Welcome to the Guestbook!
I’m always eager to read your comments about my books and stories, so please feel free to pitch in. Here are a few things for you to know:
1) I answer the messages here personally.
2) No message shows up here until I actually answer it to prevent spam and other inappropriate postings. So there will sometimes be a delay before your message posts, especially if I am traveling.
3) Teachers, a gentle request: Please do not have multiple children send me variants of the same message. A group email is much easier to respond to and not such a drain on my time. My thanks in advance for being alert to this.
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944 entries.
Dear Bruce,
I am one of the "OG" readers of your Unicorn Chronicles. I was 9 yrs old when the first book came out in 1994 and I was immediately captivated, re-reading it many times in the years that followed. I've written in your guestbook before and was so excited when you announced you finally had the rights to re-publish the books (since I never got a chance to read the 4th book due to Scholastic never publishing in paperback and letting the hardback go out of print). Though I am 37 yrs old now, I was so enchanted by my first and subsequent visits to Luster, that over the last few decades I would once in a while check on the status of this series. So today, I happened to check on whether the final books had been published, and - hooray!! What a treat to discover book 7 was published just in December! Now I suppose I'll wait for a box set or something, but I'm just so happy to finally be able to own the full series, and to finally read the ending of the saga (books 5-7 I believe, in the new split).
I'm sure it's apparent how much this series has meant to me. Thank you Bruce, for persevering through all these years, all the challenges of finishing the series, re-arranging them, and re-publishing! It is so worth it!
Much love, from your longtime fan,
Lisa N
I am one of the "OG" readers of your Unicorn Chronicles. I was 9 yrs old when the first book came out in 1994 and I was immediately captivated, re-reading it many times in the years that followed. I've written in your guestbook before and was so excited when you announced you finally had the rights to re-publish the books (since I never got a chance to read the 4th book due to Scholastic never publishing in paperback and letting the hardback go out of print). Though I am 37 yrs old now, I was so enchanted by my first and subsequent visits to Luster, that over the last few decades I would once in a while check on the status of this series. So today, I happened to check on whether the final books had been published, and - hooray!! What a treat to discover book 7 was published just in December! Now I suppose I'll wait for a box set or something, but I'm just so happy to finally be able to own the full series, and to finally read the ending of the saga (books 5-7 I believe, in the new split).
I'm sure it's apparent how much this series has meant to me. Thank you Bruce, for persevering through all these years, all the challenges of finishing the series, re-arranging them, and re-publishing! It is so worth it!
Much love, from your longtime fan,
Lisa N
Mr. Coville,
I wanted to drop a note to thank you for sparking a generational love of dragons and goblins and mystery. I found your work long ago and it opened so much to me that I wouldn't be who I am today without. Many years later I've spent a few years reading those same gifts to my kids and watched them overjoyed with possibility. I've watched Igor live again and heard the snap of dragon wings. No reply necessary, just a quiet 'Thank you', Sir.
I wanted to drop a note to thank you for sparking a generational love of dragons and goblins and mystery. I found your work long ago and it opened so much to me that I wouldn't be who I am today without. Many years later I've spent a few years reading those same gifts to my kids and watched them overjoyed with possibility. I've watched Igor live again and heard the snap of dragon wings. No reply necessary, just a quiet 'Thank you', Sir.
Dear Bruce Coville,
Our 3rd Grade Class read Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher and enjoyed it very much. We think that other kids will like it, too. Our class found it interesting that Tiamat and Jeremy had the same feelings at the same time because they were connected through pictures and thoughts.
And here are some of our favorite parts:
- We thought the poem in the dragon hatching instruction sheet was catchy. It was fascinating and heartwarming. We like how Tiamat and Jeremy were reconnected on All Hallow’s Eve.
- The scene where Tiamat messed up the dinner table was hilarious. We laughed when Mr.Thatcher got knocked head first into the mashed potato bowl.
- We also thought it was really funny when Tiamat gave Mr. Kravitz a hot foot.
We have a few questions for you:
- Are you planning to work on a Jeremy Thatcher series?
- Which book did you enjoy writing the most?
- What is your favorite part of writing a book?
Thank you for making awesome books for us to read!
Sincerely,
Ms. B’s 3rd Grade Class
Our 3rd Grade Class read Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher and enjoyed it very much. We think that other kids will like it, too. Our class found it interesting that Tiamat and Jeremy had the same feelings at the same time because they were connected through pictures and thoughts.
And here are some of our favorite parts:
- We thought the poem in the dragon hatching instruction sheet was catchy. It was fascinating and heartwarming. We like how Tiamat and Jeremy were reconnected on All Hallow’s Eve.
- The scene where Tiamat messed up the dinner table was hilarious. We laughed when Mr.Thatcher got knocked head first into the mashed potato bowl.
- We also thought it was really funny when Tiamat gave Mr. Kravitz a hot foot.
We have a few questions for you:
- Are you planning to work on a Jeremy Thatcher series?
- Which book did you enjoy writing the most?
- What is your favorite part of writing a book?
Thank you for making awesome books for us to read!
Sincerely,
Ms. B’s 3rd Grade Class
Hello Mr. Coville!
I've been such a huge fan since grade school. I remember reading your books and not wanting to put them down! Knowing we were in the same city was also a cool bonus (I currently live in Seoul, but was born and raised in Syracuse). I've been reading your books to my own kids now, and they love them just as much as I did back in the day. I used to purchase your books for my students as well. Reading your books was always a fun assignment. Just wanted to say hello and thank you for being such a big inspiration. Your books are one of the reasons I pursued teaching and writing as a career. Thank you!
I've been such a huge fan since grade school. I remember reading your books and not wanting to put them down! Knowing we were in the same city was also a cool bonus (I currently live in Seoul, but was born and raised in Syracuse). I've been reading your books to my own kids now, and they love them just as much as I did back in the day. I used to purchase your books for my students as well. Reading your books was always a fun assignment. Just wanted to say hello and thank you for being such a big inspiration. Your books are one of the reasons I pursued teaching and writing as a career. Thank you!
Hi, Mr Coville, Years ago my daughter enjoyed reading your books! Now that her kids are older (2nd, 1st & pre-school) we would like to introduce your books to them! One particular book was a mystery, which took place around attractions in Syracuse; i.e. Landmark Theatre, civic center & Hotel Syracuse. I’ve been trying to find the title but cannot think of it! My daughter was an 80’s child so I’m guessing the book might have been published late 80’s or early 90’s! Thank you in advance for your assistance & I’m looking forward to introduce your work to my grandchildren! Much appreciated.
Hi, Mr. Coville!
Back in the day (the 90s in this case) I read my copy of Into the Land of the Unicorns so much it eventually went to pieces. Never forgot the series and tracked down each of the new books as they came out to happily lose myself in Luster all over again. Glad to see that the reworked series includes ebooks so I can have my nostalgia reads in a less tangible but possibly more durable form. Can't replicate that Scholastic paper smell though.
You're one of the reasons I'm still into fantasy as a genre and always keep an eye out books with unicorns (or karkadann and qilin). I'm a bookseller now and every so often I field questions from teachers looking for your books to tempt their students into reading (or to read to them). Usually they read The Magic Shop books as kids and want to share the joy - Jennifer Murdley's Toad and Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher are the most frequently requested. The latter was also a book I read until the pages fell out and one of the reasons most of my childhood drawings were dragons.
Any plans to reprint Bruce Coville's Book of...Aliens, Ghosts, Magic, Monsters, Nightmares, Spine Tinglers, and their respective sequels? Thank Scholastic book fairs for all those being part of my childhood too. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and the various offshoots do well with kids today as do the reprints Goosebumps. I hit your stories and those at about the same age.
Hope this finds you well. Thanks for all the stories and keep being awesome!
Back in the day (the 90s in this case) I read my copy of Into the Land of the Unicorns so much it eventually went to pieces. Never forgot the series and tracked down each of the new books as they came out to happily lose myself in Luster all over again. Glad to see that the reworked series includes ebooks so I can have my nostalgia reads in a less tangible but possibly more durable form. Can't replicate that Scholastic paper smell though.
You're one of the reasons I'm still into fantasy as a genre and always keep an eye out books with unicorns (or karkadann and qilin). I'm a bookseller now and every so often I field questions from teachers looking for your books to tempt their students into reading (or to read to them). Usually they read The Magic Shop books as kids and want to share the joy - Jennifer Murdley's Toad and Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher are the most frequently requested. The latter was also a book I read until the pages fell out and one of the reasons most of my childhood drawings were dragons.
Any plans to reprint Bruce Coville's Book of...Aliens, Ghosts, Magic, Monsters, Nightmares, Spine Tinglers, and their respective sequels? Thank Scholastic book fairs for all those being part of my childhood too. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and the various offshoots do well with kids today as do the reprints Goosebumps. I hit your stories and those at about the same age.
Hope this finds you well. Thanks for all the stories and keep being awesome!
I loved your books growing up! Especially the My Teacher is an Alien Series. I can’t wait till my niece and nephew are older so I can start buying books for them.
Hi Brice,
I first discovered your work about 13 years through our local library. "The Unicorn Chronicles" is one of my favorite book series of my entire reading/listening life. So much so that I purchased the entire series on audiobook after listening through the library copies multiple times. I still regularly recommend it to readers of all ages (just mentioned it in a Facebook group this past week, actually) and listen to the whole set every year or two. Really excited to see a couple short stories on here that I haven't read, and I'm eager to read them.
Do you know if "The Last Hunt" was ever printed in hardback? I have "Into the Land of the Unicorns," "Song of the Wanderer," and "Dark Whispers" in hardcover and was hoping to round out my print collection with a hardback, but thus far I've only been able to track down paperbacks of "The Last Hunt."
Lastly, I wanted you to know that you've been an encouraging and inspiring influence on my own writing journey, and I look forward to reading more from you.
I first discovered your work about 13 years through our local library. "The Unicorn Chronicles" is one of my favorite book series of my entire reading/listening life. So much so that I purchased the entire series on audiobook after listening through the library copies multiple times. I still regularly recommend it to readers of all ages (just mentioned it in a Facebook group this past week, actually) and listen to the whole set every year or two. Really excited to see a couple short stories on here that I haven't read, and I'm eager to read them.
Do you know if "The Last Hunt" was ever printed in hardback? I have "Into the Land of the Unicorns," "Song of the Wanderer," and "Dark Whispers" in hardcover and was hoping to round out my print collection with a hardback, but thus far I've only been able to track down paperbacks of "The Last Hunt."
Lastly, I wanted you to know that you've been an encouraging and inspiring influence on my own writing journey, and I look forward to reading more from you.
Mr. Coville,
Since August 3rd, I have attempted to contact you three times through your “Contact” page of your website to no avail. I was beginning to become concerned… Then today, I clicked on your “Guest Book” page and discovered two entries dated August 8th and 11th which filled me with hope!
Even though this letter is both praise and book request, I shall try to submit it here in the hopes of a reply!
Sincerely, Marcia Wines
Dear Mr. Coville,
And when it was announced by The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that our beloved Monarch Butterfly has now been added to the Endangered Species List, the very first thought (for real!) that entered my mind was your book The Prince of Butterflies. Despite my husband and my herculean efforts to garden for wildlife, your book needs to be in the hands of so many others, now, more than ever!
My quest for hardbound copies led me to your website, where lo and behold, not only was The Prince of Butterflies available but they are on sale, giving me the rare opportunity of buying them for everyone on our Christmas list!
Couple of questions –
Do you have 24 copies available?
Are the sale books also available to be autographed?
Finally, yet most importantly, many I take this opportunity, Mr. Coville, to share with you an article that I had written for Cross Reference, the newsletter of Fairfax County Virginia Public Libraries?
It had been written in April of 2008, as I sat there mesmerized, listening to you speak at the Great Books Consortium In Baltimore, feverishly trying to commit your powerful, poignant and profound words to paper!
And then you did something that I had only fleetingly hoped for, only wistfully dreamed of, as you imparted your wisdom to this star-struck audience of librarians.
At the end of your presentation you told us that now you were going to read to us the favorite book that you written.
And page by page and word by word you read The Prince of Butterflies …
Holding my personal copy, I gratefully smiled as I rose to give you a standing ovation!
I entitled my article -
Affirmation from Bruce Coville
Contemplating the summer reading program yet to come…on one of those absolutely harried days of non-stop reader’s advisory when you feel that your brain has been so addled that you wonder if you can even remember your name, it would be wise to contemplate the words of noted children’s author, Bruce Coville, whom I had the distinct pleasure of hearing speak at the Great Books Consortium in Baltimore this past April 1st.
“Librarians are Keepers of the Book, storytellers, story givers, People of the Book, whose sacred trust is leading children to books. American childhood has changed from viewing children as helping the family survive, to viewing them as objects of love, to now viewing them as consumers and that is very hard on their hearts.
However, the right story to the right child is like an arrow to the heart, filling a child’s reality with possibility and hope. And in this day of scandal-filled fallen heroes, books offer children the last refuge of good character helping them answer “Who do I want to be like?”
Within stories are the tools to save our world, drawing people together by honing their skills of empathy. Our challenge then is to give children these stories and then to live by the stories we give them, healing ourselves to heal the world.”
Empowering yet humbling words from an author that regales us with the likes of unicorns and teachers that are aliens! But, oh, do read Bruce Coville’s The Prince of Butterflies for a different perspective of this endearing author.
Marcia Wines
Reston Regional Library April 21, 2008
Since August 3rd, I have attempted to contact you three times through your “Contact” page of your website to no avail. I was beginning to become concerned… Then today, I clicked on your “Guest Book” page and discovered two entries dated August 8th and 11th which filled me with hope!
Even though this letter is both praise and book request, I shall try to submit it here in the hopes of a reply!
Sincerely, Marcia Wines
Dear Mr. Coville,
And when it was announced by The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that our beloved Monarch Butterfly has now been added to the Endangered Species List, the very first thought (for real!) that entered my mind was your book The Prince of Butterflies. Despite my husband and my herculean efforts to garden for wildlife, your book needs to be in the hands of so many others, now, more than ever!
My quest for hardbound copies led me to your website, where lo and behold, not only was The Prince of Butterflies available but they are on sale, giving me the rare opportunity of buying them for everyone on our Christmas list!
Couple of questions –
Do you have 24 copies available?
Are the sale books also available to be autographed?
Finally, yet most importantly, many I take this opportunity, Mr. Coville, to share with you an article that I had written for Cross Reference, the newsletter of Fairfax County Virginia Public Libraries?
It had been written in April of 2008, as I sat there mesmerized, listening to you speak at the Great Books Consortium In Baltimore, feverishly trying to commit your powerful, poignant and profound words to paper!
And then you did something that I had only fleetingly hoped for, only wistfully dreamed of, as you imparted your wisdom to this star-struck audience of librarians.
At the end of your presentation you told us that now you were going to read to us the favorite book that you written.
And page by page and word by word you read The Prince of Butterflies …
Holding my personal copy, I gratefully smiled as I rose to give you a standing ovation!
I entitled my article -
Affirmation from Bruce Coville
Contemplating the summer reading program yet to come…on one of those absolutely harried days of non-stop reader’s advisory when you feel that your brain has been so addled that you wonder if you can even remember your name, it would be wise to contemplate the words of noted children’s author, Bruce Coville, whom I had the distinct pleasure of hearing speak at the Great Books Consortium in Baltimore this past April 1st.
“Librarians are Keepers of the Book, storytellers, story givers, People of the Book, whose sacred trust is leading children to books. American childhood has changed from viewing children as helping the family survive, to viewing them as objects of love, to now viewing them as consumers and that is very hard on their hearts.
However, the right story to the right child is like an arrow to the heart, filling a child’s reality with possibility and hope. And in this day of scandal-filled fallen heroes, books offer children the last refuge of good character helping them answer “Who do I want to be like?”
Within stories are the tools to save our world, drawing people together by honing their skills of empathy. Our challenge then is to give children these stories and then to live by the stories we give them, healing ourselves to heal the world.”
Empowering yet humbling words from an author that regales us with the likes of unicorns and teachers that are aliens! But, oh, do read Bruce Coville’s The Prince of Butterflies for a different perspective of this endearing author.
Marcia Wines
Reston Regional Library April 21, 2008
Hi, Mr. Coville! Just wanted to let you know I've been reading your books since grade school (Also the library my late mother worked at has a hand-signed copy of My Teacher Glows in the Dark) and even today as an adult I'm still inspired by your work in my own writing endeavors! Thanks for writing so many of my childhood favorites!