Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In contrast to Bateman's light-hearted Keeper of Soles, this fairy tale comes across as solemn and high-minded. In it, a servant girl helps a unicorn evade slaughter by her former playmate, the duke's son. Newcomer Spalenka's gaudy, digitally manipulated illustrations, however, compete for readers' attention, with distracting combinations of superimposed medieval ornaments, photographs of some characters (specifically of Tanisa, the servant girl), painted still lifes and other elements. The text explains that Tanisa and the duke's son, Chris, have grown apart, and that Chris's once-pure heart has been twisted by his power-hungry father. The scenes jump from one to the next, in a few places resembling stills in a book adaptation of a movie. The climax feels medicinal: the unicorn, eluding the whole court, finds refuge in Tanisa's lap, but Chris aims his arrow at it. The unicorn first heals the wound Chris accidentally inflicts on Tanisa, then tenderly places his horn on Chris's heart. "When Chris opened his eyes again they were filled with the joy [Tanisa] remembered from when they were children." The story's message is lost in the unicorn magic, faux courtly prose ("on the morrow she would rest") and superficial images. Ages 6-10. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-"Few men will dare to look into a unicorn's eyes." Sung by a visiting minstrel, these words only fire the hunting enthusiasm of the Duke's nobles in this opulent romance. In keeping with old stories of the fabled beast, the unicorn befriends Tanisa, a kind serving girl, and lays his head in her lap as she dozes in a meadow. She's then wounded in trying to shield him from the flying arrow shot by the Duke's son, her former childhood playmate. Now nearly grown, Chris is bent on killing the creature both for the wealth its carcass will bring and to gain his father's approval. Stunned that he has wounded Tanisa, he looks into the unicorn's eyes. Of course, his hardened heart is softened and her wound is healed by the unicorn's touch. Promising to rule with wisdom when he comes into adulthood, Chris sends the girl and the unicorn off into hiding to await a safer time. Lavish scenes rendered in Photoshop blend photographs of the humans and their horses and dogs with painted landscapes and unicorns. Darkened views shot with golden lighting, lengthened images, and occasional blurred focus lend a dramatic, surreal tone to the rather hackneyed scenario. The vigorous, cinematic views and the hint of future love fit a traditional fairy-tale niche.-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A pretty story tenderly told and fabulously illustrated. A minstrel sings of a unicorn in a great hall, while nobles vie with one another as to which one will capture the creature. Tanisa the serving girl sees that Chris, the duke's son, is as bloodthirsty as the rest. She attends the hunt the next day to serve at luncheon and wakes to find the white unicorn with its head in her lap. Chris stumbles upon them and draws his bow, but his arrow wounds Tanisa. The unicorn heals her and then him, changing his heart so that he promises to make the land safe for the unicorn. Tanisa and the unicorn flee until folk "have earned the right to have unicorns among us." While the clarity of the story line occasionally falters, the pictures are simply magical. Using drawings overlaid with paint and photographs, Spalenka's images often look like Renaissance portraits or still lifes, then like pellucid landscapes or dreamscapes. Each full-page, full-bleed illustration, with text floated over it, contains a fully realized and imagined space: The unicorn is a full-blooded creature with bones and sinew. Satisfyingly gorgeous. (Picture book. 7-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
