Go Away, Unicorn!

July 1, 2019
First published in Canada, the book behind the popular animated TV series of the same title. Alice is not pleased when a pink-maned, white unicorn crashes her 10th birthday party. Demonstrating that "unicorns can be pretty dumb," he mistakes her pointy, gold party hat for a horn and thinks she's a unicorn, too. Despite her protests, he follows Alice home after the party, sweetly determined to earn her favor even after she doffs the hat. But he makes a nuisance of himself in a series of twee little mishaps that finally cause Alice to snap after he magically turns her hair pink ("his most favorite color"). Outraged, she says "the meanest thing she could think of: 'You are so not my friend. I would rather have a goldfish than you!' " Well, "even unicorns know when they're being insulted," and he leaves, crestfallen. In a satisfying if predictable ending, the pair is reunited when Alice misses him after all. While the trim size suggests this is an early reader, there's more of a picture-book feel to the dynamic between art and text, especially since the latter lacks controls that would make it particularly accessible to emergent readers. The cartoon art depicts Alice with straight dark hair, big dark eyes right out of manga, and tan skin. Thanks to its media tie-in, this unicorn's not likely to be going away anytime soon. (Picture book. 4-7)

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