I’m currently working on my own book that will feature rebirth so I’ve been doing some research. I’ve located a few books with this theme and have read them to see what’s available to the average teenager. Before I dive into the three that my local library has, I feel the need to make a distinction that the purist will already know, but others won’t. The word reincarnation has come into our vocabulary, but unfortunately we are using it incorrectly. Reincarnation is an Eastern term for the very rare and specific case of an evolved being deliberately incarnating and controlling the process. Average beings do not reincarnate, but rather stumble back into the body in a process called rebirth. All of the books below actually involve rebirth. Sigh- I know everyone will continue to use the word reincarnation.
The Red Thread (A Novel in Three Incarnations) by Rodney Townly
Contemporary paranormal with historical elements
Sixteen year old Dana has troubling dreams of being sealed in a small chamber. Her therapist convinces her to try past-life regression. This opens a Pandora’s Box of secrets and the knowledge that some people in her current life were also part of the past. A trip to the UK confirms some of the information and Dana becomes more and more drawn into her mysterious past.
Lake of Secrets by Lael Littke
Contemporary paranormal
Carlene (15) has always felt less important than her younger brother who died as a child mysteriously before she was born. When new evidence surfaces, Carlene and her mother move back to the town where the boy went missing. Although Carlene has never set foot in the town before, she starts to have bizarre memories of it. Can she solve the cold case using what is coming through?
Transcendence by CJ Omololu
Paranormal romance
American teenager, Cole has visions during a trip to the Tower of London. She doesn’t understand what is happening and does her best to cover it up. Along comes boyfriend, Griffon who reveals that they are both Akhet. This unique group of individuals can remember their pasts and work for the collective good. But not all of them are quite so altruistic and soon Cole is in danger due to a secret in her past.
ellisnelson 
One good recommendation I have for YA fiction on a reincarnation theme is Marsh Myers’s His Life Abiding. Kind of a paranormal murder mystery with roots that stretch back to a murder in a World War II prisoner of war camp. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17891187-his-life-abiding
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Sounds like a good one. Thanks!
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I think that’s interesting about the difference in terms. I am also interested in your book ideas. 🙂
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Interesting blog! I too have probably been using the wrong terminology in regards to rebirth and reincarnation. While i’ve read about both voluntary and involuntary return into another body, i didn’t realise each had a specific name. It does make sense though that those who follow the practices revealed by Siddhartha Gautama and who do so successfully ( and therefore conquering the cycle of rebirth), have the choice of returning to it if they so choose, to further their own education or to teach others.
Like you i’ve thought about producing fiction with rebirth as a main theme, but my stories were in the form of children’s books. They would serve more as a moral story….for example, a greedy businessman who cares nothing for the environment and who destroys the rainforest, only to find himself rebirthed as a little bird, fearful of the machines of industry! I’m just unsure if any publishers would be interested in the whole rebirth idea in children’s books. Young adult literature however, i can see that working very well ! 🙂
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Have never heard the distinction between reincarnation and rebirth but thank you for pointing it out. I have read a bit in some other sources now but am not entirely convinced that this distinction is all that important in the West. We are using the terms interchangeably. But I will be more sensitive to the semantics myself. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
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Thank you for your interest in my blog a taking it for what it is a real account of happenings not a dramatization to achieve higher stat’s that is not my goal, I also have always had belief that we all have had past lives, what do you think about the philosophies of Edgar Cayce?
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I’m somewhat familiar with his medical readings and the idea he was reading the Akashic records.
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I didn’t know that we were using it incorrectly – I will try and remember to use rebirth now!
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I know that technically one have to be conscious to reincarnate as opposed to to rebirth from the Wheel of Samsara, but I recall many of me rebirths, It is easier to call it reincarnation.
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These books will be a big help for those who are looking for young adult fantasy books to read.
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These and many other books are great in terms of literature. They have morals to guide the upcoming generation about life and help them make the right decisions. The problems of a teenager are addressed in these young adult fantasy books, some of which problems he might not share with his parents.
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