Title Where Have the Unicorns Gone Series --- Author Jane Yolen Illustrated By Ruth Sanderson Publisher Simon & Schuster - 2000 First Printing Simon & Schuster - 2000 Category Childrens Warnings None Main Characters --- Main Elements Unicorns Website janeyolen.com/

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.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.

This is a beautiful and magical book, both the poem and the artwork. Yolen explains to children where the unicorns have gone, how they didn't like the noise of factories or the smells of pollution, and had to find a place of safety where they could continue to live in peace. Sanderson's artwork is a lovely melding of both the unicorns traversing the world to find their santuary, and the world itself evolving in the background. But even as things seem their worst, it gives us hope that the unicorns are indeed still out there, we just need to believe and to know where to look and how to see. Where so many kids books recently seem to be tending towards the silly and the goofy, it's nice to see a book that can mix the loss of magic with hope that not all is truly gone. That maybe if we fix the world, the unicorns will come back.