"There's a Unicorn in Town" by Emma Pelling is a delightfully entertaining new book coming from Ragged Bears, who are rapidly building a wonderful library of early years titles with some lovely original stories.
In this story, a young girl is convinced she keeps catching fleeting glances of a wonderful unicorn. Everyone else starts to believe her and soon there's a grand plan to try and catch the poor beastie and show it off at the local zoo.
Only the little girl seems to understand that some creatures aren't meant to be locked up, prodded, poked or stared at - and really Unicorns should be allowed to roam free.
We liked a lot about this book, not least of all the fact that the story unfolds without hammering its moral message home too hard, and it's great to see that there are still children's publishers out there who don't fear a longer word count, and are prepared to let a story spin its course with plenty of detail and excitement. Colourful illustrations also help loads, and children will love trying to spot the Unicorn early on in the story as it slips gently by.
"There's a Unicorn in Town" by Emma Pelling is out now, published by Ragged Bears (kindly supplied for review)