cover image The Unicorn Alphabet

The Unicorn Alphabet

Marianna Mayer. Dial Books, $14.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-8037-0372-8

Following up their first joint effort ( The Unicorn and the Lake ), Mayer and Hague have produced an alphabet book centering on the perennially popular unicorn. Each page portrays the legendary white animal with some related aspect of flora, fauna or myth that corresponds to the featured letter ( X and Z are a bit of a stretch). A decorative border displays a flower or plant of medieval or more ancient significance, whose name also begins with the appropriate letter. Hague, whose glowing illustrations have lit up the pages of many reissued classics, has provided paintings that seem for the most part limp and uninspired. For diehard unicorn enthusiasts only. Ages 6-up. (Sept.)