I Wished for a Unicorn

Reviewed: January 16, 2007
By: Robert Heidbreder / illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton
Publisher: Kids Can Press
32 pages, $15.95

In this delightful little fantasy a young girl wishes her dog into a unicorn and they have all sorts of fantastic adventures. Their back yard becomes a haunted fairy land with castles, dragons, wizards and treasures to find. They romp until they are exhausted and the spell wears off while they are having nap. But she knows that they can have another day like that any time they want to.

Heidbreder’s story is given to us as a poem, following a simple pattern kids can easily appreciate.

I wished for a unicorn.

I wished so hard

That I found a unicorn

In my backyard.

Denton’s artwork has been rendered in gouache, which is sort of like watercolour except that it’s thicker. The style is childlike without being childish and suits the daydreamy tone of the story very nicely.

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