Michaël El Fathi: Hard Times for Unicorn

Illustrated by Charlotte Molas

Published by Tate Publishing, London, 2021

There’s a lovely little paragraph at the beginning of this book by the author and illustrator, thanking the French railway company for their serendipitous meeting one Saturday in November where they encountered each other in seats 65 and 66 on the journey from Hendaye to Paris. This picture book may never have existed if that meeting had not taken place, and that would have been a shame, the world needs more stories about unicorns!

Beginning with the capture of unicorn by a young Siberian explorer, we follow the ups and downs of her experiences as she gets passed on to one owner and another by foul or fair means. Unicorn is lost in a game of cards, won by fishermen, sold to a knight, passed on to an athlete, used by a robber, shot out of a cannon, and remodelled as a coat rack.

Each experience is plausibly told in a few short sentences, and unicorn does her best to go with the flow, whether she is happy or not, well cared for or not. But unicorn finds real happiness at the end when the narrator finds her in an old antique shop, sensibly puts her on the Trans-Siberian Express train and leaves her at the edge of the snowy forest that is her home in the wild.

This story reminded me of Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, a story of a horse that is passed from one owner to another and endures the good times and bad times with strength of character and patient stoicism. Both stories help us to understand how to endure the capricious nature of life and to bend with whatever circumstances we find ourselves in. With some luck, some kindness and good fortune, the tale ends happily for unicorn, which is just as it should be for this fabled creature!

The illustrations greatly enhance the telling of the story and show an enormous variety of uses for a unicorn’s horn! (a safe opener, really?) There are a few colourful double page spreads, but mostly the sparse coloured text sits on a white page next to the illustration on the other page, the colours complementing each other beautifully.

I can highly recommend this picture book for children 4-6 years, and below I have further suggestions for picture books which feature magical unicorns:

You Don’t Want a Unicorn!
by Ame Dyckman
Illustrated by Liz Climo

I’m a Unicorn by Mallory C. Loehr Illustrated by Joey Chou

A Unicorn Named Sparkle
by Amy Young

Sophie Johnson, Unicorn Expert
by Morag Hood
Illustrated by Ella Okstad

Thelma the Unicorn
by Aaron Blabey

The Return of Thelma the Unicorn by Aaron Blabey

The Christmas Unicorn
by Anna Currey

I Wished for a Unicorn
by Robert Heidbreder
Illustrated by
Kady MacDonald Denton

That’s Not My Unicorn
by Fiona Watt
Illustrated by Rachel Wells

Oscar the Hungry Unicorn
by Lou Carter
Illustrated by Nikki Dyson

I Wish I’d Been Born a Unicorn
by Rachel Lyon
Illustrated by Andrea Ringli

Not Quite Narwhal by Jessie Sima

Sugarlump and the Unicorn
by Julia Donaldson
Illustrated by Lydia Monks

There’s No Such Thing as Unicorns by Lucy Rowland
Illustrated by Katy Halford

Unicorn! by Maggie Hutchings Illustrated by Cheryl Orsini

Unicorn (and Horse) by David Miles Illustrated by Hollie Mengert

Where’s Peppa’s Magical Unicorn? created by Neville Astley
and Mark Baker

The Unicorn Prince
by Saviour Pirotta
Illustrated by Jane Ray

If I Had a Unicorn
by Gabby Dawnay
Illustrated by Alex Barrow

And for older readers:

I Believe in Unicorns
by Michael Morpurgo
Illustrated by Gary Blythe

Debi Gliori: The Boy and the Moonimal

Illustrated by the author

Published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books, UK, 2021

This is a story about Moonimal, a little blue rabbit with three floppy ears, who is found one day on a shelf inside a shop full of wonderful knick-knacks. The Boy and Moonimal are inseparable. They have exploring adventures together, they pretend to be doctor and patient, and even fly into space and back again in their cardboard rocket. It feels like they will be together forever.

One day, deep in the woods, with autumnal leaves littering the ground, the young Boy trips, breaks his glasses and can’t find his beloved blue rabbit anywhere. Turning the page, Moonimal begins to tell the tale of what happens next.

Moonimal waits and waits, hoping to be found again. Instead, some woodland rabbits, who are small and grey, with two floppy ears each, find Moonimal and take him back to their underground burrows. Time passes.

In a meadow one day, Moonimal gets snatched up by a hunting owl and dropped into a cold rushing river. Swept away by the strong currents, Moonimal is found downstream by grazing deer and he stays with the herd for many more years.

Until one day, danger comes again! A dog appears suddenly, scattering the reindeer, and in their haste to flee, Moonimal gets left behind. The dog proudly picks up Moonimal in his jaw to present to his owner. Could this be the end, or has the story come full circle?

This is a gently crafted story of hope when all seems lost. Something similar happened to us many years ago when our two-year-old daughter lost her favourite teddy. We looked everywhere for it. We asked everyone we knew to look for it. I even tried to buy a new one, ringing up stores and asking friends and family to keep searching. I remember days and nights full of tears and longing. Time passed, the ache of loss eased, and my daughter discovered other favourite toys. But do you know what? A friend turned up on our doorstep about six months later, with the lost teddy in her hands!

I expected my daughter to be overjoyed, and she was, but there was another overriding emotion, cautious reserve. If teddy was lost once, then he could be lost again. It was sad to see this understanding in my daughter’s eyes, because sometimes in life, that’s just the way it is. It was my daughter’s first experience of loss and grief, sadly not the last, and one of the many lessons to learn in life.

I can highly recommend this picture for children 3-6 years and below are more suggestions for picture books which explore the experience of losing a beloved toy:

The Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams
Illustrated by Sarah Massini

Little Bear Lost by Jane Hissey

Good Dog by Cori Doerrfeld

The Lost Toys by Irina Hale

Nothing by Mick Inkpen

Clown by Quentin Blake

The Lost Property Office
by Emily Rand

Arno and his Horse by Jane Godwin Illustrated by Felicita Sala

Red Ted and the Lost Things
by Michael Rosen
Illustrated by Joel Stewart

Dogger by Shirley Hughes

The Everywhere Bear
by Julia Donaldson
Illustrated by Rebecca Cob

Where Are You, Blue Kangaroo?
by Emma Chichester Clark

Lost in Little Bear’s Room
by Else Holmelund Minarik Illustrated by David T. Wenzel

The Sea Saw by Tom Percival

Float by Daniel Miyares

Elmer and the Lost Teddy
by David McKee

This is the Bear and the Scary Night by Sarah Hayes
Illustrated by Helen Craig

Where’s Teddy? by Rod Campbell

Where’s My Teddy?
by Jez Alborough

Eve and Elly by Mike Dumbleton Illustrated by Laura Wood

Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems

Olivia and the Missing Toy
by Ian Falconer

I Lost My Bear by Jules Feiffer

The Teddy Bear by David McPhail

Bun Bun Button by Patricia Polacco

Little One by Jane Godwin Illustrated by Gabriel Evans

Hannah Carmona: Anita and the Dragons

Illustrated by Anna Cunha

Published by Lantana Publishing Ltd, UK, 2021

In the early 1950s, when my father was 17 years old, he left his small village at the foot of the northern mountains in Italy and ventured alone by boat to Australia. I can’t imagine the kind of bravery that takes. To leave all that is known and loved and take steps towards all that is unknown and unseen, is a lesson in understanding oneself and finding courage to face whatever dragons come your way. For my father, everything was new: the language, the food, the culture, the work, the people and the place. But despite the hardships and the challenges, he made a life for himself here, taking the best values from his home in Italy and his home in Australia to forge something good for his long life.

Anita, in this story, is leaving her village in the Dominican Republic and travelling with her family to America. She refers to the planes that will take her away as the dragons which look like large, winged beasts. Anita is a brave and feisty princesa in her village but as she thinks about what the future will look like and what she will be leaving behind, she compares the reality of what she has with the opportunities that are yet to come. Hot water, reliable electricity, and fancy restaurants all sound exciting, but Anita’s abuela is not coming and no longer will Anita breathe the salty air or dance in the blue waves in the spicy heat of the day. No longer will she be the adored princesa, the centre of life in her village.

As Anita and her family board the mighty plane, humming in readiness for departure, she cries aloud all the thoughts that are unspoken but threatening to overwhelm everyone:

“I won’t let this horrible beast take me away from everything I love! What if I hate it? What if I’m lonely? What if I get scared? What if I’m sad? What if I’m NOT brave at all?”

Despite the unanswered questions, despite the anxiety and not knowing what is ahead, the family bravely face the dragon of the air and whatever adventures await them on the other side of this momentous flight.

This is a story of courage and bravery during immigration, the rending of a heart torn between the known and the unknown and the emotional and physical upheaval of leaving one’s country for another. The illustrations are tender, and imbued with soft colours, creating a sense of place and helping the reader to visualise the bonds that tie us to our family and our home.

I can highly recommend this picture book for children 4-8 years and below are more stories that explore the idea of immigration, moving house and home, and what that might feel like in different situations:

Migrant by Maxine Trottier Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault

A Kiss Goodbye by Audrey Penn Illustrated by Barbara L.Gibson

The Keeping Quilt
by Patricia Polacco

Moving Molly by Shirley Hughes

The Journey by Francesca Sanna

I Dream of Popo
by Livia Blackburne
Illustrated by Julia Kuo

I’m an Immigrant too! by Mem Fox Illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh

A Different Pond by Bao Phi Illustrated by Thi Bui

The Dress and the Girl
by Camille Andros
Illustrated by Julie Morstad

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Bad Bye, Good Bye
by Deborah Underwood
Illustrated by Jonathan Bean

The Matchbox Diary
by Paul Fleischman
Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline

Ten Pound Pom
by Carole Wilkinson
Illustrated by Liz Anelli

Eureka! A Story of the Goldfields
by Mark Wilson

King of the Sky by Nicola Davies Illustrated by Laura Carlin

The Color of Home
by Mary Hoffman
Illustrated by Karin Littlewood

All the Way to America
by Dan Yaccarino

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

I’m New Here
by Anne Sibley O’Brien

Waves: for those who come across the sea by Donna Rawlins Illustrated by Heather Potter
and Mark Jackson

Corinne Fenton: To The Bridge – The Journey of Lennie and Ginger Mick

Illustrated by Andrew McLean

Published by Black Dog Books, 2020

Corinne Fenton has written a wonderful story about a young boy named Lennie and his horse Ginger Mick, both born on the same day in 1922 and destined to ride together 9 years later to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It’s hard to imagine the spunk and bravery of a 9 year old boy and his trusty horse, being able to navigate the road to Sydney, some six hundred miles away, without a mobile phone, google maps or pre-booked accommodation. And just as hard to understand, that his parents thought he was more than capable of the task ahead and helped and encouraged Lennie to fulfil his dream. Andrew McLean’s illustrations thoughtfully reflect the enormity of the undertaking – my favorite page being the one where the family are gathered around the table looking at maps, the father hovering over his son’s shoulder and the mother with arms crossed, standing close by,  looking apprehensive yet proud.

Corinne has included biographic details at the end of the book with photos of the real Lennie and Ginger Mick, and a reminder of the importance of the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932, employing many workers at the time of the Great Depression.

If you would like to read more about this extraordinary story, look out for this title – Lennie the Legend: Solo to Sydney By Pony, written by Stephanie Owen Reeder, published by National Library of Australia, 2020.

I can highly recommend this picture book, most suited for 5-8 year olds.

If you like this book, look out for these titles by the same author:

The Dog on the Tuckerbox Illustrated by
Peter Gouldthorpe
Bob the Railway Dog
Illustrated by
Andrew McLean
A Cat called Trim
Illustrated by Craig Smith
See the source image
Queenie:
One Elephant’s Story
Illustrated by
Peter Gouldthorpe