Review: The Teeny-Weeny Unicorn

By Shawn Harris

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2024. Picture book.

Do not be fooled into thinking this is like other unicorn books you have read, this one is much better. The teeny-weeny unicorn is truly teeny-weeny -- far and away the smallest member of his unicorn family. His older (much bigger) siblings, Fancy Annie and Prince Butterscotch, pick on him constantly. They use him as a pawn when they play chess, they refuse to let him jump into their castle's moat, and they warn him he'll get lost in the lawn. Fed up with being picked on, he runs away and does, indeed, get lost in the lawn. He quickly learns about perspective when an even teenier-weenier gnome chastises the teeny-weeny unicorn for stepping on and crushing his car. Eager to make this right, and also a little proud of his size, the unicorn and gnome gallop back to the castle to make amends. In the end, the teeny-weeny unicorn stands a little bit taller with his new perspective.

A wholly originally fairy tale, little kids will connect to this charming story about a unicorn feeling too small to matter. The illustrations, done in loose oil pastel, are as charming as the story. Filled with wry humor this is an excellent little unicorn book.

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