Question: Boy on Mars that is being terraformed encounters forest and evolved monster insects and dinosaurs read mid 1970s from library

Asked by phoenix_rising on Wed 30, May 2012 06:04pm :

I checked this book out of the school library around 1975. It's a juvenile
science fiction book about a boy living in a colony on Mars. The colonists
are terraforming the planet by adding oxygen to the atmosphere. A forest,
giant insects, and dinosaurs quickly evolve much as they did on Earth but
at a far accelerated rate. As the oxygen levels rise, the boy goes
exploring in the forest and encounters the insects and the dinosaurs. I
can't remember how the book ends. I'm not sure about the colony but I am
sure about increasing levels of oxygen causing the planet's life forms to
undergo an Earth-like evolution. The boy was not alone. He had a father and
uncle? which is why I think he was either part of a colony or possibly a
spaceship that crashed.

Comments:

Comment by peterm on Thu 31, May 2012 03:27pm:

Some of the details sound like Menace Under Marswood by Sterling Lanier,
but I think that was published later. Might be worth a look, though.

Comment by phoenix_rising on Thu 31, May 2012 03:46pm:

Actually, that could be it. As I think back, I can't have read it in
1975 because we had already moved to our new house when I read the book
and the move was in 1978. So I read it sometime after 1978 and before
college in 1984. The publication date is within that time period and
what I read on Amazon tracks with the details I remember. I've ordered a
copy from Amazon used, since it sounds like a good story even if not the
one I'm trying to track down. If after reading it, I know that it is
indeed the book, I will post another comment. In the meantime, I'm open
to other suggestions. Thanks.