Bo the Brave

Bo’s life is “glitterrific!” Bo’s class is going camping! The unicorns have fun at first, but then they hear strange sounds outside their tents. Is there a scary creature in the forest? Can the unicorns be brave and help one another face their fears?

Bo the Brave has relatable conflicts—being scared, experiencing misunderstandings, and “falling out” with friends. One misunderstanding occurs during a camping trip when a unicorn accidentally destroys a pixie house. Instead of being upset, the unicorns start laughing which upsets the pixies. The pixies thought the unicorns were laughing at them, but they weren’t. Bo the Brave shows how friends can sometimes make mistakes and need to apologize. While the conclusion has a little bit of magic, the real magic is in being able to fix a friendship with kindness. In the end, the pixies accept the unicorns’ apology. Then, the unicorns and pixies work together to make the pixies’ houses stronger.

The Unicorn Diaries Series is part of the early chapter book line, Branches, which is aimed at newly independent readers. Bo the Brave is told in a blend of diary entries and speech bubbles. The blended text makes each page manageable for young readers. Plus, some of the words are underlined or bolded for added emphasis.

Readers will be attracted to Bo the Brave because of the bright colors used on the illustrations of each page. However, they will keep reading because of the fun format and the interesting characters– including pixies. Chapter One introduces the main characters, Sparklegrove Forest, and provides interesting facts about unicorns.

Bo the Brave is a great book that teaches lessons about friendship and bravery. Mr. Rumptwinkle reiterates the theme: “Bravery isn’t just about battling monsters. It’s about standing up for your friends and standing up to your friends when they’re in the wrong. It’s also about being brave enough to admit when you’re wrong and say sorry.”

The fast-paced plot and relatable conflicts will appeal to younger readers. The colorful pages are full of illustrations that are packed full of details. Readers will fall in love with Bo and be excited to read the next book in the series The Goblin Princess. Readers who love sparkly unicorns should also check out the Unicorn and Yeti Series by Heather Ayris Burnell.

Sexual Content

• None

Violence

• One of the unicorns “accidentally rolled over the pixie’s houses.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

• None

Language

• None

Supernatural

• None

Spiritual Content

• All of the unicorns have a special power. Bo is a Wish Unicorn that “can grant one wish every week.” The other unicorns have powers such flying, healing, shapeshifting, size-changing, etc.
• When helping the pixies, one of the unicorns “used her thingamabob power to pull coins from her mane.” They use the coins to distract the magpies.
• Rumptwinkle is teaching the unicorns about bravery. When the unicorns go to bed, “Monty screamed! He’d spotted a big spider running through our unipod! This made us all jump!” The spider was actually Mr. Rumptwinkle.