Lily the Unicorn

Clayton (A Is for Awesome) introduces a pink-and-blue unicorn with enough joie de vivre to power an entire kingdom. Despite Lily's boundless enthusiasm for activities that range from playing instruments to baking cake, her new penguin friend Roger doesn't like to do much of anything at all. His favorite sport is "resting," and he only begrudgingly accompanies Lily on her expeditions, his brow perpetually furrowed. Clayton crowds his pages with tiny illustrations that show Lily's numerous interests and friends, as well as her futile attempts to interest Roger in riding an elephant, flying in a hot-air balloon, and giving away presents (to a green slug monster), among dozens and dozens of other things to do. Lily's ungainly appearance%E2%80%94her skinny limbs, tubular torso, and elongated snout don't exactly scream "majestic"%E2%80%94makes her tennis playing and scuba diving all the funnier. Bubbly, chaotically arranged type mimics Lily's higgledy-piggledy, larger-than-life personality. Roger's stick-in-the-mud attitude (it turns out to be rooted in anxiety) is a welcome foil for Lily's relentless optimism, which, as any reader who has had a bad day knows, can be overwhelming. Ages 4%E2%80%938. (Apr.)