To Be a Unicorn

by Fleur Cowles, Robert Vavra

In to be a Unicorn, Robert Vavra and Fleur Cowles present a magical allegory about a mare that falls in love with the 'single-horned prince of purity' and fears that because she is not a unicorn he will be unable to return her love. A beautifully illustrated fable, it is a poignant tale of longing and resolution.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Fleur Fenton Cowles was an American writer, editor and artist best known as the creative force behind the short-lived Flair magazine.

Reviews

[Fern E Wiggle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations i’ve had dreams of some of them. Childhood favorite.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used to have a copy but lost it when I was 29. There have been a lot of books in my life that I regret selling or giving away, but this is not one of them.

The book is basically realistic drawings of Robert Vavra photographs. They suffer in comparison to the photographs. This has the flavor of being a cheap rip-off to cash in on Robert Vavra's popularity. You are better off just getting the non-fiction books of horse photographs.

I cannot remember the story poem at all, so it made zero impact on me.

[Bat713 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous book using paintings of unicorns from collectors living in London, Texas, San Francisco, Oklahoma, and North Carolina. The story is written using poetry from 16 well known poets over the ages. Who knew this was hiding on my shelf!

[Derek]

Purchased this at Vinyl & Vintage in Elburn, IL today only for the beautiful paintings by Fleur Cowles that are apart of it. Was surprised that the story that offered is kinda wistful and melancholic, despite being placed against such gorgeous visuals.