THE PRINCESS AND THE UNICORN
by Carol Hughes
Very pink, definitely didactic—the lessons here always loom larger than the story—but still a rather sweet read withal. Princess Eleanor, age ten, is heir to the English throne and can see fairies, although she is under the thumb of a governess misnamed Merrie, who clearly has other stuff on her mind. Joyce, the young fairy Eleanor espies, loves to fly even though such activity is deeply frowned upon in her fairy village of Swinley Hope. When Eleanor comes across the unicorn that keeps Swinley Forest alive, she takes him back to the palace, not knowing that the land and the unicorn cannot survive apart. Meanwhile, the governess hatches a nefarious plan to make her fortune by selling the unicorn to a few ugly American researchers. Rather nifty battles of the action-movie type ensue, with combatants human and fairy, and both worlds reach a better understanding. Joyce and Eleanor are both plucky girls with imagination; Merrie is an EEE-vil caricature. Possibly charming, certainly twee.
(Fantasy. 8-12)