The illustrations are everything in Today I’ll Be a Unicorn. This gorgeous board book features Phoebe and Marigold Heavenly Nostrils from Dana Simpson’s Phoebe and Her Unicorn graphic novels.
Phoebe dresses and acts like a unicorn throughout the board book accompanied by her unicorn, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils.
Phoebe is excited about dressing up with unicorn ears and a horn, which are both attached to a headband decorated with beautiful flowers. She loves trotting through meadows with her unicorn tail flowing behind her.
She enjoys all aspects of being a unicorn. Then she discovers that maybe being a young girl is sometimes better than being a unicorn. I’m inclined to agree with her reasoning!
Today I’ll Be a Unicorn is light on words but shines with personality. Phoebe’s expressions are captured so well, from excited to blissful, from dumbfounded to happy and content. I loved the choice of colours used, ranging from soft yet bright pastels to a vibrant rainbow.
I can imagine this becoming a favourite bedtime story. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Who wouldn’t want to be a unicorn?
In this charming, super-sparkly board book, the stars of Phoebe and Her Unicorn celebrate the magical and enchanting world of being a unicorn, along with reminding young readers that being yourself is pretty great, too.
Who wouldn’t want to be a unicorn? You get to trot majestically through meadows, perch high up on rainbows, and wear tiaras made of starlight. Phoebe lists all the wonderful things she’ll get to do and can hardly contain her excitement about having a tail and magic horn. That is, until she learns that unicorns like to eat hay instead of pizza. Maybe she’ll be a unicorn tomorrow instead!
That’s not my obsession! Oh, wait. Yes it is! My library got another one! 😊 This time our little white mouse is being picky about otters. After carefully checking the preceding otters this happy little rodent finally finds their otter, the one with a fluffy tummy.
So the way I see it, there are currently five other otters available for adoption so I’m claiming the rest. I’m now part of a bevy of otters. One has a shiny nose, one has rough paws, one has fuzzy ears, one has a soft tail and the final one has a smooth tongue.
I know I shouldn’t play favourites but I’m quite partial to the one poking its tongue out as I frequently do the same thing. I think I may also add the dragonfly and butterfly to my growing That’s Not My … family.
If Mr Mouse and his otter are interested, my otters and I will be playing in the water and making really cool waterslides most days, and they’re welcome to join us in the fun whenever they want.
Once again, this touchy-feely book is adorable and makes me clucky enough to wish I had my own otter pup baby to read it to.
Bonus Otter Fact: According to Defenders of Wildlife, sea otters have the densest fur in the animal kingdom, ranging from 250,000 to a million hairs per square inch, which insulates them.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
A delightful touchy-feely book with simple, repetitive text from Usborne’s flagship series for the very young. Adorable otters fill the pages and a little white mouse appears on every page, for children to spot. Bright, colourful illustrations with carefully chosen textures to touch and feel on every page. Helps very young children develop language and sensory skills.
Xander does. He’s been a magic hunter for most of his life. When he was younger his friend Kelly would go on magic hunts with him but no longer does. On the very day that he decides to give up on magic it blasts across the sky in all of its technicolor glory. He doesn’t see fairies, gnomes or a spirit.
Instead he witnesses three rainbows, but there’s no pot of gold at the end of these rainbows. What Xander discovers are three unicorns! But not just your garden variety type. These are zombie unicorns 🧟♀️🧟♂️🦄 and they barf rainbows 🤢🤮🌈🌈🌈!
”RONK!”
Being zombies they also smell terrible and tend to be accompanied by flies. The unicorns have heard about human adults who no longer believe in magic and will experiment on them if discovered. Xander knows it’s up to him to protect these rainbow vomiters from harm, but how?
Matthew K. Manning has written one of the most entertaining books I’ve read this year. The writing engages the reader from the beginning with this amazing and absurd story (I say that with the utmost respect) that is so imaginative and funny. I wanted these rainbow-barfing unicorns to be real. I wanted to go watch them vomit rainbows into the sky for myself. I wanted to visit Pegasia to witness for myself this magical dimension.
Joey Ellis’ illustrations capture the comedy in this book perfectly! My favourite illustration today is of Xander bathed in a rainbow yet pretending he can’t see anything out of the ordinary. It accurately depicts the humour of a kid obviously caught in a lie, denying it regardless and refusing to make eye contact. I expect my favourite illustration will change each time I open the book though.
I spent the whole book thinking this would make an incredible series and I dreaded nearing the end because I needed more! More unicorns! More vomit! More fun! Then I made it to the very end and lo and behold, what do I see on the back cover? The covers for the next three books in the series! Yippee!!! They look like as much fun as this one and I can’t wait!
I will be buying this book as soon as it’s released (for myself) so I can reread it to my heart’s content and have already recommended it to my favourite librarian for an avid young reader who consistently checks out the same kid’s books I do. I need to read the rest of the series urgently!
Food I craved while reading this book: apple donuts, cotton candy and blueberry strudel.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Capstone for introducing me to this new favourite.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Reread 9 April 2020
From the ‘Why I Call Myself an Alleged Adult’ Files: When asked what I wanted for my birthday last year I requested a series of kid’s books about zombie unicorns that vomit rainbows. I’ve been holding off on bingeing them until now because …
🦄 9 April is Unicorn Day! 🦄
It’s been two years since I first discovered Xander and the Rainbow-Barfing Unicorns and I’d forgotten how much fun they are to read about. This book is a great way to escape from reality for a while.
We’re introduced to Xander, a 12 year old outcast who still believes in magic, and three unicorns who have been banished from Pegasia, their home. Cradie, Blep and Ronk used to be ordinary, everyday unicorns but something happened on Pegasia that transformed them into smelly, rainbow-vomiting, zombie-like creatures.
“The thing is, we were normal unicorns, but then we got a space virus, and we had to walk through the Banish Desert, which is nowhere near as much fun as the Danish Dessert – but that’s another story entirely – and then we dropped through the Western Portal and ended up on this mountain and Ronk can’t stop vomiting rainbows and neither can we, if I’m being honest, and -“
During my second read I wondered how the unicorns were able to speak the same language as Xander. I also noticed the illustrations, which I love, don’t always line up with the descriptions in the text. For example, Ronk is supposed to have two yellow eyes, not one yellow and one white, and Cradie’s hooves are supposed to be greenish, not purple.
Following the story is a glossary, a list of barf words and jokes. This book’s character spotlight shines a light on Ronk – exposed spine, melting skin, hairy ooze and everything else that makes this unicorn unique.
I’m ready to find it out what happens next!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Xander Stone didn’t believe in unicorns – until one puked on him! In this adventure, twelve-year-old Xander first meets the Rainbow-Barfing Unicorns – stinky, zombielike, upchucking creatures from the magical world of Pegasia. They’ve been banished to Earth for, well, being stinky, zombielike, upchucking creatures. However, Earth presents them with a great danger: HUMANS. Luckily, the dashing, naively heroic Xander vows to protect them and their disgusting secret at all costs.
Nesbit the chameleon grew up in a pet store so he doesn’t know what rain is. Cecil the toad is annoyed by Nesbit’s innocence about the way life works outdoors but Jeremy the earthworm has empathy for Nesbit. Usually the spring rain doesn’t cause any problems for the habitat but this year Cecil’s pond floods.
While Cecil always wanted a waterfront property he didn’t want his home to be under the water. Jeff the hamster arrives in a speedboat to help his friends. He’s seen something from his treehouse that may be causing the flood. The friends work together and with their new beaver friends, Bud and Patricia, to solve the problem as a team.
The importance of helping friends is demonstrated when Evelyn the caterpillar helps Nesbit early in the story and when Nesbit later helps Evelyn. Empathy is encouraged and solving problems by making sure that both sides are happy with the solution is explored.
Along the way young readers will learn facts about the different animals in the story and there are additional facts after the story about beavers and the lifecycle of a monarch butterfly. The illustrations are sweet and the colours are bright and cheerful.
I really liked Nesbit’s adorable naivety. A character with wide eyed awe at all of the new things they’re experiencing was a lovely addition to the story.
Favourite bit:
“Pardon me. I thought you were lunch, but you’re a friend.”
Nesbit to Evelyn
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
It’s springtime at Cecil’s Pond and everything is coming alive: the flowers, grasses, insects, and butterflies. The marsh around the pond is all in bloom. Poor Nesbit (the chameleon) is overwhelmed by it all. He sees all the change as unsettling chaos!
Nesbit grew up in a pet store before moving to the pond. He has no idea what it’s like to live in the wild or where he fits in the chain of life. Cecil and his pond pals will have to help Nesbit along on his journey of self-discovery.
Trampoline Boy is a lovely picture book about friendship, acceptance and perspective. Trampoline Boy spends all of his time jumping up and down on his trampoline. The other children think he’s weird. Peaches stops one day and watches Trampoline Boy bouncing up and down. Each day she watches Trampoline Boy until one day when she whispers,
“Trampoline Boy, I wish I could see what you see up there in that blue, blue sky.”
Trampoline Boy stops bouncing for the first time. Taking Peaches by the hand, Trampoline Boy allows her to join him and together they bounce. Peaches finds out what the world looks like from up high and together they see what all of the people on the ground are missing out on.
The illustrations are colourful and interesting. I loved that Trampoline Boy doesn’t allow the kids who think he’s weird stop him from being himself and doing what he enjoys.
I loves Peaches’ interest in what Trampoline Boy is doing and how she quietly observes him before asking to see what he sees.
This book works as both a story about a boy who loves bouncing on his trampoline and as a deeper story about the value of friendship, accepting and seeking to understand other peoples differences, and how seeing things from a different perspective can show you points of view that you’ve never imagined seeing.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tundra Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
A lyrical picture book about the joy of jumping – and a springboard for discussion about unique perspectives.
Through the eyes of a character we only know as Trampoline Boy, we are invited to understand how he sees the world. His favourite thing to do is jump up and down, up and down on his trampoline. Kids walk by and tease him, but he remains steadfast and calm. One day, a quietly exuberant girl, Peaches, is fascinated by his jumping. Trampoline Boy wordlessly invites her to jump with him, and by spending this time with him, Peaches and readers get to see how important and valuable different perspectives are.
Instruction Manual: Missing. Please work it out as you go along.
Level Bosses:
Level 1 – The Whistler
Level 2 – The Constrictor
Level 3 – The Director
Level 4 – The Father
PRESS START
The most important thing you need to know going into this novella is that you only know what the Witness knows, which in the beginning is very little indeed. This made for a serious amount of confusion on my part and significant helpings of “What the hell did I sign up for?!”
If this story is of interest to you please don’t give up when you get the feeling you’re hallucinating; when every time you think you know where you are the scene changes on you and you don’t know how you got there. Your patience and attempt to retain your sanity will be rewarded if you stick with it. Know that things will fall into place. I graduated from confusion to intrigue and then to fascination and compulsion. I had to know what was coming next and how it would all come together in the end.
Dexter Morgenstern writes at the start of the novella that he wants to write stories for games and as I read I could see this story translating into the gaming world quite easily. I viewed the story much like a game as I progressed and ultimately came to see the story as having four main levels, each with a level boss to face at the end. While there was a cyclical nature to what the player needs to accomplish within the level, each level takes place in a different time period and with different characters.
During each level the Witness gains information, mostly fairly cryptic at the time, which they hope will eventually help them make sense of who they are and what their connection is to the characters they encounter within the game. The characters that remain consistent throughout the levels (besides the Witness) are the girl in the mirror and the Preta, which is translated from Sanskrit as ‘hungry ghost’.
Because characters come and go you get to know their stories but I didn’t find I had the time to connect emotionally with them. Having said that, there’s so much action and running around that it’s not as though any of the characters have time to sit down and have a chat over a cuppa with you anyway. If it helps you to put all of this into context, Dexter describes it himself as a “chaotic trifecta of Buddhism, history, and ghost-zombies”. Intriguing, huh?!
Because I seem to be fairly immune to feeling fear while reading, I wasn’t scared reading Eternal Victim. I was unsettled by it though and for me, feeling unsettled over a period of time is more uncomfortable to sit with than scary moments that come and go. I haven’t been this unsettled by a book in a long time so I was suitably impressed by that.
If you’re squeamish and/or the content warnings apply to you then you may want to skip this book or at least approach it with caution. If you can handle graphic details of tortuous murders committed by deranged serial killer types you should be okay, but you’d be forgiven if you cringe at certain points as your already overactive imagination works overtime. If you can eat while watching a Saw movie you should be fine too.
This novella is certainly not going to be for everyone as it truly is one of the strangest books I’ve read, but it happily transformed for me from being close to ditching it for the first 10% to being glad I persevered fairly soon after. I’d like to reread Eternal Victim to see how the reading experience changes now that I know how it all fits together. I’m definitely interested in reading more books by this author.
Beware the fog!
GAME OVER
Credits: Thank you so much to NetGalley, Dexter Morgenstern and BookBuzz.net for the opportunity to read this novella.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Follow the Witness as she travels through a perpetual series of nightmares, haunted by a mixture of pernicious serial killers and their imprisoned, undead victims, known as preta. As she wanders through time and memories shared by the killers and their victims, she fights to solve the puzzle of their connection to each other and to herself. Her only hope of salvation lies in connecting key victims to the souls who can rescue them, thus waking her from the nightmare, but one killer follows the next, bringing forth a new set of victims, a new score of preta, and immediately landing her in a new terror.
After being exchanged by three previous families Frank is due for an appointment with a fourth potential family, Mr and Mrs Fugly (I kid you not! 😆). He “drops in” to the meeting with the director of the orphanage, who accidentally admits she doesn’t know what happened to his parents. Deciding to run away (again!) Frank is caught by the gardener who tells Frank the truth, that he found Frank when he was about a year old. The gardener shows Frank a map of where he found him then sends him on his way.
After a journey on foot to find his parents, complete with some pretty funny falls, directionally challenged Frank finds himself sucked through a portal of sorts and winds up in prehistoric times. There is no phone service, no internet and apparently vowels haven’t been invented yet, so the locals tlk lk ths (talk like this). It does take a bit to get used to the way they talk and because of this, FRNK may not be the best comic book for reluctant readers. There’s one swear word in this book but your kid most likely already knows it anyway and its use is really funny.
This is the first comic in a series of three so there’s the inevitable ending just when you’re really getting into it. I’ve read this comic book twice now. The first time I was so frustrated by the lack of vowels in the prehistoric world that it took my attention away from the story. Having said that, after a break and coming into it knowing about the vowel situation, I really enjoyed reading this the second time.
There’s a fair amount of humour I missed the first time around and this time I really focused on the awesome job Brice Cossu has done with the illustrations. The expressions in both present and past add to the humour of the text and the details in the landscape, plants and animals are wonderful.
The vowel situation will be off putting for some readers, although it’s only for a portion of the book. If you can get past this, you’ll find a series that has a lot of potential. Besides the humour and time travel, there’s action and fight scenes, along with the mysteries of where Frank’s parents are (if they’re still alive) and whether Frank will go home in the end. I suspect he may find home in prehistoric times but I haven’t read past the first comic so that’s only my gut feeling.
What this comic proves to me is that if you’re not entirely sure what you think of a story it’s completely fine to cleanse your reading palate with other books before you attempt a reread. Had I reviewed this book straight after I read it for the first time you’d be reading a very different review. I’m definitely interested in getting my hands on the rest of this series.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Europe Comics for the opportunity to read this comic.
P.S. That first sentence? If you didn’t get it, it reads “This comic book became quite hard to read in some sections!”, but I’m sure you already knew that! 😜
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
When a 13-year-old orphan sets out to find his parents and ends up in prehistoric times, he realises he’s got a lot of work to do: so many things haven’t been invented yet, like fire, soap … and vowels! Not to mention all the terrifying creatures and knuckledragging cavemen he has to deal with!
Including fun experiments like finding out if you’re a super taster and a recipe for making your very own edible snot (including green food colouring and sprinkles!), Brutal Body is an interesting way to learn how smart and kinda gross your body is.
Young readers will learn about dinner conversation topics that include:
How the body makes pus
The ingredients things that combine to make mucus and why it turns green when you’re sick
The five different flavours your taste receptors can detect
The purpose of saliva
How your digestive system works
Why farts are smelly
How your brain’s assumptions can trip you up when you look at optical illusions.
Then, if you haven’t learned enough cool and disgusting facts about your body, you’ll also be introduced to two strange doctors:
Andreas Vesalius, who wrote a detailed book about the human body, including illustrations he drew after cutting up dead bodies from the local prison to find out what was inside them 🔪
Edward Jenner, who experimented on a young boy by injecting him with pus from a cowpox infected cow to prove his theory about smallpox. Eww! 😷
I really liked the varied layouts and the great use of colour in this book. The illustrations are really good and the photos are suitably gross (think oral thrush 👅). There’s enough information that could be used for a unique school project and it’s gross enough to maintain the interest of those who think learning about the human body is boring. I would’ve loved this as a kid! I even learned some new facts today that will no doubt come out of my mouth at invariably inappropriate times in the future, possibly while eating dinner. 😬
If you have a weak stomach you may want to steer clear of the specific copy of the book that I read. I was the first one to borrow it from my library so I’m assuming it has something to do with some chemical used in the paper rather than a former borrower, but it has a very distinct vomit smell. 🤢 While it certainly added to the ambience of the reading experience it’s not exactly the type of book you want accompanied by Smell-O-Page! 🤮
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
The human body is unique, to say the least. With the help of this stimulating book, readers will learn about the fascinating ways their bodies operate, from the way their brain processes things, to the reason there is snot in their nose. Fun and relevant experiments will engage even those readers who aren’t typically scientifically inclined. Creative language and colorful images will appeal to readers of many levels, while exciting activities will reinforce their understanding of important scientific concepts.
We first met Tim Baker when he accidentally broke an antique Greek vase while dusting to help his mother, who struggled to work two jobs to support herself and her son, in Here Comes Hercules!, the first book in the Hopeless Heroes series.
Hercules had been trapped inside the vase by his evil stepmother Hera, and upon his release Hercules decides to ‘help’ Tim complete his chores. Hercules’ brand of help tends to end in disaster and ruins the garden in the process.
With Hercules safely returned to Ancient Greece, Hera’s Terrible Trap! begins at the outdoor garden centre with Tim and his mother shopping for plants to replace those Hercules destroyed while ‘helping’ in the first book.
Tim has taken it upon himself to protect the newly mended vase. Evil Hera and her servant Hermes have already attempted to steal the vase to recapture Hercules so Tim is on guard. Despite Tim’s best efforts Hermes manages to steal the vase, along with a stowaway. Tim grabbed hold of the vase as Hermes made his escape and is now stuck in Ancient Greece.
In this book Tim reunites with Hercules and meets his wife Agatha and daughter Zoe. Against overprotective Dad’s wishes Zoe decides to steal the vase from Hera so she can’t use it to recapture Hercules. Unable to talk this determined little miss out of her plan Tim follows Zoe and the kids wind up on an adventure.
Together they come across other mythological figures including vain Theseus (who Zoe, despite how smart she is, hero worships), one of Medusa’s sisters Stheno and Zoe’s Grandpa Perseus. Along the way they encounter a labyrinth, weaponised fruit and guard dogs peacocks! Yet even if they make it out of their adventure alive Tim has no idea if he will ever find a way to return home to present day England, where his Mum is no doubt frantic that her son is missing.
In this book we get a glimpse at one of Leo the bully’s family members and it becomes clearer why Leo is a bully in the first place, which I liked and look forward to getting to know him better in future books. I wasn’t, however, a fan of Tim getting back at Leo for tripping him by then tripping Leo. During this scene I heard my dreaded adult voice chiding Tim for his actions. Thankfully my adult voice shut up for the rest of the book.
Whereas the first book obviously needed time to set up the story and mythology, there was more action and adventure in the sequel. I did find the first book funnier although that’s probably more a reflection of how much fun I found Hercules’ bumbling attempts to help Tim to be. I thought that Zoe, being a strong and independent girl, would have been somewhat immune to Theseus’ alleged charms. It turns out that even smart girls can become groupies to doofus types.
Overall I enjoyed the sequel more than the first book and plan to continue reading this series. If you haven’t read the first book you could get away with starting the series with this one as it begins with a recap of the first, but to get the most out of it I’d recommend you read them in order.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing for the opportunity to read this book. I’ll be looking out for Tim’s next adventure in Arachne’s Golden Gloves!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Tim Baker thinks his adventures are over until he hitches a ride to Ancient Greece on a stolen vase. Soon Tim finds himself trapped with an army of peacocks and a hero who can’t stop admiring himself. Put that mirror down, Theseus!
Thank the gods his new friend Zoe is there to help. Just don’t tell her dad …
I’m not quite sure how this happened but I made it through my entire childhood without reading a single Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys book. I began to rectify this glaring hole in my bookish experience two years ago when my library bought the first few Nancy Drew books. I read and enjoyed the first two before getting distracted by another book. Here we are two years later and I’ve been distracted by so many other books that I haven’t read the third book or beyond. I’m yet to read a Hardy Boys book.
I was excited to have the opportunity to read Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Big Lie but when I tried to get into it the first time I was concerned that my lack of inside information about this trio would mean I would be lost before I started. I needn’t have worried. Finally giving up on getting to know Nancy better and the Hardy Boys at all first I dove into this graphic novel today and it was surprisingly awesome!
When I originally met book Nancy she came across to me as fitting a tad too well in the ’practically perfect in every way’ box but I loved her character in this noir graphic novel. This story shows Nancy, Frank and Joe with an edge that I’m guessing they never had in the novels.
In this story we find ourselves in postcard perfect Bayport. The Hardy Boys are suspects in their father’s murder and together with childhood friend and fellow mystery solver Nancy Drew, they need to find a way to clear their names and identify the real murderer. Along the way there are fist fights, suspicion thrown around some shady and not so shady characters, police brutality, flashbacks, meetings in the middle of the night and a good ol’ fashioned secret passageway left over from the Prohibition era.
I’m not sure how people who grew up loving Nancy, Frank and Joe will fare with what appears to be a hardening of their characters and a less innocent bunch of mystery solvers. I enjoyed the grittiness of the investigation and it probably says something about the feel of the graphic novel that in my head the male narrator/voice over had the same voice as Mickey Rourke’s Marv in Sin City.
I loved the front cover image, combining the trio and providing a hint of what’s to come. The illustrations matched the style of the story; dark, murky at times, with plenty of shadows to add to the ambience.
While one part of the mystery is solved in this graphic novel there’s an overarching mystery that remains to be solved another day, and it will definitely be a follow up I’ll be looking out for.
Thank you so much to NetGalley, Dynamite Entertainment and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Volume collects issues 1-6.
A Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mystery unlike any other you’ve ever read! When the teenage brothers Frank and Joe Hardy are accused of the murder of their father – a detective in the small resort town of Bayport – they must team up with Nancy Drew to prove their innocence (and find the real guilty party in the process) in a twisting noir tale, complete with double-crosses, deceit, and dames.
Writer Anthony Del Col (Assassin’s Creed, Kill Shakespeare) and artist Werther Dell’Edera (Batman: Detective Comics, House of Mystery) bring the iconic teen detectives into the modern age, and redefine noir for a new generation of readers!
Schizanthus Nerd 