You Don’t Want a Unicorn!

Unicorns: splendiferous magical delight or mythological menace? Dyckman (Horrible Bear!) suggests the latter in this cautionary tale. After a boy wearing an “I [heart] unicorns” T-shirt tosses a coin into a fountain, a white unicorn with a voluminous purple mane manifests in a shower of rainbows and stars. The boy is delighted, the unseen narrator not so much. “Sure, having a unicorn seems fun—at first,” the narrator says. “Fine! It’s awesome, okay?!” But this admission is followed by several negatives: unicorns shed, slice furniture to ribbons, and can’t be housetrained. Climo (the Rory the Dinosaur books) creates gleeful unicorn havoc in her droll cartoons as the boy’s new pet sheds golden sparkles, belches rainbows, and more (readers will never look at cupcakes the same way after the house-training scene). After an ultradestructive unicorn party involving a herd decked out in bows, leg warmers, and sunglasses, the boy learns his lesson (sort of). The ending fizzles, but there’s a lot of mischievous fun to be had getting there. Ages 4–8. [em]Author’s agent: Scott Treimel, Scott Treimel N.Y. Illustrator’s agent: Kathleen Ortiz, New Leaf Literary & Media. (Feb.) [/em]