WANTED: A small space ship about eight feet long, built by a boy, or by two boys.  The ship should be sturdy and well made, and should be of materials found at hand. Nothing need be bought. No adult should be consulted as to its plan or method of construction. An adventure and a chance to do a good deed await the boys who build the best space ship.  Please bring your ship as soon as possible to Mr. Tyco M. Bass, 5 Thallo Street, Pacific Grove, California.

If you were David Topman, always dreaming of cruising about the solar system in your own space ship, what would you do when you read an advertisement like that? You'd get to work right away on plans and then you'd enlist your friend Chuck Masterson to help build, and the space ship would be ready in exactly three days.

Which it was, except for the finish and fuel to be supplied by Mr. Bass — Tyco Bass, that is, the mystery man who was inventor, astronomer, artist rolled into one — Mr. Tyco Bass, the mushroom grower who was badly in need of a space ship and two boys for

The Wonderful Flight
to the Mushroom Planet

A story of fact and fiction
by ELEANOR CAMERON

From the dust jacket