Title Spellhorn Series --- Author Berlie Doherty Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing 1989 Category Middlegrade Warnings None Main Characters Sam, Laura, Spellhorn Main Elements Unicorns

A blind girl and a unicorn in a world where magic and reality merge together. Can Laura save the Wild Ones and take them to the safety of the Bright Wilderness? Laura is blind, but though she cannot see, she is an acutely perceptive child. As soon as she climbs onto the unicorn's back she is hurled into a wild and magical world. Though a contemporary child, living in a contemporary setting, Spellhorn and the Wild Ones see Laura as their leader and they know that only through Laura can they reach the safety of the Bright Wilderness. But can the unicorns lead Laura back home to her own world? Powerful and moving, a delicious blend of fantasy and reality.

This was a very unusual book, but quite magical in it's own way. We have Laura, a blind girl who is the only one who can see the Wild Ones, a human-like people that have followed their unicorn, Spellhorn, to our world to retrieve him. Only when they find they, he won't leave without Laura. The Wild Ones aren't visible to anyone else, though they can cause mischief such as setting houses on fire. A kind of ghostly overlay upon our world. But getting back to the Wilderness won't be easy, and both Spellhorn and Laura will be tested in the attempt to bring these people home.

The Wild Ones speak in a dialect all their own, a singsong kind of speech that was almost musical to read and I wasn't surprised when Laura herself started to pick up their speech patterns, I myself nearly started thinking to the sound of their words.

The story can be a bit confusing at times, and the reader ends up not being sure if Laura should stay with the Wild Ones, where she is happen and has sight, or return to her family and friends that love her. The solution to that problem is an unexpected one.

So while there were moments where I found myself thinking, "This book is really weird", it was weird in a good way and I enjoyed it in the end. It reminds us that there is magic, just on the other side of this reality, if only we can open our eyes and see.