Alien Encounters

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-Five strange unexplained incidents are examined in each of these titles. Alien includes some frequently described cases such as Kenneth Arnold's original "flying saucer" view in 1947 and the Siberian explosion of 1908. Added to these are more obscure reports of an Australian pilot who may have encountered a UFO before disappearing, a high-speed aircraft over Belgium in 1990, and one British woman's experience with ball lightning. Each carefully described case is accompanied by accounts of similar events, some related scientific facts, and several theories that might explain them. Hauntings includes an eerie vision of Roman soldiers in York, England, in 1953, and Lincoln's famous death premonition, both of which are standard fare in books of this type. However, the supplemental historical material and possible explanations give these well-written tales more substance than is found in most surveys. In both volumes, a wealth of colorful illustrations and a few archival photographs heighten the drama. While psychedelic background colors and patterns also offer visual excitement, they, and the variously shaped text blocks, occasionally interfere with the text.-Ann G. Brouse, Big Flats Branch Library, NY