I think this book has a great moral of the story! The drawings that were finished and colored were great! I think the story could follow a little better but I love the concept and would definitely read it with kids!

Downloaded this to read to my 5 year old and she loved it! The story was very cute, and the illustrations were bright and colorful. I will definitely be picking up a physical copy of this to read at bed time!

This book was a lot of fun. The message was great and the art so so bright. I think my kids would have loved this book. The ultimate Grumpy Sunshine trope for friendship..

5 stars

Such a cute book designed to teach children about envy, compassion and friendships. It teaches us that despite out differences, whether those being positive or negative, we can sll be friends and have mutual respect for each other. It shows us that even if you do not particularly like someone, even if this is just a silly case of envy, you can still be supportive, and step up in the event of an emergency. The art style switches between a cartoony, colourful style, and a black and white, sketch style of illustrations. Both the styles are cute and fit into the part of the story they are put into.

Thank you to Netgalley and Familius for giving me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Familius, and David W. Miles for an e-arc of Unicorn (and Horse) in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was such a cute book. My four year old absolutely loved the illustrations! The moral was also really cute and very fitting for this moment in her life. The book is all about how everyone has different strengths and everyone is important and has value, even if they are different from you.

I will definitely be checking out more books by Miles.

In a Nutshell: Cute illustrations, but not much to say about the story. I can see that the average rating is quite high, so it might just be me being the grumpy “horse” in this review.

Plot Preview:
Unicorn is all things bright and shiny. Horse is all things dull and sulky. Needless to say, all animals love Unicorn and avoid Horse. But when a catastrophe befalls Unicorn, Horse gallops to the rescue. All’s well that ends well.

Sounds cute. But somewhere between the above idea and the execution, there is a mismatch. The content is somewhat ordinary, and the story structure (which is important even in picture books) feels a bit haphazard, with many missed moments of value addition.

There was plenty of potential for some lovely life lessons in this story. Not that I want every picture book to have morals, but this one had the scope to offer important messages within the plot. The highlight on how one shouldn’t feel envious about others’ popularity, the importance of having a friendly attitude if one wants friends, the efforts required to make friends, helping friends even when there is nothing in it for us, being comfortable with yourself even if you are on the duller/quieter side – any or all of these could have been a part of this story, but they are not.

I am also not sure how to feel about the kidnappers. The last thing I expected in a book with magical animals is human criminals popping in to commit an ordinary crime against a not-so-ordinary creature. They felt quite out of place.

Horse is said to be envious of Unicorn’s popularity, but he rebuffs Unicorn’s offer of friendship and just sits aside grumpily. After the rescue, they suddenly become friends. There is no conversation about or clarification of Horse’s earlier feelings. It is a bit too instant to be convincing, especially considering how aloof Horse was all the time.

I wish there had been better interaction between Unicorn and Horse. This “I did something for you, so now you can be my friend” attitude doesn’t work well for me. My daughter, who was reading this along with me, said, ‘I don’t see the point of this book. How did they resolve the problem without even talking about it?” I second her opinion. The story is too flat to be impactful.

Big doubt: How the heck did Horse end up making rainbows at the end?

Where the book scores is in the illustrations. They are cute and colourful. The contrast between rainbow-hued Unicorn and brown Horse highlights their contrary personalities.

All in all, this is a book not to be checked out for the plot but only for the vibrant illustrations. There are a couple of fun moments, but the story on the whole feels lacklustre.

Read it if it can be borrowed from the library. The text makes it suitable for kids aged 3-6.

2 stars, mostly for the graphics.

My thanks to Familius for providing the DRC of “Unicorn (and Horse)” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work out better.

Beautiful, yet simple illustrations. Comical and engaging writing.
Children’s version of enemies to friends. Envy of others to finding yourself, friendship, and appreciating differences.
disclaimer: includes robbers/"bad guys" characters
Excellent story for early childhood classrooms and young children at home!

This is a great book about jealousy and friendship. The illustrations are beautiful. I am assuming the few pages that do not have color will be added in the final copy of the book. Otherwise the illustrations were colored magically to engage the reader. The story had a wonderful ending about coming together as friends.

I am possibly biased because my niece loves unicorns, but I found both the story and illustrations supremely charming. The rhymes worked to keep things engaging and all in all it was a delight.

5 stars.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unicorn and Horse is such a fun book! It had me laughing out loud and has a great message. The author perfectly portrays the “cool girl” Unicorn and average Horse. Horse doesn’t like Unicorn — Horse wants to be her. But when Unicorn is captured, Horse is the only one who could save her and they become great friends and find out they are not so different at all. I think children will be able to relate to this and it provides a great discussion starter for friendship and how we are all different. I love that the other animals and their characteristics were mentioned too. This book will be a great addition to my classroom library.

This book was so cute! My niece loved it and she asked me to read it to her multiple times! I will definitely be buying this for her!!!

We have been huge fans of this book since it was on Vooks shortly after its release and it doesn’t disappoint now! A story about using your strengths and friendship with Unicorn and Horse- lovers of both are sure to live this story!

This was such a delightful read. So cute and adorable and vibrant. We , me and my kid we read it together, to be honest she asked me to read another unicorn book to her but as I didn't have that I searched "unicorn" and this is the book I found.


I'm glad I did coz this was so so adorable. I just couldn't. And my kid she loved this book so much.

Thank you Netgalley and familius for this wonderful book. Can't thank enough.

A story about how our differences don't mean we can't be friends!

Unicorn and horse are both unique and different. Some might think unicorn is better, and horse feels like he doesn't like unicorn. He tells unicorn he doesn't like them. But really, he feels jealous and like he's not as good as unicorn.

Unicorn gets taken by bad men, and horse has to rescue unicorn! He saves unicorn and the end up appreciating each other and becoming friends.

I liked the illustrations a lot, and the story was cute.

I LOVE this book and all the illustrations are amazing. I love the fact that this book teaches all ages of kids and adults to love yourself the way you are, and that everyone is special in their own way.

This was a cute book about friendship and how different and unique we are. The illustrations were really cute.

However, based on the cover and the title I was expecting a little bit more wit, a little bit more banter, a little bit more fun and while the whole thieves plot was fun, I was expecting a little bit more.

Unicorn (and Horse) is an endearing children's book about envy and friendship. Horse is kind of a curmudgeon. Unicorn is a cheery extrovert. Horse is brown. Unicorn has a beautiful rainbow mane and a sapphire horn. Horse eats hay. Unicorn eats pink cupcakes for every meal. Horse does not like Unicorn at all … but also maybe wishes he were just like him? When Unicorn is kidnapped, Horse is the only animal who can save the day. But does he even want to?

The illustrations in this book are fantastic. The animals are adorable, even (and perhaps especially) grumpy, plain Horse. Many of the drawings are done in bright rainbow colors and young children will likely love the vibrancy of the pictures. Horse's sour expressions are super cute too!

The lessons learned from Unicorn (and Horse) are overwhelmingly positive. Not only is Horse able to overcome his envy of Unicorn's seemingly perfect life, but he also realizes that he can be friends with someone who doesn't look or act like him (but maybe they have more in common than he initially thinks?). And even though Horse is plain, that doesn't mean that he can't be a hero!

The text is pretty simple with only a handful of words per page, although the youngest children in the targeted age group (3-7 years, according to Amazon) will most likely need this book read to them. School-aged readers won't come across too many difficult words, but there are a few (like “paddock” and “sapphire”) that might require assistance.

My overall rating: 4.25 stars, rounded down. If your child enjoys colorful books with adorable animals and hilariously grumpy main characters, you'll likely want to add this one to their collection.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Familius for providing me with a copy of this book to review. It's on sale now.

I received a copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Unicorn and Horse is a fun, illustrated picture book for children about two similar animals and their differences.
Unicorn is bright and colourful with a horn on his head that other animals enjoy using to play games and place things on. He eats cupcakes for breakfast and makes rainbows, and is always happy. Horse is jealous of Unicorn because he eats boring things for breakfast, makes smells not rainbows and the other animals don't bother with him. When Unicorn is stolen by two thieves, Horse is the only one fast and able enough to rescue him. After this the pair become friends.
This is a great book to show how we are all unique and different, not to judge my appearances and to be more accepting of others.

First of all the illustrations in this book were beautiful! I read this with my 5 year old and she laughed consistently throughout the story. The humor was great, as well as the overall message. Knowing yourself and understanding yourself and jealousy. Jealousy is not a message I see often in children's books so I appreciated the message, my daughter and I both enjoyed the story. I would recommend.

A beautiful story about the power of overcoming jealousy and using one's abilities to become friends and the joy that brings! Beautifully illustrated!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher to access to this e-ARC.