That wasn't it.
Thereafter, through junior high and high school, I hated Andre Norton, and refused to read any of her works.
But when I was in college, the bookstore gang loved Andre Norton, especially the girls (any girl who was a sci-fi fan put her on the top of the list). Mary, who asked me to see if her brother was gay, was a big fan. So I gave Ms. Norton another try.
And found a homoerotic paradise, where men forged intense, passionate, loving bonds with men, mostly with covers that were beefcake-heavy masterpieces.
Galactic Derelict: Ross and Ashe are accompanied by muscular Apache Travis Fox to investigate a space ship from another galaxy.
Storm Over Warlock: A Terran survey expedition is attacked, leaving only two survivors: elite Scout Ragnar Thorvald and servant Shan Lantee. They must travel together across the hostile planet to safety.
Voodoo Planet: Same plot, Voodoo Planet.
Star Man's Son: Two muscular barbarians bond in a post-apocalyptic world.
And on and on -- she wrote hundreds, and is still publishing, though she died in 2005.
There are also a lot of novels about women forming strong same-sex bonds, and a few with heterosexual romances.
I don't know why the gay subtexts predominate. Maybe Norton was writing for an audience of juvenile boys, and assumed that they wouldn't be interested in hetero-romance "yet."? Or maybe she thought that the world of intergalactic exploration would exclude women, just as her contemporary society excluded women from the sciences and technology.
I just wish I had read them in junior high.