Tag: unicorns

Unicorns Are The Worst! (Alex Willan)

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Hello, friends! Our book today is Unicorns Are The Worst! by Alex Willan, a hilarious tale of mistaken impressions and the importance of overcoming them.

Life has simply been disastrous for the unnamed goblin narrator since the meadow next door was taken over by – ugh – unicorns. All their prancing and glitter and harp music is utterly unbearable to the serious and studious goblin, who prefers to spent his days quietly studying spells and sorting ingredients. And don’t get him started on the tea parties, the ones they never even INVITE him to – not that he’d want to go anyway! Yet when goblin finds himself in a jam, he might be surprised how useful those silly unicorn traits can be… and why he should know not to judge a book by its cover.

Adorable, funny, and with a great message. Goblin certainly seems to have it out for the mostly-innocuous unicorns, but his tirades begin to show the true motivation behind his ire: he feels left out and doesn’t know how to connect with his new neighbors. When the unicorns use their prancing and glitter to defend the goblin from a dragon attack, he realizes that their seemingly frivolous hobbies have value, just as his magical studies do. It’s a nice way to show that there is value in our differences, and that we shouldn’t judge the interests of others simply because they don’t align with our own. The illustrations are delightful, using bright colors and sparkles (naturally) to show a visual contrast between the carefree unicorns and the more drab and staid goblin, and creating tension and comedy with dramatic angles and visual gags. The length is perfect for a storytime, I loved reading the expressive and conversational dialogue aloud, and JJ was tickled pink by the humor. This one is a treat – a throughly entertaining title with a solid lesson, and it’s Baby Bookworm approved!

(Note: A copy of this book was provided to The Baby Bookworm by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)

Uni The Unicorn (Amy Krouse Rosenthal)

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Hello, friends! Today, we read Uni The Unicorn, written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Brigette Barrager, the story of a unicorn, a girl, and belief.

Uni the unicorn is like all the other unicorns: flowing mane, twinkling purple eyes, magical powers. But there is one thing that makes Uni different: she believes in little girls. All the other unicorns mock her, but Uni just knows that there is a special little girl out there. A little girl who, like her, looks to the night sky and dreams of a special friend.

Oh, boy. This is a pretty popular book, so I’m going to get some people who disagree, but we didn’t love it. There is some gorgeously colorful art, flipping the trope and having a unicorn believe in people was cool, and the length is good, but for positives, that was it for us.

In the meantime, the book lacks a satisfying conclusion. It bills itself as “A Story About Believing,” so I can understand why the author chose to never have Uni and her friend meet, but it’s a choice that ends the story rather abruptly. Furthermore, the book is extremely gendered. Uni believes in little girls, and only little girls. Apparently, little boys and unicorns are not meant to have special friendships. And, uncomfortably, Uni only seems to believe in little white girls. Her dream friend is blonde and blue-eyed, and all the drawings of little girls that Uni makes or looks at in books are light-skinned. In fact, the only time children of color make an appearance is as villains, taunting the little girl for believing in unicorns. So as far as gender and race representation, this one misses the mark, to say the least.

We had heard good things about this book and were looking forward to it, but it honestly just left me underwhelmed and slightly troubled. Even JJ didn’t seem very interested beyond our initial read-through. If you have a daughter who loves unicorns (and, again, only a daughter), this could be a fun read, but otherwise, not one we would recommend.