THE MYSTERY OF UFOS

A mesmerizing picture book of flying saucer lore as enticing as a book of ghost stories. Herbst (Star Crossing, 1993, etc.) recounts tales of classic sightings, such as the Roswell incident and the landing in Socorro, New Mexico, along with stories of alien abduction. She also offers possible explanations of what unidentified objects might be, including weather balloons, flocks of birds, and hoaxes; she even delves into Jung's collective unconscious theory—the notion that many people can share a hallucination, e.g., UFOs. On its own, the text has quite an allure, but Clarke's wonderful retro illustrations give the book its personality. His ``little green men'' and wide-eyed human observers add humor while bringing a sense of awe to these tales. (Picture book. 7-11)