Where Have the Unicorns Gone? - Softcover

Yolen, Jane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0689863594 ISBN 13: 9780689863592

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2003

Synopsis

Long ago unicorns lived in a haven of sun-dappled glades and flower-filled dells. But as civilization spread over the ages -- with its fierce knights, its chugging trains, its thick smogs -- unicorns had to find a new sanctuary. But where?
Jane Yolen finds a magical answer in the traditional unicorn myth. Her rhythmic, rhymed text is irresistible to read aloud. And Ruth Sanderson's brilliant artwork gives unicorns a bold reality in everything from ancient cave paintings to their secret, present-day home. After reading this tribute to the mystical, mysterious unicorn, children will enjoy looking for these elusive creatures in the world around them.

About this title

About the Author

Jane Yolen is an award-winning author who has written more than 380 books for children, including the bestseller How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? and the 1988 Caldecott Medal winner Owl Moon. She is known for her beautiful poetry, picture books, fairy tales, novels, and nonfiction, and has even been called “the Hans Christian Andersen of America” (Newsweek). She lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Visit her at JaneYolen.com.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 4-A purposeful poem poses the question and gives its own answers in words and pictures. The unicorns have fled and disappeared into the sea before the worst aspects of civilization-war, deforestation, industrialization, and overpopulation-threaten their existence. The poem reads aloud well. The onomatopoeic descriptions ("clacketing mills" and "chuggering trains") and alliterative phrases ("ribbon-rolled river" and "perfect peace of ponds") roll pleasantly off the tongue. However, some of the language, e.g., "Routed by gouts of iron-red flames" and "the cataphonetics of city and town," seems rhetorically ornate. The illustrator's extravagant, romanticized double-page spreads are as grandiose as the poetry, using a complex method of layering oils on gessoed Masonite panels, sometimes textured with pumice gel and modeling paste. Overall, there is no real plot and what strives to be inspiring seems ultimately pretentious. Marianna Mayer's The Unicorn and the Lake (Dial, 1982; o.p.) is more touching and compelling and Michael Hague's unicorns are more powerfully rendered.
Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Old Greenwich, CT
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0689863594
• ISBN 13: 9780689863592
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Sanderson Ruth