The Road to Balinor (Unicorns of Balinor, 1) [Turtleback]

Mary Stanton (Author)

Product Details

• Turtleback
• Publisher: Demco Media (February 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0606175504
• ISBN-13: 978-0606175500
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Mary Stanton has been writing professionally most of her adult life. She divides her time between a goat farm in upstate New York near the Finger Lakes region and a small home in West Palm Beach.

Stanton is the oldest daughter of William Bishop Whitaker and Caroline Whitaker, both of whom were college professors for parts of their careers. She has two sisters; Cynthia Bishop Whitaker, Esquire of Seattle, Washington and Deborah Susan Whitaker Hairston of Ithaca, New York. She was born in Winter Park, Florida while her father was Dean of Men at Rollins College. When William Whitaker was recruited back into the Navy in the early fifties, he and his family were posted to Japan. Leaving active Naval service for the Reserves and a position in the State Department, Whitaker was posted to Hawaii where he occupied a position as Director of Educational Services for Southeast Asia.

Stanton grew up in Hawaii and graduated from Kailua High School. She left the Islands for undergraduate school in the late sixties. She attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and received a B.A. in philosophy and literature from the University of Minnesota. She attended a year of law school, then a year of graduate school majoring in Rehabilitation Therapies. She worked at a series of jobs in Minnesota, including a year as a nightclub singer as part of Sheik's Singing Sextette, a medical examiner for Social Security, a claims adjuster for Crum&Forster Insurance Company and Director of Volunteer Services for Hastings State Hospital. She married Robert Tom Nelson in 1967. The marriage ended in divorce.

In the mid-seventies, Stanton left Minnesota for Rochester, New York. She worked for Aetna Life & Casualty Insurance Companies, one of the first outside female claims adjusters in the United States. She began a career as a copywriter in the early eighties, working for several advertising agencies and Xerox Corporation until she opened her own marketing communications company in 1985. The company specialized in the research and writing of Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award applications. Clients included Xerox Corporation, Westinghouse, American Express, and Eastman Kodak Company. Stanton took on a junior partner, Daniel J.Hucko, in 1985, and sold the business to Young and Rubicam in 1992. She left the business in 1994 to write full time.

She married Robert J. Stanton Esquire of Walworth, New York in 1974. There are three stepchildren from that marriage; John Robert Stanton, Harry Cole Stanton, and Julie Stanton Schwatrz.

Stanton's career as a fiction writer began with the publication of her first novel, The Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West, in 1984. A beast fable similar in tone and theme to Watership Down, it was published in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. The sequel to that novel, Piper at the Gates, appeared in 1989. She sold her first mystery to The Berkley Publishing Group in 1994. In all, Stanton has written nineteen mystery novels, two adult fantasy novels, eleven novels for middle-grade readers (including the successful series, The Unicorns of Balinor), and three scripts for a television cartoon series, Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders, as well as edited three short story anthologies. Her nonfiction articles on horse care and veterinary medicine have appeared in national and regional magazines.

Mary publishes the Hemlock Falls mysteries under the name Claudia Bishop. See the Claudia Bishop web site for more information: claudiabishop.com

Stanton's interests outside writing have remained consistent over the years. She is a horsewoman, a goat aficionado, an enthusiastic (if inept) gardener, and a fan of gourmet food, but not an expert. She has developed a writing program for teens and middle grade readers that has had considerable success in schools.

Stanton has been a dedicated reader all her life, with particular emphasis on biography, history, veterinary science, medicine, psychology and current affairs. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America. She may be contacted through her literary agent, Eleanor Wood of the Spectrum Literary Agency, 320 Central Park West Suite 1-D, New York, NY 10025.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full of Suspense!, July 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Road to Balinor (Unicorns of Balinor #1) (Paperback)

At a bookfair at my school, I bought a few books, including the first 3 Unicorn of Balinor books. At first I thought that I had bought some baby books, with a happily ever after ending and story. I was sooo wrong! I read all the books very quickly, and I keep re-reading them, without getting bored of them. They are great books to anyone who loves horses, adventure, and plain fun in books. The first book is basically a begining to the rest of the books, and it is best to start with it. And you don't really understand anything, until the second book. And at the end of the first book, it ends like: There was a sign. And the sign said: Welcome to Balinor. She took one step forward, then another. Becuase I had the second book, I read it, and that's when I really liked the series. So my advice is: If you want to get this book, then get the second, too, or you'll miss the point in it, and you probably won't want to read on. I'm only a 12 year old girl, but as you have seen with other revies about the series, several different ages enjoy it. I hope that this revies helped you, and that you try out the book.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable fantasy tale, June 6, 2003

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Road to Balinor (Unicorns of Balinor #1) (Paperback)

"The Road to Balinor," by Mary Stanton, is number 1 in the Unicorns of Balinor series. This is a fantasy tale about a race of intelligent unicorns who live in a realm apart from, but connected to, Earth. As the story opens we discover that one of the unicorns and his human companion have both been injured and are in a precarious situation in the human world.

Overall I enjoyed the story. Stanton is especially effective in her presentation of interspecies relationships in a fantasy setting. There is also an intriguing villain.

At times I found the language a little too corny and New Age-y for my tastes. I also didn't like the fact that the book really doesn't hold up as a stand-alone story; the cliffhanger ending seems to lead directly into volume 2. But the imaginative story, together with some clever touches along the way, make it a solid fantasy effort.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully written series...great for all ages, September 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Road to Balinor (Unicorns of Balinor #1) (Paperback)

In this book, Ari Langley and Chase, her horse, have endured an awful accident. As Ari struggles to remember things, and overcome obstacles in her everyday life at Glacier River Farm, Atalanta, the Dreamspeaker (a Celestial Unicorn in Balinor) watches over her and gradually tries to let Ari know that Ari's not who she thinks. Ari is really Princess Arianna, and her horse is really Sunchaser, a mighty and majestic unicorn. Arianna and Sunchaser were sent to our world for protection against the Shifter, who has caused much havoc in Balinor. Now Balinor--and Arianna and Sunchaser--are in grave danger, so the two companions must travel back to Balinor to claim what is rightfully theirs and save the kingdom.

The world of Magic has long since held our fascination, as well as the mythical creatures the word evokes. Unicorns are the most magical, purest creatures ever, and it is fitting that they receive a storyline such as this. The balance between good and bad is very balanced and the characters are so wonderfully written, that one can clearly imagine the Unicorns speaking (and not at all like Mr. Ed).

I proudly admit that I'm 28 years old with two children of my own and I love these books.