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A review by snekmint
A Glory of Unicorns by Bruce Coville
3.0
This little anthology is an apparently rare Scholastic book that was my own personal childhood copy from the 90s-- my city library has no record of it.
The illustrious and prolific Bruce Coville has compiled several short stories for kids from various authors (including himself and his wife) all featuring unicorns. All these stories quite literally feature unicorns, almost all of which speak, sparkle, show up mysteriously and travel between worlds. Almost all of the stories feature a young girl as the protagonist, though there is at least one featuring a boy, which, I did not notice as a child, makes it an outlier in unicorn pop culture.
Rereading this as a man skirting close to the horizon of 40 years old, it is not nearly as compelling as it was 22 years ago, and the stories are definitely short and sweet-- you can zip through each in less than ten minutes-- and only three of them ("Beyond the Fringe" by Gregory Maguire; "The Ugly Unicorn" by Jessica Amanda Salmonson; and "The New Girl" by Sean Stewart) are well-written enough that I was pleased to encounter them again. Interestingly, and revealing much about the mind of a 12-year-old, the three I like now are the three I didn't like very much as a kid. I recall them being a little too dark and moody with not enough unicorn in.
The level is certainly more geared for upper-elementary readers (8-11) than middle schoolers (11-13). I think I only asked for this book because I was on a fantasy kick at the time and there was a Scholastic book fair. The back cover says this book was only $4.50.
$4.50! It was truly a different time.
The illustrious and prolific Bruce Coville has compiled several short stories for kids from various authors (including himself and his wife) all featuring unicorns. All these stories quite literally feature unicorns, almost all of which speak, sparkle, show up mysteriously and travel between worlds. Almost all of the stories feature a young girl as the protagonist, though there is at least one featuring a boy, which, I did not notice as a child, makes it an outlier in unicorn pop culture.
Rereading this as a man skirting close to the horizon of 40 years old, it is not nearly as compelling as it was 22 years ago, and the stories are definitely short and sweet-- you can zip through each in less than ten minutes-- and only three of them ("Beyond the Fringe" by Gregory Maguire; "The Ugly Unicorn" by Jessica Amanda Salmonson; and "The New Girl" by Sean Stewart) are well-written enough that I was pleased to encounter them again. Interestingly, and revealing much about the mind of a 12-year-old, the three I like now are the three I didn't like very much as a kid. I recall them being a little too dark and moody with not enough unicorn in.
The level is certainly more geared for upper-elementary readers (8-11) than middle schoolers (11-13). I think I only asked for this book because I was on a fantasy kick at the time and there was a Scholastic book fair. The back cover says this book was only $4.50.
$4.50! It was truly a different time.