Books like Margaret's Unicorn
By Briony May Smith
Margaret's Unicorn understands what it feels like to be the new kid with nobody to talk to. Then a baby unicorn shows up tangled in the weeds, and suddenly she has someone to feed and keep warm all winter. If your kid knows that lonely feeling, these next books are for them.
A friendly ghost named Leo loves drawing and making snacks, but when a new family misunderstands his attempts to help, he leaves home to find where he truly belongs.
A boy flies a single-propeller plane he finds in his closet all the way to outer space, but running out of fuel forces a risky landing on the dark, monster-rumored moon — where he meets a stranded young Martian just as lost and alone.
A baby clown bounces off the circus train and lands in a lonely farmer's empty field, and the two unlikely companions spend a day together before the clown must find his way home.
An imaginary friend waits and waits to be chosen by a child, and when no one picks him, he does the unimaginable — he leaves his island to find his perfect match himself.
Less hushed and wintry, much sillier, but May I Bring a Friend? by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers shares that same delight in an unexpected creature getting a warm welcome.
A witch famous throughout Russia for eating children is secretly a lonely old woman who longs for a grandchild, so she disguises herself as a village babushka to find one.
Shorter and plainer than Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni, good for a kid who wants the friendship story without the seaside atmosphere.
A girl and her house full of rescued, misfit creatures grow restless and decide to move on — but when every one of her careful plans falls apart, she has to find another way forward.
After an owl attack knocks a baby fruit bat from her mother's grasp, she lands in a bird's nest and is raised alongside three baby birds, learning to live by their rules — until she finds her way back to her own kind.
In a Jar by Deborah Marcero adds the goodbye that Margaret's story never has to face, when a friend has to move away for good.
After spotting three dazzling mermaids on the subway, a boy transforms his home into a lagoon of imagination, fashioning his own mermaid costume from a curtain and some ferns.
A curious fox named Marco joins a ship captained by a deer and crewed by pigeons, sailing off in search of a wondrous island and answers to his endless questions.
