Four bad unicorns by Rebecca Patterson

Frankie and Connie just love playing unicorns.They dream about the animals while they sleep, Connie has her hair tied up by dad in a unicorn rainbow, while Frankie puts on her unicorn socks. She downs her cereal in fourteen seconds and waits while dad feeds Connie. They are going to play unicorns all day long and are very excited. Unicorn Farmers is their favourite game but just as they are about to start, Ada and Colin come in from next door. They want to play too but Ada’s idea of playing unicorns is quite different from the game Connie and Frankie intended to play. Being polite they go along with Ada dominating the game. She takes on the role of queen, using Frankie’s glittery shoes. She orders them all to make a wall, Connie in her wheelchair being made part of it. Ada insists they all dance for her then complains when they are not very good and sends them all to unicorn prison. By now readers will have become sick of Ada and her orders, and they will cheer, when the other three break out of prison and walk out. They make themselves into a unicorn train and go through the front door, Ada remonstrating that the train has no sparkles.

When she realises how serious they are she breaks down. The others relent, and decide to be good unicorns together. When the children returned home for lunch, Connie and Frankie keep on playing unicorns all afternoon and into the night, enjoying every minute.

All the while, everything unicorn is added to this charming story. Bright colour filled illustrations will draw in the readers and they will get a thrill from seeing so many unicorns on the pages and the things associated with them, but also get the message about playing together, about sharing ideas, giving and taking, about friendship.

Themes: Unicorns, Friendship, Sharing, Humour, Play.

Fran Knight