The Christmas Unicorn by Anna Currey
My rating: 4/5 cats
“What are those lights for?” asked the unicorn.
“For Christmas,” said the fox, who knew everything.
this is a story about a unicorn, a little girl, and the magic of christmas. unless “magic” is redundant because covered under the umbrella of “unicorn.” not sure which one takes the lead here. i’m leaning towards “unicorn” because i’m sure my jewish friends would like some of this magic, too, but i haven’t seen the stats on relative magic content of unicorns vs. christmas so your guess is as good as mine.
but so christmas and unicorn magic aside, this book has been said to have “little significance” and called “cute if not very meaningful or eventful” by the very person who GAVE me the book! MIRIAM!! who you calling boring??
okay, so YES, there are instances like this, where the following exchange is the only text to be found on a two-page spread:
The gate made a loud CREAK! Milly opened her window. She stared at the unicorn for a very long time. “Hello,” said Milly.
“Hello,” said the unicorn. And they stared again. “Wait there!” said Milly suddenly. “Don’t go.”
zzzzzz…
but it’s still a frickin’ unicorn! named florian!
the problem is really milly. she’s the one bringing the action level down. she gets a unicorn to come upstairs and flop down on her bed with her
and the first thing she does is treat him like her therapist and tells him all her problems and also implies that a unicorn on the bed is nice and all, but she’s still so unfulfilled:
“I’m staying at Grandpa’s house,” said Milly, stroking Florian’s soft silky tail. “But I wish I had a friend to play with in the snow and I wish Dad was here, too. Mom says he’s going to come just as soon as he can.” Florian said nothing, he had fallen fast asleep. But Milly stayed awake for a long time. “I’ve got a unicorn,” she said to herself, “a unicorn of my very own.”
that last sentence is a little presumptuous. does boring a unicorn into a deep sleep make him “yours?” maybe it does, again – i don’t know.
but so the unicorn sticks around the next day, eating toast and jelly and oatmeal and helping with the decorations
and
then, yeah – florian runs some errands with millie, millie meets a girl, and then the unicorn bounces to go back with his woodland friends and millie’s dad comes back and millie’s all happy because she’s got a friend and a dad but … no unicorn. and not a lot of story.
i dunno, i love my dad and my friends and all but … unicorn.
seems like maybe not a great trade. but maybe her dad and new friend will be able to stay awake when millie talks.
so, true – nothing much happens in this book EXCEPT A UNICORN VISITS A LITTLE GIRL AND MAKES ALL HER DREAMS COME TRUE but maybe we are looking for more, as readers. maybe we also need millie to cure lupus or also have a phd in urban planning or something. it’s christmas. maybe let millie just go sledding and stuff herself with cookies. and by “millie,” i mean me.
also – looks like i’ll be going to edinburgh:
