Aliens are Coming is a quick read that is factual, interesting, and funny. It is a true account of the 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds. The book explains that in the 1930’s most Americans did not have Television sets; they listened to radios at night for entertainment instead. On October 30, 1938 during a routine radio broadcast, the music was interrupted, and an announcer came on telling the listeners that a space ship from Mars had landed on a farm in New Jersey, and that an alien army was invading our planet! The book explains that the people went absolutely crazy. Radio listeners were in a state of panic and frantic drivers jammed up the highways in an attempt to escape. When police arrived on the farm to check out the alien invaders, they found nothing, and realized that it must have been a hoax. Orson Welles, and actors from Mercury Theatre on CBS radio were just playing a little Halloween joke. The panicked citizens were not laughing. This is a really interesting story to look at, and something that would be good to discuss as a class could be the boundary of our freedom of speech, and consequences of what may seem like innocent jokes. Students should read the Author’s Note at the end of the book, which gives more information about the incident, and they could talk as a group or as a class about the issue. It is a great book for Halloween time, and as older elementary students are always interested in practical jokes, it is something that they will certainly enjoy reading.
