Cover Reveal for The Unicorn Quest: The Whisper in the Stone by Kamilla Benko

Happy Tuesday! Kamilla Benko has been tweeting her favorite unicorn covers since April 1. Today she can add the cover for The Unicorn Quest: The Whisper in the Stone to her list of favorite covers. Hooray! Congratulations, Kamilla and Vivienne To! 

Art is always a portal—whether it be to a different time, a different point of view, or another world entirely. I think this must be why literary heroine Claudia Kincaid chose to run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler. She wanted to escape her ordinary life and elevate it by surrounding herself with masterpieces. And that’s why four years ago, seeking to find some relief from the humdrum days of February, I found myself at the MET’s Cloisters, admiring the famed Unicorn Tapestries and wondering about their mysterious past…and from these musings, grew the idea for my debut fantasy middle grade novel, The Whisper in The Stone, book one of The Unicorn Quest.

Because this series was inspired by art, I wanted The Whisper in The Stone to explore the theme of magic in everyday life, and so my main character, 11-year-old Claire Martinson is an artist who always has a pencil tucked behind her ear, and the world she ends up discovering with her older sister, Sophie, is one where all magical spells can only be done through crafting.

All of this is to say that I am thrilled and delighted by master illustrator Vivienne To’s ability to work her magic for the cover and show us a glimpse of a world filled with magic mirrors, armies carved from stone, and of course, unicorns!

Enormous thanks to Vivienne, the entire Bloomsbury team, and to Mr. John Schu for hosting the cover reveal. To learn more, please visit Goodreads or follow me on Twitter @kkbenko.