I've read those Heinlein books. Citizen of the Galaxy was just always my favorite of them. Something about spy tales I always love. That book had me from the very first! That was why I chose that book to introduce the niece to Heinlein. Frankly, as you can probably guess, it just chaps my hide that they don't get Tolkien. That's okay, I think this niece will be wanting that "forbidden fruit" soon! :-)
I like the idea of giving her the Lovecraft book too. That way she'll get a mix of authors. This whole thing started because she'd visited me a few days 3 summers ago and discovered my delightfully varied library. At that time we read Island of the Blue Dolphins and she loved that as well. I am planning to keep introducing her to new authors and different genres and styles as she becomes older and if she stays interested. The only reason the Christmas gift turned into so many Heinleins was that I got a really cool deal on 11 old Heinlein paperbacks on ebay.
hehehe... I'm turning her into another book-loving-geek in this family of athletes!
11, huh? Which others? Are they for you, or for birthday presents?
Someone upstream mentioned "The Menace from Earth". That collection, and the other two, will be vital for your niece in a few years. Sigh... I love the title story from that, and from "The Man who Sold the Moon", and from "The Green Hills of Earth." And I love "The Long Watch" and "We Also Walk Dogs" and "Requium" and "All You Zombies" and "The Man Who Traveled in Elephants" and "And He Built a Crooked House".... ok, so I'm an early-Heinlein sucker...