The Sky Unicorn

Ava travels to different towns with her parents as a part of a traveling troupe. As the group travels downriver, Ava sees a herd of unicorns. Ava sees Sir Fitzroy and his guards trying to capture the unicorns. Ava is horrified when Clover, a baby unicorn, is stolen from his herd by the evil Sir Fitzroy.

Then Ava meets a girl named Sophy, who gives her a magical stone. With the help of the magical stone, Ava and Sophy plan to rescue Clover. The two girls dress as page boys and sneak into town. Will the two girls be able to rescue Clover, or will Sir Fitzroy catch them first?

Sophy and Ava are sweet girls who care about animals. Several times throughout the story, the girls use creative problem-solving skills in order to help the unicorns. As the girls work together, they help and encourage each other. Even though the story’s setting is similar to a fairy tale, the girls are not princesses. Instead, Sophy is a castle maid and Ava performs in a traveling troupe, making the characters more relatable.

The story uses easy vocabulary, simple sentence structure, and black and white illustrations to make The Sky Unicorn accessible to younger readers. Illustrations appear every 1-3 pages, and they help readers understand the story’s plot. The Sky Unicorn has a high-interest topic, a non-scary villain, and two girls who save the day. Ava and Sophy are characters that readers will want to emulate; both girls are kind to animals, brave in the face of danger, and have positive attributes. Animal-loving, fairy tale fans should also add the Diary of an Ice Princess series by Christina Soontornvat to their reading list.

 Sexual Content

• None

Violence

• Ava sees a knight and some guards chase the unicorn herd. The herd is able to safely hide.
• Sir Fitzroy and his guards try to sneak up on the unicorn herd. “The men searched the path and peered at the lake, but after a few minutes they gave up and went back into town.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

• None

Language

• None

Supernatural

• Ava and Sophy both have a Speaking Stone. The stone “lets you talk to magical animals.”
• When Ava cuts her finger, a unicorn uses “secret magic” to heal Ava’s injury. “Ava watched in astonishment as the little unicorn bent his golden horn to touch her finger. Slowly the cut on her hand healed until it looked as if it had never been there at all.”
• In order to send a message to a dragon, Sophy “called a golden songbird by whistling a special tune that Windrunner the dragon had taught her. Soon one of the birds heard her call. It flew down to perch on her hand and looked at her with bright black eyes.” The bird agrees to carry the message.

Spiritual Content

• None