Bruce Coville

2 universes Last reviewed 2026-11-02

Bruce Coville was born on May 16, 1950, in Syracuse, New York, and grew up in farm country. Before his first book was published he worked as a toymaker, gravedigger, cookware salesman, assembly line worker and elementary school teacher. He decided to become a writer by his mid-teens, and his first book, the picture book The Foolish Giant, appeared in 1977 with illustrations by his wife, Katherine. He has written well over a hundred books, which have been translated into more than a dozen languages. He describes working from an ever-expanding outline, planning the beginning and end of a novel first and filling in the middle later. He also co-founded Full Cast Audio, a company that records unabridged full-cast audiobooks of young adult fiction. His honours include Golden Duck Awards in 1992 and 2000, the Skylark Award in 2000 and the Empire State Award for Excellence in Literature for Young People in 2012.

Universe(s)

Books

• The Monster's Ring (1982) · Magic Shop Core Canon
• Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher (1991) · Magic Shop Core Canon
• Jennifer Murdley's Toad (1992) · Magic Shop Core Canon
• Into the Land of the Unicorns (1994) · The Unicorn Chronicles Core Canon
• The Skull of Truth (1997) · Magic Shop Core Canon
• Song of the Wanderer (1999) · The Unicorn Chronicles Core Canon
• Juliet Dove, Queen of Love (2003) · Magic Shop Core Canon
• Dark Whispers (2008) · The Unicorn Chronicles Core Canon
• The Last Hunt (2010) · The Unicorn Chronicles Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

These are separate, unrelated universes; the totals below are plain sums of already-published per-universe facts, never a blended or averaged score across them. See each universe's own figures above.

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 9 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 2 (1 won, 1 nomination)

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