Pearl the Magical Unicorn by Sally Odgers
Ill. by Adele K. Thomas. Scholastic, 2018. ISBN 9781742993133(Age: 5-7) Themes: Unicorns, Magic. With a preponderance of pink pages, borders, pictures and magical words, "Pearl the Magical Unicorn" steps up to delight young readers. With simple chapters, an easy-to-read and share story, this is just right for unicorn fans.
Pearl the unicorn loves her Kingdom friends, Tweet the Firebird and Olive the Ogre. She wants to surprise them with a treat of crunchy apples, and all she needs is to magically make them appear. Unfortunately, Pearl's forgotten the order of the words in her magic spell. 'Toss, wiggle, wiggle' results in a shower of pink sparkles and giant pink teddy falling from the sky. Each combination of words accompanied by head tossing and hoof stomping creates a unique result, without any fruit appearing.
Olive the Ogre's pink flower magically changes into a small grumpy lion, much to Pearl's surprise. Her friends try to encourage her, but nothing seems to work. Pearl decides on a different approach after pink milk splashes all over them. With Tweet and Olive on her back, Pearl trots into the dark forest in search of a special apple tree. When stinky gobble-uns threaten to take over the Kingdom with their stinky magic, Pearl has a difficult choice to make.
Adele K Thomas' fun, pink, grey and black illustrations that show both Pearl's magical failures and successes add sparkle to Sally Odgers' enchanting story. "Pearl the Magical Unicorn" is just right for young unicorn lovers transitioning from picture books to early chapter books.
Rhyllis Bignell