling on your arms or on the pages. There were four or five of them, as far as I can tell, waiting somewhere in the book to be released one at a time. These poor, half-starved things were shipped from Colorado to continental Europe, and had me slightly worried about the book being infested. But they are all gone now, probably still travelling with the Deutsche Bundesbahn.

The People are human looking aliens with a set of gifts that seem to defy conventional physics. Their ship crashed on Earth, and only small, scattered groups and individuals survived. They are friendly but strange, and after some witch hunts they have learned to hide their abilities and to just blend in. Now, a such a group tries to find other survivors.

This is classic science fiction, the first stories being published in the 1950s, so it's not as fast paced as many modern works. I found it to be some kind of a comfort book, deeply resonating with my current trains of thought about "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" / Luke 10, 25-37. ( )