Science fiction · Short story
A Martian Odyssey
- Suggested levelB2
- Lengthshort story, about 10,000 words
- Original languageEnglish
The story
Chemist Dick Jarvis crash-lands on Mars, far from his expedition's base, and has to walk back across the desert. On the way he rescues a strange, bird-like Martian he names Tweel.
Tweel and Jarvis cannot share a language, yet they become friends — while passing pyramid-building silicon creatures, a barrel-shaped cart race and a dream-beast that shows you whatever you most desire.
Themes: first contact, communication across difference, friendship, exploration.
Why it's a good book for language learners
At about 10,000 words this is the shortest book in the PageWalker library, so you can finish it in a few sittings. It is also, fittingly, a story about two beings trying to communicate without a shared language — a perfect read for anyone learning one.
What you'll practise
- Space and science vocabulary
- Storytelling in the first person, with humour
- Explaining and guessing meaning
- American colloquial English of the 1930s
Reading tip
Notice how Jarvis and Tweel build a tiny shared vocabulary. Try the same trick with ten words of your target language a day.
Did you know?
Readers and writers such as Isaac Asimov praised it as one of the first stories with an alien that thinks as well as a human, but not like a human.
The PageWalker adventure
In the adventure you cross Mars with Tweel and decide how to communicate with whatever you meet. The first page is free to play in your browser, and the adventure is available in 13 languages with click-to-translate.
A Martian Odyssey in other languages
- EnglishA Martian Odyssey
- العربيةأوديسة المريخ
- DeutschEine Mars-Odyssee
- EspañolUna Odisea Marciana
- FrançaisUne Odyssée Martienne
- हिन्दीएक मंगल ओडिसी
- ItalianoUn'odissea marziana
- 日本語火星のオデッセイ
- 한국어화성 오디세이
- PortuguêsUma Odisseia Marciana
- РусскийМарсианская одиссея
- TürkçeMars Macerası
- 简体中文火星奥德赛
