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I read a children's fantasy book in the 80's that had illustrations. It was about a boy and possibly a girl in a magical forest. There were harpies that menaced them. Does anyone know what book that was?

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80's, boy, girl, forest, menacing harpies. Not much to go on, but could easily have been one of Piers Anthony's many Xanth novels which filled shelves in bookstores from the late 70's on. There was one in particular with a nasty harpy in it back in 84 or so, but it's been so long, and there are so many Xanth novels that I couldn't pin it down.

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    "and there are so many Xanth novels" I'm pretty sure I've seen an inductive proof that they are countably infinite.
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Commented Jul 3, 2013 at 15:47
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    The covers of Xanth books frequently feature harpies but I don't believe that any of them (with the exception of the illustrated guide to xanth) are actually illustrated in the sense of having pictures on the inside. Can you provide an example of one that has illustrations?
    – Lawton
    Commented Jul 3, 2013 at 20:08
  • It isn't one of those novels. however the Xanth novels sound interesting. I might read one.
    – Jeremy
    Commented Jul 5, 2013 at 23:26
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I think this might well be The Seventh Princess by Nick Sullivan. This is a short middle-grade story about a girl who is transported to a fantasy land, where she is called a princess. The six princesses before her have all been transformed into Harpies. First published by Scholastic in 1983.

I don't remember the story having a boy, but it does have a dwarf.

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  • In the novel the kids belonged in that world. They weren't transported there. I don't think it is 'The Seventh princess'. The title might have included the words; 'woods','forest', 'world' or something along those lines. I'm not sure of that.
    – Jeremy
    Commented Jul 8, 2013 at 10:47
  • I think the illustrations were black and white and kind of creepy looking. I don't think there were lots of illustrations. They were stylized illustrations and perhaps a bit sketchy.
    – Jeremy
    Commented Jul 8, 2013 at 10:50
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Is it Ronia The Robber's Daughter? That was a favorite of mine growing up.

Birk and Ronia run away to the woods, where they live in a cave and experience several harrowing adventures with the wood's indigenous wildlife, including trolls, forest gnomes, and harpies.

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Sounds like it might be Tamora Pierce's The Immortals series. Set in the same world as her Alanna books.

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It's The Unicorn and the Sea by Fiona Moodie, with extra scary illustrations by Gianfranco Ogliani.

Front cover of The Unicorn and the Sea

A unicorn finds a purpose in life when he rescues the Sea King's daughter from the Harpies who have stolen her. His self-sacrifice is rewarded when the Sea King transforms him into a narwhal.

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    Hi, welcome to SF&F. Can you explain the details of this book that match the question?
    – DavidW
    Commented Aug 19 at 13:47
  • None of the summaries mention a boy or a girl, but it does look like someone is clutching to the unicorn on the cover...
    – FuzzyBoots
    Commented Aug 19 at 14:23

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