The Book of Unicorns

by Jackie French

Book Overview

There are worlds where fields of dry, baked earth are side by side with enchanted gardens, and places where the strangest creatures are the truest friends. These are the places where unicorns heal... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0207191158
• Release Date: April 1998
• Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers PTY Limited
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 0.5" x 4.8"

Customer Reviews

"I Am the Lady of the Unicorn..."

Being an avid fantasy reader I grabbed this book from the children's section at the library to have a browse, impressed by the blurb that listed several awards that author Jackie French has picked up. Within this book are six stories, and contrary to the title, most of them do not have unicorns as the protagonists, but as backup characters to the human heroes. The strength of the stories and the simple, descriptive writing style is found throughout all six stories: "Warts" and "A Present for Aunt Addie" are short stories, the next three - "Amfylobbsis", "Spots" and "The Taming of the Beast" are more prose/poetry exercises and the sixth "The Lady of the Unicorn" is a novella. "Warts" is a sweet, simple story of healing and though it has a rather ambiguous ending (I think Sam has a dream of his future self) it is clever is the way that it never specifically states that the strange foal Sam's grandma rescues is in fact a unicorn. "A Present for Aunt Addie" is likely to become most readers favourite even though the unicorn is barely featured - Harry is directed by his father to a strange valley to deliver an unseen 'gift' to his great-great-great aunt who lives by herself in the wilderness. Confused as to how such an old lady could survive out in the harsh land Harry does as he's told and finds himself in an incredible garden... "Amfylobbsis" (I have no idea how to pronounce that) is a very short story on a blind woman in hospital who gets a visit from her grand-daughter who claims a unicorn named Amfylobbsis has accompanied her. Though the grandmother initially thinks this is impossible, a few startling things happen that make her think otherwise. "Spots" is a fascinating story that may be lost on younger readers: although it doesn't elaborate very deeply, it implies that surviving victims of the plague were cured by people (From another dimension? From another time?) who have created a 'unicorn' by the magic of DNA switching and deliver antibiotics in the form of sweeties. It ends far too soon and leaves far too many unanswered questions. "The Taming of the Beast" is the shortest story and merely describes the events that happen when a young female approaches a 'beast' - but is it described from the girl or the unicorn's point of view? "The Lady of Unicorn" is the last and longest story - longer in fact than all the previous stories put together! Once again the unicorn is only a co-star, as the action centres around Ethel, the young girl who was chosen to the be the Lady of the Unicorn, a young mascot of the community who has no power but all the appearance of it. Desperate to do something by herself, Ethel investigates Giant's Hill and meets the not-so-scary giant Alice, who introduces her to other creatures, cast out from their place in society because of their differences. The story creates some very poignant images of those outcast from the community - Alice and her friends because they scare people, and Ethel and the unicorn on the other

Magical!

A very good book by a very talented author! I disagree with the reveiw above, becouse I read it when I was 10. I think it is a breath taking book for all ages, from 3 to 333! I strongly belive in unicorns, and so this book rules.

The best book so far

I am a real horse lover and I enjoyed this book very very much. I am 9 years old now but I read this book when I was 8 and this was a great book about unicorns. Any girl who likes horses will love it!

This was a good book

I love horses and I think Jackie is a good writer, The book of Unicorns was a bit young for me though, but it was good any way! It is a good book for people who like horses and are younger than 10 years old. It was an O.K. Book!