Castle Avamir
(Unicorn's Secret #7)

Gr 2-4-In the seventh installment in the series, young Heart Avamir continues her quest to discover her heritage. Although reading is forbidden for commoners, she owns a mysterious book that she took from the home of evil Lord Dunraven. She reads about Castle Avamir and, hoping that the name may hold a tie to her family, she takes her unicorn and goes to find it. Heart befriends a neglected serving maid and learns about two girls who had once lived at the castle, but fled in fear of Dunraven and his men. In the meantime, the evil lord is hunting for Heart as well. She manages to stay ahead of him until she reaches her destination, where she is welcomed by a strange little man who describes how all the children of the castle family were sent away for safety. But, before he can reveal more, Dunraven and his band sweep into the courtyard and take the old man away as a prisoner. Heart resolves to follow them. More a serial than a series, this book begins right where True Heart (S & S, 2003) left off and ends with a cliff-hanger, to be continued next time. Character relationships and plot elements are continued from the previous six books with limited background exposition. The brief text and short, simple writing style will attract transitional readers and the unicorn theme and the multibook serial will appeal to fans of the earlier titles.-Elaine E. Knight, Lincoln Elementary Schools, IL Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.