Sunday, September 19, 2010

BOOK REVIEW: Aliens Are Coming!


Halloween is coming and it's my favorite holiday! So we're starting early with the Halloween books. Joy and I request way too many items from the library. It's been a habit to go to the library on Saturday and pick up tons of books, DVDs, and CDs that we ordered throughout the week. The first batch of Halloween books, which we started with haven't been all that great. I know the kids don't really understand what you're reading to them yet but it's good to start early. Plus what is cooler than a good Halloween book!

Last night, I read to the boys (as well and Joy and Grandma W) "Aliens are Coming!" by Meghan McCarthy. Joy ordered this book. It is the story of the 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds by the Mercury Theatre. I'm a big fan of this broadcast and Orson Welles. The story about this broadcast always fascinated me. An evil part of me would love to see if something like this could happen today. If you don't know much about this broadcast, you owe it yourself to look it up.

I would love to expose my boys to this story when they get older. However, I'm not sure if I'd want to tell them story about the broadcast first or let me actually hear the broadcast. I believe I heard the story about the broadcast first in school. I once bought a cassette of the original broadcast and listened to it on a road trip I took by myself. My favorite part of the broadcast is when the aliens start attacking the radio cuts to complete silence. So creepy!

Anyway about the book; I liked it. The actual story tells the main points surrounding the broadcast and tells some of War of the Worlds. While it was fun to read, I think I would have enjoyed if Meghan McCarthy wrote a kids-style version of the War of the Worlds based on the broadcast. However, being that I'm such a fan of story of the broadcast, I did enjoy it quite a bit. At the end of the book, the author goes more in depth about the story in the author's notes. This part is more lengthy than the actual story, I enjoyed this part the most. However the first part is definitely more geared for kids and easier to read.

All-in-all, this book is definitely worth checking out. For more information on the book, please check out: http://www.aliensarecoming.com/.


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