As a kid, I remember reading a short story that I'm sure was written by Ray Bradbury.

I can't remember too much except that it was about a boy who lived in a town where everyone was afraid to cross the fence or something. In the end, he discovers that the town is a human exhibit in a zoo.

Any ideas? It's driving me nuts and I'd like for my kids to read it. :-)

This message came from Barbara-MLG by way of ExLibris, the Lost Boards:
It's not an uncommon plot, but I would swear that it isn't Ray Bradbury, it doesn't sound anything like his work. There's one I've read with an adult protagonist, who realises that he and the people around him are reliving the same day again and again with minor variations, and that they are constantly barraged by advertising - it turns out that they are all dead and have been electronically recreated and their reconstructions bought by an advertising firm for experimenting in the most effective means of advertising. The real kicker is that when he tries to escape he discovers that they were recreated in miniature and the whole town is literally on a tabletop. I'll check when I get home who wrote that, I'm thinking Theodore Sturgeon but maybe not.
Cori, I know you're passing these on from a Ray Bradbury board, but jeez, it's starting to get to me that with all the amazing sf writers there are, Bradbury is the one who seems to be the default (Sturgeon, Asimov, Simak, Wyndham, Clarke, Ellison, Brunner, Ballard, Merrill, hundreds more). IMHO he didn't really write sf anyways, being more of a poet and fantasist.

The following inquiry and reply just appeared on rec.arts.books.childrens:

From: "HoldClan"

I read a short story when I was in about 4th or 5th grade that has made me look high and low for it now. I can't seem to find it. I thought it was Ray Bradbury but I suppose it may have been someone else. This was a very interesting story. It seems like the boy had been told to never ask questions and life went on inside this community and no one ever knew what happened outside "the fence". The boy, decides he wants to know. In the end, the boy illegally climbs over the fence and discovers just as he either dies, passes out, or something that a sign says "Human Zoo" or something similar. Does this sound familiar? It's driven me crazy!

It sounds a lot like the sf story "The Other Side" by Walter Kubilius. The boy gets out and finds he was in the "Natural Habitat Zoo" run by aliens. The last telepathic message he "hears" before seeing the Director of the zoo, says "Caution! Do not feed or harbour escaped specimens. Deliver them immediately to the dissection chambers."

Mike Stone - Peterborough England

I remember it being an episode on The Twilight Zone. A Rod Serling original?

In a similar TZ plot: "People are Alike All Over"

Roddy McDowell finds himself on an idyllic world, with very accommodating inhabitants and all the comforts of home available to him. When the doors and windows of his living habitat are found to be locked, a wall lowers and the visitors to the zoo begin view the two-legged human from the planet earth.

[This message has been edited by fjpalumbo (edited 08-31-2002).]

Both inquiries were from the same person, and received this followup from Stephen Kane on rec.arts.books.childrens:
[http://www.sfsite.com/]
The Other Side - Walter Kubilius
1. Best SF Stories 1952, Everett F. Bleiler, 1952
2. The Best Science-Fiction Stories: 1952, Everett F. Bleiler + T. E. Dikty, 1952, Fredrick Fell, $2.95, hc
3. The Best Science Fiction Stories: Third Series, Everett F. Bleiler + T.
E. Dikty, 1953, Grayson, hc
4. Those Amazing Electronic Thinking Machines!, Isaac Asimov + Martin H. Greenberg + Charles G. Waugh, 1983, Franklin Watts, 0-531-04667-2, $10.90, hc
12 copies of the most recent on abe [http://www.abebooks.com/]
Stephen