(2) 4-6 In 1938, Orson Welles's War of the Worlds radio broadcast caused widespread panic and hysteria. Jarrow infuses her tightly plotted narrative with plenty of drama and suspense while weaving in sufficient background information, biographical vignettes, and play-by-play commentary to establish context. She concludes with a discussion of some subsequent hoaxes. Despite the book's somewhat stodgy design, it's an admirable feat of nonfiction storytelling. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2018

(3) YA Fourteen-year-old Cece Maloney will do anything to be a radio star, so she charms her way into a typing job at CBS studios and awaits her chance. Her secrets and those of her friends and family come to a head on the eve of Orson Welles's War of the Worlds broadcast. Cece's innocence is fetching, as is Brendler's 1938 New York setting.

Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Christopher Santoro & Christopher Santoro. This fast-paced book describes the events of October 30, 1938, when an Orson Welles radio production of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds caused a nationwide panic. Featuring humorous black-and-white images, the entertaining narrative offers explanations--e.g., the era's breakneck technological developments--for why some listeners believed that an alien invasion was plausible. Reading list, websites.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta