Long-Ago Lives

Children's Literature - Judy Silverman

This book is one of the "Secrets of the Unexplained" series, whose components include "Alien Astronauts," "Fateful Forebodings," and "Spooky Specters." Its chapters fall into two categories--Theories and Evidence. The Theories aren't exactly explanations of theories, but more like anecdotes and questions. Could you really have met someone in a past life? Remember the movie Fluke, which told of a man, killed in a car crash, who "came back" as a dog? Anecdotes abound, and they're very believable. Thoughts of reincarnation, the author reminds us, are not new, nor are they limited to Eastern religions. There is a chapter on "Past Life Therapy" that is really fascinating. The "Evidence" section is also full of anecdotes, but then the landscape changes. Now we're supposed to keep a "past-life journal," and try to find out where and when it was. So while Blackwood lets you make up your own mind, it's fairly obvious where his sympathies are. Be careful to whom you give this book--some sensitive teens might take it past the limits of normal.