Spellhorn

by Berlie Doherty

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.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Unicorns, Childrens, Magic, Middle Grade, Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Berlie Doherty née Hollingsworth is an English novelist, poet, playwright and screenwriter. She is best known for children's books, for which she has twice won the Carnegie Medal.She has also written novels for adults, plays for theatre and radio, television series and libretti for children's opera.

Reviews

[Andrew H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Berlie Doherty's Spellhorn is a classic of children's literature. It does not seem to have aged well or maybe modern readers have aged in the wrong ways. It does not compare with J K Rowling? Well that is a relief! Doherty set out to be original, not recycle the imaginary past into turgid prose. People cannot imagine where the Wild Ones live? Where is Alice's rabbit hole? Where is Narnia? Landscapes of memory are not real places on Google Maps. And the language of the Wild Ones is not convincing? Really? They speak in kennings. As did the Anglo Saxons. They combine felt ideograms into language -- as do the Chinese. "Mindhole" captures the imagination well. And modern readers do not think that the novel has much to do with blindness? So what is the novel's sensory language for, a language that does not prioritise the visual, but demonstrates how a world is built from all of the senses. A person does not have to see to think. When Laura, who is blind, meets the unicorn she feels its presence. Laura, L'aura, she who senses inner energies. I can recall reading Spellhorn when it was first published to a class of ten year olds -- not one of them posed any of the questions asked today. They were simply enchanted by another world and another way of experiencing good and evil.

[Sarah (is clearing her shelves) · Rating 2 out of 5]

26/6 - I first read this as a child weaning herself off Enid Blyton's school series, not because I didn't like them, but because I knew I'd have to branch out, read more adult books, eventually, and this seemed like a good place to start. This was probably one of my first fantasy-themed books. Prior to this I was reading almost exclusively school series, so a book with unicorns, other worlds beyond our own and beings who don't speak in the Queen's English (so to speak) would have been quite a departure from my normal reading. I don't remember what I made of it all those years ago, but from the few pages I've read this afternoon I imagine the speech patterns of the Wild Ones might have thrown me to start with. Not sure how this one's going to rate with the adult me, compared to the child me. To be continued...

28/6 - Thinking about Spellhorn in comparison with books like Harry Potter, doesn't put Spellhorn in the best light. I wanted to read more about Laura's life as a blind child, but despite Doherty's introduction talking about working with vision impaired children to prepare for the book, I didn't feel that theme was explored thoroughly enough. I also felt quite let down by the ending, there was hardly any explanation of why or how Laura got back to the real world, or what happened when she got there. This is definitely being donated to the library, no hesitation at all.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reason for Reading: This book is published under the Essential Modern Classics list. This is a list of books chosen by the publisher's UK house and is a collection of outstanding books for children. From looking at the titles I'd say the age range varies anywhere from 8 to 15. Four new titles are to be published in 2010 under the Essential Modern Classics list and I think the authors chosen present a unique collection for North American readers to discover. I intend to be keeping up-to-date with ESM as well as digging into their backlist.

A wonderful fantasy written in the classic style comparable to ancient British folklore, though the author has created her own world from scratch. As part of the Essential Modern Classics series the book starts with an informative paragraph bio. of the author followed by a short essay entitled "Why You'll Love This Book" written by a famous author, in this case Helen Dunmore. Then a quick blurb on just who is Helen Dunmore. This publisher's series also sometimes ends with extra material at the back of the book called "More Than A Story". This book contains that section and is extremely interesting, relevant and a bonus to the book. First there is a long "Author's Note" in which the author describes how she wrote this book with the input of 4 blind children. Then there is a section on the history of the myths of unicorns around the world and finally a Q & A section with Doherty about the book including the question to why she chose the ending she did.

Laura is a blind girl who smells and feels a presence under her bedroom window. She sneaks out at night and finds a unicorn. She climbs upon him and the Wild Ones appear and carry her off into the night. She is told a tale as she is taken to their magical land that Spellhorn has chosen her to be their new Mighty High and only she can truly be their new leader, if she refuses to come Spellhorn will stay with her and the Wild Ones will not be able to return to their home world called the Wilderness. Laura is torn between leaving her family between and the plight of these peoples but when her sight comes back to her, the choice becomes easier.

A beautiful little book! For me the mundane beginning, while well written, lasted a little too long making me wonder why this book was so "essential" but once the Wild Ones enter the scene it reaches a different level. Laura is a girl with many hurdles and decisions to make starting with her own blindness which gradually grew upon her in her toddlerhood. The journey to the Wilderness is full of decisions for her as the path is not easy and she must put her trust in Spellhorn while struggling with her feelings of turning around and going back home. As the new Mighty High she is faced with tough decisions at every turn. Laura is constantly torn between a "heart gladness" and a "heart sadness" which she can't even figure out as the longer she is a Wild One the more she forgets who she used to be. The ending is bittersweet and many may wish it had turned out differently. I was hoping for a different turn of events at the end. This is one of those books that will leave you with a sad feeling that you have finished it, so I suggest you read it slowly and enjoy the Wilderness and the Wild Ones as long as you can. Of course, this book would make a perfect gift for any girl who is into unicorns but I think you can be pretty confident any girl who likes fantasy will love this book. Recommended.

back-to-books.blogspot.com

[Emy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't get into it.

The Wild One's way of speaking mostly annoyed me, though sometimes I found their terms endearing. Like heartsad and heartglad. But, on the whole, it was like Laura was with a large group of small children. Who will happily burn houses.

Which was another thing that annoyed me. These Wild One's, for most of the book, are portrayed as gentle and nature loving, and everyone seems to forget that, at the beginning, they burnt down numerous houses to bring the unicorn out. I found that weird. :/

In essence, the story is beautiful: a blind girl befriending a unicorn and being taken to a Wilderness where she can see. But there was something unsatisfying about the ending. I expected there to be more of it, more of the aftermath.

And Laura's parents were unrealistic. They ran around panicking the night Laura vanished, but, after that, they simply seemed to give up. It was bizarre.

I don't know. Maybe I'm too old to be reading this book for the first time, but it just didn't resonate with me.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Berlie Doherty's 'Spellhorn' (1989) is probably one of the most unique children's fantasy books I have read in my life. It is also perfectly suitable as a canonical, scholastic text for adolescents, as it explores themes such as disability, responsibility and equality in a manner in which they can both understand and enjoy.

Although she is blind, Laura Brooks can see things that others, including her best friend Sam, do not. Her parents do not believe her when Laura says that she saw a group of wild men on horses (the Wild Ones) and that they were the ones responsible for starting the fires in their village. Sam believes her at first, but Laura's mother soon convinces him, with some well-meaning advice, that her daughter has an overactive imagination and he should not believe everything she says. It is no surprise, therefore, that poor Laura feels more lonely than ever. However, the appearance of a silvery-white unicorn, Spellhorn, transports Laura into a magical world in which she learns to see things for what they really are.

Through the genre of fantasy, Doherty allows her protagonist to transcend the confines of reality and to explore exciting new prospects in the process. In 'Children's Literature and the Politics of Equality', Pat Pinsent argues that in 'Spellhorn' Doherty "use(s) fantasy to treat the difficult subject of children coming to terms with their disability." Laura does come to terms with her disability in the end and learns that her true place in the world is with her family. Doherty explains in the Postscript what motivated her to write about such a theme:

"'Spellhorn' actually began life as a play for radio... Radio writing is still my favourite medium, because it gives the writer and the listener much more scope to use their imagination than television does. It creates pictures in your mind. How interesting it would be, I thought, to involve children for whom sound has a particular quality, who don't know things by seeing them, but by hearing them, as well as by touching, tasting and smelling them."

'Spellhorn' deserves its place among the modern classics of children's literature. It is a magical story, about the universal desire to come to terms with whom we are.

[Johanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weird book. Very atmospheric, confusing ending. A few really good lines with disability rep but some mixed messages with the plot and ending.

[Gaby Medina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book I ever read, of course my taste has changed a lot with time, but still I remember it fondly.

[Gabriel · Rating 2 out of 5]

La historia no logró atraparme mucho, y el lenguaje de palabras compuestas de los salvajes no se me hizo coherente con canciones cantadas con palabras rimbombantes.

[Liberty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story, however there were a couple of points that nagged at me.
I didn't quite follow where the Wilderness was, initially I had thought it was back in time, but it seemed to be some sort of other, mystical dimension.
I wasn't sure how to feel about the sight of a blind child being restored as part of a magical process. And her having to choose to give up her signt to return home to her family. However, reading the afterword and discovering that the story had been written in collaboration with a group of children with impaired sight, I guess this must be fine and I was just being a 'Snowflake' about it.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me encantó. Me temo que no puedo decir mucho del libro, es una historia relativamente sencila, muy básica. Pero adoré a la niña y había párrafos en que me olvidaba que ella estaba ciega.

[Hitzuji · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fue una relectura, puesto que hace mucho que lo leí y no me acordaba de nada. Es una historia bonita, pero un poco desordenada y confusa de pronto.

[Stephen Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A blind girl finds a unicorn in her garden, who takes her with the wild people to their Wilderness home, where she finds she can see. But she also feels homesick for her family and friends.

[Capn · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 is harsh, I know. I was going to give it a 2, but some crazy people have given it a perfect 5 stars, and I feel the need to rectify this. Just pretend I gave it a 2. It gets a 2 because of its interesting premise and lead character (Laura is blind - this a refreshing take). It gets 1 for the rest - execution, artistic merit, etc. It's basically an Olympic final flop of a figure skating programme, where it lands on its arse in the first jump, and can't really recover. It had potential, it did, but it was a complete miscue.

I think the author read Elidor, remembered the barbarians hunting the unicorn hiding in post-war Manchester, and decided to write that bit again, but with a blind female protagonist who ends up in the barbarian world. (Read Elidor instead, is my advice).

Rather than rehash what other, sensible, reviewers have written, I'll formulate the rest of my review in the absolutely terrible language of the Wild Ones (no joke, accurate - I'm taking the time to use only their words as written in this book):

The wordspeak of the Wild Ones is allwrong, Girlchild/Boychild. This Girlchild has no wayfound mind-eye to be heartglad with the seekfind eyeful she had. I be downsad, no makesmile for me. Maybe I should keep this hidden in the my mind-hole of my brain box. But I am no lovingfriend of the wordspeak of the Wild Ones. I have too many why-whys. Trust me, and think on!
That's the ending of my wordspeak. Take earful. Have no time eyeful of this. Close up your eyecovers! Safe keep!
I have heart hate of this.

I almost gave it a 2 star rating because of one very brief moment in the beginning, where Laura types her name on her Perkins in Braille for her friend Sam. (The braille points are printed in the text). He can't guess what she's written:

"What does it say?" Sam asked.
"Guess."
He studied it.
It was difficult to tell where one letter would end and the next would begin. He found a pencil and copied the pattern of dots carefully on to a piece of paper.
"Well, it's two words, and I think they've both got five letters."
"Brilliant," said Laura. "You can count."
"Don't be like that," said Sam. "It doesn't look anything like our writing, you know. Two of the letters in the first word are the same, if they are letters. They're just a dot. The second letter and the fifth letter."
"Go on," said Laura. "And are any of the other letters alike?"
"Yes! The third and fourth of the second word are the same as each other. Three dots each, like sideways triangles. Oh yes . . . and there's some more. The fourth letter in the first word is the same as the second letter in the second word." He ran his finger over the dots again and shook his head. "I give in," he said at last.

Laura Brook is the answer, if you're still reading. I just thought this was encouraging because I'm a total nerd and I like cryptography.

Here's some of the bits that I disliked:

"Don't be heartsad," Water said to Laura. "If Spellhorn has longings to take you to the Wilderness, you'll come." She shivered, hugging herself against the cold. "Now dash down, Girlchild. This wind has biting teeth. Scuttle down to cave dens before it nips off your hear hole flaps."

And basically all of page 74 is a good example, but here are the worst bits:

"The girlchild has heart fear to do the job," said Water.
"It must be done, all same," the Old Woman said. There were grunts of agreement.
"My brain box says she'll tumble in and shrivel up." Flight giggled.
"Keep gob shut," Sloe warned her. "Or I'll pummel you."
"Her skin coat will float away from her bones, most like," Sideman said.
"Spellhorn should be full of spite with her," Flight pouted. "He nearly lost the battlebite. He nearly had his horn stole off."
Still Laura stood, unable to move, while Spellhorn watched her.
"Maybe his strongness is all drained off," Wayfinder said. "Maybe his power's long lost."

At some point, Water sings a song about the colours on the lake and it includes the word sequin, which seems strange in a neolithic-like world (no ornamentation or jewelry is ever described). And they have elaborate, carved unicorn-headed funereal boats, but when the Menfolk sail over the lake (after the funeral with the unicorn-prowed boat), they say:

"Menfolk on big logs.".."There's big tree birds on the water, with menfolk riding them . . ."

And offered fully devoid of context, because I can't be bothered - page 111:

"There might be fisty fights. I'll be the punch-boy."

To conclude: Nope.

[Cassie Holmes-Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is extremely well written. The reader assumes that it's a fantasy book full of unicorns and savage people until the very end, where it is finally revealed to be simply the work of the characters imagination.

SUMMARY
When she was little, Laura began going blind. Whenever she would see her own reflection, she wouldn't recognise that it was herself, and thought it was an entirely different person. She called this other girl, Midnight, due to the darkening shadows that engulfed her.
As Laura grew up, her blindness grew worse until she had no sight whatsoever. To cope with her blindness, she often drifted away into her imagination. So much so that she eventually made an entirely new world in her 'mind's eye' that is populated by 'wild ones.'
In the world in her head, she can see everything from the 'navy sky clustered with the brilliant lights of stars' to the 'silvery-white haired' unicorn that guides her in this imaginary world, much like her pet Labrador in the real world.
Eventually, Laura gets so caught up in her minds eye that she wonders away from home and she plunges further into her imaginary world.
The wild ones adopt her as one of their own, and eventually she becomes their leader after their original one dies of old age.
During this time, back in the real world, her family and best friend, Sam, are hysterically searching for Laura who wondered off during the night.

[Aleeqa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story about a blind girl who can see with her mind-eye. She can see magical beings that others can't. Because of that, she was taken to a magical land.

It's a good fantasy story for kids, playing with their imagination. Who doesn't like unicorn?

The plot is good, the characters are wonderful.

The only thing that I don't like about it, is the way the magical beings speak. I know it's for a creative tinge for the story, however, I don't like it.

I'm sure the story is aim for children, thus I prefer if the correct words, sentences, word construct are use.

English is my second language, and as a mother myself, I prefer my kids to learn a proper english words.

[Malcolm Meli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to put my review to a 3/5. I was quite lost throughout the book, although the story as such was quite simple, yet I did find myself having to read the page twice again because I thought I had missed something.

I think what I really appreciated from the book is the first part of it, how it described the struggles and limitations of Laura, being blind - and how different everything is for her compared to her friend.

It's alright for a children's book, but I think I couldn't appreciate it as much because I might have been too old for it which is a shame because I do tend to enjoy a good children's fantasy book.

[Pamela Aikman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Children's/young teen fantasy story about a young blind girl. Favorite passage "Mountains reared up to the west and east of them; mountains of ice, glittering blue-purple, with snow like a deep white shawl spreading down their lower slopes. They shone in the polish of the setting sun, taking its lick of scarlet. A pale green sea with crimson stains like blood in it lapped against the ice mountains, tinkling like shattering glass." Author has a way of painting the story picture with descriptive terms.

[Sristi Sengupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This shaped me. It gave me the light that I still carry on to this day and on some nights that light carries me. I read this when I was 11 or 12, ten years ago. Electricity in the town I lived in, at that time, wasn't very reliable. Summer nights would often ring up with an entire neighbourhood's cries and complaints. That's when I took advantage of the dark to sneak past bed-time and read. I just wanted to keep reading this book. Thank everything good in this world. I want to write something like this someday.

[scarlettraces · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nicely written little fable but a bit too sweet for me.

[Puri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sólo me acuerdo que me decepcionó mucho😭😭 esperaba más de un libro con esa criatura en la portada

[Nati Ferrino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lo compré porque me enamoré de la tapa. Lo empecé a leer por curiosidad y no pude parar hasta terminarlo, lo que me valió una noche sin dormir.

[Leilani · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book, but I sometimes find the plot a bit confusing and can't visualise what is happening.

[Dulce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Es un libro enredado, varias veces tuve que empezarlo a leer otra vez, puede que hasta un poco confuso. La historia es buena, pero transcurre muy lento, ya llevaba la mitad y nada. El concepto de la historia es bueno pero le faltó un poco de emoción.

🌗🙈

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember first reading this when I was roughly 8 years old if memory serves. I sat in a big armchair in our living room and read this book in one sitting, and my mind was blown. It was like nothing I had read before. I had read fantasy before, I'm an Enid Blyton child, but Berlie Doherty is in a differnent league to Enid Blyton! I'm now nearly 30!! This is the first time I've re-read it and I wasn't disappointed. I couldn't remember any of the story other than it is about a young girl and a unicorn. I had even forgotten that Laura (the young girl mentioned) is blind, which is crucial to the story. This is a wonderfully delightful funny fantasy book. Would you even call it Urban fantasy now? Now as an adult reading it, I would have liked the story to be longer and more fleshed out. In doing this though it would turn it into a book for older children, which maybe the author did not want to do. I loved the character of Laura; she is gutsy and practical, and is in no way a victim just because she is blind. I wanted more of Sam, and in particular Wayfinder and Water, but I think that is my adult mind kicking in, I felt there was an interesting back story there! A more adult story! I really didn't like the character of the Old Woman, I found her creepy and annoying at times. The end was a complete surprise to me and didn't go where I thought it would. However the end END was very abrupt and slightly disappointing. I loved the form of speech Berlie Doherty gave to the Wild Ones, very cute and funny. So yeah I'm very glad I decided to relive this experience. It's always risky going back to childhood favourite books. You just have to remember that you are a different you from then, so really you are reading it for the first time.

[Kieran Curtin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spellhorn is about a blind girl called Laura who gets carried away by a unicorn into a world of magic where she is no longer blind, and all manner of amazing things happen.
I enjoyed the imagination of this book. It's a real page-turner. I think it would be particularly useful for children who may be going through a tough time to escape their worries as it's pure fantasy. It has interesting vocabulary, and would be suitable for KS2.

[Beth Schiavo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this with my children as part of a mommy/daughter book club and found it entertaining. What was fascinating to me was how engaged my children were with the characters, allowing a suspension of disbelief for which I at times felt challenged. They loved these characters and the story of a blind girl living fun two worlds was fantastic to them.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tale of a blind girl who uses her mind eye to see into and govern herself in the wilderness; a fantasy land where she rides a unicorn and keeps danger at bay from her people, the Wild Ones. A lovely book which reminds me of Primary School.

[Amaranta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Siempre quise leerlo, venía en las recomendacioes de todos los libros que leía de pequeña y me daba curiosidad ¡al fin pude! y no me perdía de nada... ¡nah! mentira, es muy bueno. *sin ánimos para escribir una buena reseña*

[DaisyAmber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't get enough of unicorns so when my sister got me this book I was extremely happy and even more happy once I started reading it. This is a great adventure fantasy which I am sure many people would love. I highly recommend it for all fantasy lovers (especially unicorn loving ones)!

[Rachel (Sfogs) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very cute story, written from the point of view from a blind young girl.