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Erika White

Unicorns and Friends

YEAR: 2019

COUNTRY: Canada

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Title of the work

Unicorns and Friends

Country of the First Edition

Country/countries of popularity

Canada, worldwide

Original Language

English

First Edition Date

2019

First Edition Details

Erika White, Unicorns and Friends, My Busy Books. Montréal, QB: Phidal Publishing, Inc., 2019, 12 pp.

ISBN

9782764349199

Genre

Board book and toys kits*
Picture books
Toy and movable books

Target Audience

Children (3–5)

Cover

Missing cover

We are still trying to obtain permission for posting the original cover.


Author of the Entry:

Elizabeth Hale, University of New England, ehale@une.edu.au

Peer-reviewer of the Entry:

Susan Deacy, University of Roehampton, s.deacy@roehampton.ac.uk

Hanna Paulouskaya, University of Warsaw, hannapa@al.uw.edu.pl 

Female portrait

Erika White (Author)

Erika White has written the text of works for Phidal Publishing’s series My Busy Books, including Unicorns and Friends and Disney: Aladdin. Currently there is very little available information about her.


Bio prepared by Elizabeth Hale, University of New England, ehale@une.edu.au


Summary

Unicorns and Friends is a combination of board book and toy, featuring the adventures of a group of colourful unicorns named Rosy, Blue, Clementine, Razzle-Berry, River, and Sherbet. Though they are a group, they each have distinctive characteristics: some are adventurous (Rosy and Razzle-Berry); Clementine likes sunshine while Blue enjoys evening walks… All love the “very special, magical creatures that are their friends and neighbours.” (p. 1). These creatures include Pol Peryton (a winged deer that features in Jorge Luis Borges’s Book of Imaginary Beings (1957)); J. J. Jackalope (a horned jackrabbit, from the North American tradition). Delilah the Dragon is “very good at starting bonfires” (p. 5), and likes to play tag with “Gladys Griffin.” Horace the Hippocamp (p. 7) teaches the unicorns to swim. “Horace is a very wise teacher.  When he’s not giving swimming lessons, he tutors the unicorns in Ancient Greek!” (p. 7). And Pegasus likes to hang out at night, teaching the unicorns about the stars (p. 9). The final page of the book shows all the unicorns and their friends together, with a statement: “they even know that there is a wonderful child somewhere who believes in them, and is just as magical and special as they are. Who could it be?” (p. 11).  

The back of the book contains two small partitions. In one of them is a fold-out mat with images of sylvan scenes (featuring meadows, rivers, rainbows); in the other are ten small plastic toy versions of the unicorns and their friends. The reader can fold out the map and play with the toys, making up new stories and participating in the magical world.

Analysis

This book/toy for beginning readers incorporates concepts of play and imagination into a work that aims to be an immersive fantasy. The text describes an idyllic, playful world that children aged 3–5 can enter, joining with a group of friendly magical creatures who demonstrate that all kinds of beings can get along, and that values different character traits, abilities and interests. All the figures are deliberately “cute,” with large eyes, and big heads on small bodies, in a way that is reminiscent of toddlers and young children. The mythical creatures come from a variety of traditions: the North American Jackalope, the South American Peryton, the Classical Greek Hippocamp, Griffin and Pegasus, and the European Unicorn and Dragon. The inclusion of toys and a play mat encourage the story to extend beyond the confines of the book, appealing to children’s sense of play and imagination.

The publisher, Phidal, specialises in texts for early childhood, emphasizing play as an important aspect of learning: Unicorns and Friends’ combination of simple text, attractive images, and small toys that can be incorporated into storytelling and games, fits this brief well. 


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Leaf pattern
Leaf pattern

Title of the work

Unicorns and Friends

Country of the First Edition

Country/countries of popularity

Canada, worldwide

Original Language

English

First Edition Date

2019

First Edition Details

Erika White, Unicorns and Friends, My Busy Books. Montréal, QB: Phidal Publishing, Inc., 2019, 12 pp.

ISBN

9782764349199

Genre

Board book and toys kits*
Picture books
Toy and movable books

Target Audience

Children (3–5)

Cover

Missing cover

We are still trying to obtain permission for posting the original cover.


Author of the Entry:

Elizabeth Hale, University of New England, ehale@une.edu.au

Peer-reviewer of the Entry:

Susan Deacy, University of Roehampton, s.deacy@roehampton.ac.uk

Hanna Paulouskaya, University of Warsaw, hannapa@al.uw.edu.pl 

Female portrait

Erika White (Author)

Erika White has written the text of works for Phidal Publishing’s series My Busy Books, including Unicorns and Friends and Disney: Aladdin. Currently there is very little available information about her.


Bio prepared by Elizabeth Hale, University of New England, ehale@une.edu.au


Summary

Unicorns and Friends is a combination of board book and toy, featuring the adventures of a group of colourful unicorns named Rosy, Blue, Clementine, Razzle-Berry, River, and Sherbet. Though they are a group, they each have distinctive characteristics: some are adventurous (Rosy and Razzle-Berry); Clementine likes sunshine while Blue enjoys evening walks… All love the “very special, magical creatures that are their friends and neighbours.” (p. 1). These creatures include Pol Peryton (a winged deer that features in Jorge Luis Borges’s Book of Imaginary Beings (1957)); J. J. Jackalope (a horned jackrabbit, from the North American tradition). Delilah the Dragon is “very good at starting bonfires” (p. 5), and likes to play tag with “Gladys Griffin.” Horace the Hippocamp (p. 7) teaches the unicorns to swim. “Horace is a very wise teacher.  When he’s not giving swimming lessons, he tutors the unicorns in Ancient Greek!” (p. 7). And Pegasus likes to hang out at night, teaching the unicorns about the stars (p. 9). The final page of the book shows all the unicorns and their friends together, with a statement: “they even know that there is a wonderful child somewhere who believes in them, and is just as magical and special as they are. Who could it be?” (p. 11).  

The back of the book contains two small partitions. In one of them is a fold-out mat with images of sylvan scenes (featuring meadows, rivers, rainbows); in the other are ten small plastic toy versions of the unicorns and their friends. The reader can fold out the map and play with the toys, making up new stories and participating in the magical world.

Analysis

This book/toy for beginning readers incorporates concepts of play and imagination into a work that aims to be an immersive fantasy. The text describes an idyllic, playful world that children aged 3–5 can enter, joining with a group of friendly magical creatures who demonstrate that all kinds of beings can get along, and that values different character traits, abilities and interests. All the figures are deliberately “cute,” with large eyes, and big heads on small bodies, in a way that is reminiscent of toddlers and young children. The mythical creatures come from a variety of traditions: the North American Jackalope, the South American Peryton, the Classical Greek Hippocamp, Griffin and Pegasus, and the European Unicorn and Dragon. The inclusion of toys and a play mat encourage the story to extend beyond the confines of the book, appealing to children’s sense of play and imagination.

The publisher, Phidal, specialises in texts for early childhood, emphasizing play as an important aspect of learning: Unicorns and Friends’ combination of simple text, attractive images, and small toys that can be incorporated into storytelling and games, fits this brief well. 


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