In the late 1950s or early 1960's there was a good natured science
fiction book about a scientist who had invented anti-gravity balls;
built a small space ship; and traveled to a mythical planetoid on the
other side of the moon. This book was written for older children or
young teens. Can someone come up with the book's title. I seem to
recall the name "Tyco" or "Tycho" as one of the characters. Is the
book still in print.

Hello.

You are probably thinking of one of the "Mushroom Planet" books by
Eleanor Cameron. All of the books feature a character named "Tycho
Bass." There were five books, and the first three apparently involved
travel to a nearby planetoid via a small spaceshop:

Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet -- 1952
Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet -- 1956
Mr. Bass's Planetoid -- 1958
source: Google Groups
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=mdo1.421.0024BE1E%40cornell.edu



The books are available via Amazon:

"The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316125407/
"Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316125415/
"Mr. Bass's Planetoid"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316125253/

---------

search strategy
google groups: "named tycho"

I hope these are the books that you have in mind.  If not, please let
me know via the "request for clarification" feature. Thanks.

---

Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 20 Apr 2004 23:32 PDT

Sorry for that typo above: "spaceshop" = "spaceship"

The part about the mythical planetoid being on the other side of the
moon is mentioned in this newsgroup message:

> the boys  build a rocket, with Mr. Tyco's help, and rocket to the
> Mushroom Planet, which orbits the Earth within the Moon's orbit,
> but is invisible  to those on Earth.  
> 
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=steve_hoffmann-1609941611450001%40shoffman.sdd.trw.com

Thats it!  These are wonderful books if you have children.  A bit
dated now perhaps; but she was an outstanding author.  Thanks again.