3. Rocket Summer Year: 1999 A rocket is going to Mars The heat coming from the rocket melts the snow and causes “Rocket Summer” THE BIG QUESTION This book was written in 1950. Bradbury was predicting events 49 years and more into the future. What are your predictions for 50 years into the future?

4. Fifty Years Ago In 1960, the average new house carried a price tag of $12,700. The average income was $5,315 per year. And, most (but, not all) mothers were able to stay in that home to raise their children without having to head off to work. The average cost for a new car was $2,600 and the average cost of a gallon of gas was 25 cents. Your 1960s shopping cart at the grocery store might have included (per pound price): apples, 17 cents; bacon, 79 cents; bananas, 10 cents; whole chicken, 29 cents; flour, 10 cents; or sirloin steak, 89 cents. Your cart might also have included Campbell’s Soup at 15 cents per can; a box of Cheerios cereal for 28 cents; a half-gallon of “real” ice cream for 79 cents; and a couple of “original” sized candy bars for 5 cents each. Our perceived threat to world annihilation was the possibility of a World War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Perhaps today’s similar threat comes more from a possible nuclear-armed Middle East? In 1960, our country was the leader in developing new “everything.” From car concepts, to adventures into space, to medical science, to the Peace Corps, to business development, to the evolution of electronics. Our choices of programming on television in 1960 included such shows as “Perry Mason,” “Route 66,” “Rawhide,” “Lassie,” “Bonanza,” “77 Sunset Strip,” “Gunsmoke,” “The Twilight Zone,” and the nightly news on three networks. Our 1960s music saw Elvis Presley and Bill Haley’s rock and roll slide over just a bit to welcome in The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Finally, in 1960 the former New York Giants baseball team had recently gone through a name change and a cross-country move becoming the San Francisco Giants. This past week, they closed out the 2010 baseball season by winning the World Series (their first World Series win in over a half century) against the Texas Rangers.

5. “Ylla” Ylla receives telepathic messages from the crew of the earth team. Ylla’s husband gets rid of the earthlings. The Big Questions Does Yll kill the earthlings out of jealousy? Is he protecting his wife? Does he, too, hear them in his mind?

6. The Earth Men The second expedition arrives on Mars. The crew is sent from house to house until they end up in an insane asylum. They are killed by a doctor who kills himself as well. The Big Question If aliens from another planet ended up on earth, what would you do?