Apart from Ender's Game (Ender, Book 1) I never read traditional science-fiction in school. (Apparently a whole lot of middle school students read The Martian Chronicles. Who knew?) This is a trend that continued as an adult, because I always found science-fiction fans to be, well, strange. But I was pleasantly surprised by how well this 65-year-old collection of short stories holds up, even if Bradbury's vision included colonization in Mars around the time I was in college. It turns out really good authors have something for everyone, even if they are beating their point to death. By the tenth time Bradbury makes it clear that those in other countries or galaxies are superior to U.S.-bound mere mortals, you're like, okay, I get it.
However, one of the aspects I liked was a sparseness of prose, which works best when describing traumatic events, i.e. "He screamed twice. He never reached the door." That sparseness is less successful when you come to Martian dialogue, with characters saying things like "You are the one who does not see."
If you are looking for a book to entice your middle school boy to read, this may be a good choice. For others, all I can say is that while I was never sucked into The Martian Chronicles - I had to make a point to read each story - I felt like I was a more educated reader by picking it up.
