Michael Hague's Magical World of Unicorns

by Michael Hague

Classic unicorn illustrations are paired with excerpts from poems, stories, and songs that reflect our fascination with the mysterious and beautiful unicorn and its enchanted, mythical world.

Genres: Unicorns, Picture Books, Childrens, Poetry, Fantasy

34 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Michael Hague is renowned as the illustrator of many children's classics, including editions of The Wizard Of Oz, Peter Pan, The Hobbit, and The Velveteen Rabbit. He also illustrated The Book of Ghosts, Where Fairies Dance, The Book of Wizards, and The Book of Fairy Poetry as well as wrote and illustrated the graphic novel in The Small. Michael lives with his wife, Kathleen, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Reviews

[Set · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, it's a book of quotes from other novels and poems and ballads dedicated to the unicorn. The illustrations fantastically depict Pan playing a horn, fairies dancing in a fairy circle, a fairy with wings of a butterfly, and unicorns of course.

[Kest Schwartzman · Rating 1 out of 5]

The armpit and pubic hair are both real weird choices in illustrating a unicorn

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Children's author and artist Michael Hague's gorgeous illustrations featuring unicorns are gathered in this beautiful picture book anthology, with a poem or a quotation from a longer work about unicorns paired with each painting. Snippets from Auden and Shakespeare, poems from Ann Santinho and Ella Young, quotations from works such as Robert Brown's 1881 The Unicorn: A Mythological Investigation and Georgess McHargue's 1968 The Beasts of Never —these and other selections are paired with the beautiful artwork, offering just a taste of the unicorn lore out there...

Published in 1999, Michael Hague's Magical World of Unicorns is very much a vehicle for the artist's work, rather than a proper story or poetry anthology. It certainly highlights many of Hague's gorgeous unicorn paintings, and the visuals here are more than worth seeking out, for their own sake. That being said, the snippets and quotations presented are also intriguing, with many authors and works known to me, and a few which were not. I appreciated the diversity of selections on offer, from German folk songs, medieval accounts, a hymn to Buddha, modern fantasies and non-fiction, and poetry. Hague created an earlier pop-up book with a similar name, back in 1986 ( Michael Hague's World of Unicorns ), that I have decided to seek out, to compare and contrast to this later picture book. As for this one, I would recommend it to unicorns lovers young and old, and fans of the artist.

[Stacey Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous. I grew up (and still have) a pop up book of Michael Hague's unicorns, so I need to see more. His art does not disappoint.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to think that some believe that unicorns should have beards. Enjoyed the pictures and the words written.

[Danielley · Rating 4 out of 5]

We love Michael Hague's illustrations and spent more time admiring them than we did on the text.

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

What it says on the tin. The art is lovely and reminds me of Japanese woodblock prints, particularly the work of Hasui Kawase.

[Graham Sillars · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of short snippet from other media regarding Unicorns and utterly stunning illustrations that go along with each written piece.

Recommend !!

[T.L. Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully illustrated book about unicorns. The poetry and verse on each page is lovely. Any child or adult alike who loves unicorns would love this book, making it a charming bedtime story.

[Kari]

Rory enjoyed looking at the illustrations by Micheal Hague, whom I enjoy. The included quotations were over her head.