Additional information
by Joan Uda (Author)
Here Come the Unicorns is for every child whose parent or close relative has gone to war. It comes out of my experience being that child. Annalisa, age six, lives with her mother, aunt, and cousin Zachary, age four. Annalisa believes, because her father told her, that the antelope living in a huge field across the road from their home are actually unicorns. Her daddy also told her that the animals could only be seen as unicorns at midnight on the longest day of the year. Both daddies go to war, and Uncle Terry, Zachary's father is killed and Annalisa's daddy is missing in action. Christmas approaches and Annalisa dreams about the unicorns. She can't remember what the unicorns tell her in her dreams, but she decides that she must see them at midnight. She believes if she sees them her daddy will come home. Annalisa wakes herself up at eleven, and as she bundles up Zachary crawls out of the coat closet demanding to go. The children journey into the big field through a blizzard, aided by their own determination and courage plus animal helpers. Do they find the unicorns? Do they see Annalisa's Daddy and Uncle Terry, and what happens to them? How do they get home?
Author Biography
Joan Uda wrote a weekly inspirational column which appeared for seven years in Helena's Independent Record and the Great Falls Tribune, and previously for three years in a Colorado daily. She has two books of these locally published inspirational pieces: At the Water's Edge: God's Grace in Everyday Life, Vol. I & II, a historical memoir about her father titled The Jade Locket and the Red Star and a novel called Booth Girls, set in an actual home for unwed mothers run by the Salvation Army. She has also published short stories, poems, and articles. She is a retired pastor, a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop where she studied with Kurt Vonnegut, and she has practiced law in government and private practice.
