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ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: THE UNICORN LEGACY
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.kamillabenko.com/
CITY:
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COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 345
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in IN.
EDUCATION:Indiana University Bloomington, degree, 2012.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and editor. HarperCollins Publisher, New York, NY, administrative and editorial assistant, 2012-14; Paper Lantern Lit, Brooklyn, NY, assistant editor, 2014-15, editor, 2015—.
AVOCATIONS:Travel, hiking.
AWARDS:Top-Ten First Novels for Youth selection, American Library Association, 2018, for The Unicorn Quest.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
A native of Indiana, Kamilla Benko has always loved books and reading, and after college study and several internships, she relocated to New York City and became a book editor. Benko’s favorite genre is fantasy fiction, and her personal library includes books by Lewis Carroll, Eva Ibbotson, Diana Wynne Jones, C.S. Lewis, Tamora Pierce, Phillip Pullman, J.K. Rowling, and J.R.R. Tolkien. Like many avid readers, she also enjoys writing, and her highly praised first novel, The Unicorn Quest, debuts an original fantasy series for middle graders.
As The Unicorn Quest opens, readers meet two sisters who are close even though they are very different. Sophie Martinson, the oldest, is adventurous and risk-taking and has recently recovered from a strange and debilitating illness. In contrast, eleven-year-old Claire is cautious and prefers drawing. The recent death of their Great-Aunt Estelle allowed the sisters and their parents to move into the family manse, Windermere Manor, where there is much to explore. When the girls discover a ladder inside one of the chimneys, Sophie climbs up and Claire follows. The ladder leads to Arden, a magical kingdom that is in a dark age due to the recent death of its queen. The unicorns which once roamed freely are gone, replaced by dark and evil shadow spirits. Members of the kingdom’s four magic guilds—Forgers, Gemmers, Spinners, and Tillers—now behave as adversaries, making life dangerous and war imminent. Climbing down the ladder after a short visit to Arden, Sophie promises never to return. When she breaks that promise, Claire bravely follows her sister’s trail, gaining the help of some unusual new friends.
While following the template of many popular fantasy stories, “the suspense and sisterly bonds” in The Unicorn Quest “will help keep readers hooked,” predicted April Sanders in School Library Journal. “Benko crafts fully developed characters and a detailed fantastical world,” Sanders also observed, and a Kirkus Reviews critic praised Claire as “a protagonist who grows by facing her fears.” Citing the “rich worldbuilding and high stakes” in The Unicorn Quest, the critic suggested to fantasy fans that Benko’s characters will lead them on “a quest worth taking.”
In Benko’s second “Unicorn Quest” novel, Secret in the Stone, the Martinson sisters now recognize that their place is in Arden; as descendants of Queen Estelle they bear the responsibility of all members of a royal family. Accepting as their task the job of freeing the unicorns of Arden from their prisons of stone, Sophie and Claire locate a remote Gemmer guild school. As Sophie continues to forge a safe path for the sisters, Claire learns the skill of drawing these magical creatures out from the stones.
“Picking up in the midst of danger that never withdraws,” according to a Kirkus Reviews critic, Secret in the Stone “dives deeper into the mysterious legends that make Arden magical.” For Kristina Pino in Booklist, the second “Unicorn Quest” story ends with “another tantalizing cliff-hanger that promises more thrilling adventures.” “Hand this series to any fantasy adventure lover,” the critic suggested.
In an interview with Lauren Oliver on the Barnes & Noble website, Benko revealed that the plot of her “Unicorn Quest” saga was inspired by a visit she took to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. She found the museum’s collection of Unicorn Tapestries from the late Middle Ages to be magical, and her thoughts immediately turned to one of the world’s most magical artists, Michelangelo. “He saw the angel in the stone, and carved until he set it free,” she explained to Oliver. “An artist’s ability to look at a block of marble, a yard of cloth, a patch of dirt, or a golden wire and see its potential to become a statue, a beautiful gown, a flowering garden, or intricate necklace seems like magic to me.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, November 1, 2017, Kristina Pino, review of The Unicorn Quest, p. 68; December 1, 2018, Kristina Pino, review of Secret in the Stone, p. 62.
Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2017, review of The Unicorn Quest; November 15, 2018, review of Secret in the Stone.
School Library Journal, August, 2017, April Sanders, review of The Unicorn Quest, p. 81.
ONLINE
Barnes & Noble website, https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/ (January 30, 2018), Lauren Oliver, interview with Benko on “Just Right Reads” blog.
Kamilla Benko website, https://www.kamillabenko.com/ (March 21, 2019).*
Kamilla Benko is the bestselling author of Frozen II: Forest of Shadows and The Unicorn Quest trilogy. She spent most of her childhood climbing into wardrobes, trying to step through mirrors, and plotting to run away to an art museum. Now, she visits other worlds as an author. She currently lives in Indiana next to a friendly willow tree.
A little bit longer
Kamilla Benko was born in California and was raised in Indiana. She enrolled in St. Luke Catholic Elementary School and Bishop Chatard High School before attending Indiana University to study journalism and history. In 2012, she graduated summa cum lade from Indiana Univeristy and moved to New York City to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a children’s book editor.
Kamilla has edited books for all of the “Big Five” publishing houses. Her first job was at HarperCollins, where she assisted on properties like Pinkalicious, Pete the Cat, Fancy Nancy, and I Can Read! books. Since then, she's worked on several critically acclaimed novels and worked with many bestselling authors, including Melissa Albert, Zoraida Córdova, Eleanor Herman, Sarah Holland, Alma Katsu, Julie Leung, Sarah J. Maas, and Tara Sim.
Inspired by the talented authors she worked with, Kamilla began to write about a pair of sisters in a land of unicorns. Bloomsbury published Kamilla’s debut novel, The Unicorn Quest, the first book in a middle grade fantasy series. The Unicorn Quest: Secret in the Stone and The Unicorn Quest: Fire in the Star followed thereafter. Later, Kamilla collaborated with the directors and filmmakers of Disney’s Frozen II to write Frozen II: Forest of Shadows, an original “midquel” novel that reveals Anna and Elsa’s adventures between the smash hit movies. Kamilla's second series, The Unicorn Legacy, will launch February 2024 with Tangled Magic.
Kamilla Benko
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Kamilla Benko
Kamilla Benko is the USA Today bestselling author of Frozen II: Forest of Shadows, an original tale set between Disney’s massively successful movies, as well as the author of the popular The Unicorn Quest series. Her debut novel, The Unicorn Quest, was named a BookExpo Middle Grade Buzz Book, a Kids’ Indie Next Selection, a Mighty Girl Best Book of the Year, and an ALA Top Ten First Novel for Youth.
Before turning to writing full time, Kamilla worked as a children’s book editor at HarperCollins, Glasstown Entertainment, and Bloomsbury, where she edited several New York Times bestselling authors and critically acclaimed novels. She has been an invited guest at New York Comic Con, BookExpo, BookCon, and several other festivals and conferences. Originally from Indiana, Kamilla now lives in New York City.
Benko, Kamilla THE UNICORN LEGACY Bloomsbury (Children's None) $17.99 2, 27 ISBN: 9781547608829
A girl without magic hopes that a new school will teach her the skills necessary to be a credit to her family.
Twelve-year-old Olivia Hayes comes from a family of Tillers, but as a dormant, she lacks the guild members' ability to "coax magic from plants." Determined to do something impressive, she signs her own invitation to the Unicorn Academy of Artistical and Magical Learning, scrawls a note for her sister, and presents herself at the school. There, a teacher suggests that Olivia is in fact a Spinner rather than a Tiller. She meets roommates Paisley, Camlet, and Gabardine and feels that she's finally where she belongs. A horrific Guild War led to the extinction of unicorns and their pure magic, but at the academy, Tillers, Spinners, Forgers, and Gemmers work together to usher in the Age of Unicorns. When Olivia's sister is accused of being a unicorn hunter, however, most of her classmates drop her, save for fellow dormant Violet, frenemy Kessa, and Tourmaline, a Gemmer. The setting of the land of Arden will be familiar to readers of The Unicorn Quest, Benko's companion series. While devoted unicorn fans may wish for less of the serpentlike Devourer, the cliffhanger ending points the way for more unicorns to come. Olivia is a worthy role model, the worldbuilding contains ample whimsy, and the overall takeaway is positive. Most main characters read white; Kessa is cued Black.
Magic plus boarding school plus unicorns equals a fun girl-power adventure. (Fantasy. 8-12)
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"Benko, Kamilla: THE UNICORN LEGACY." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A788097112/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0ba77986. Accessed 7 Aug. 2024.