Books like Thelma the Unicorn
By Aaron Blabey
For the kid who begs for the sparkly costume, the flashy shoes, the thing everyone else has — this is the story that gently asks what happens after you get it. Glittery, funny, and warmhearted, with a soft landing after all the shine.
Two scarecrows, Betty O'Barley and Harry O'Hay, fall in love and plan a wedding in the fields, gathering the farm's animals and birds to help them celebrate.
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 small boy is invited to tea at the palace and always asks the same question — may he bring a friend? — and each time, a surprising animal guest shows up beautifully behaved.
A little kitty feels perfectly unicorn-y and declares herself one — until the real Unicorn clop clop clops over, leaving her feeling as small as a ball of lint.
A mother cat leads her two kittens, Fluffy and Skinny, through washing, wall-walking, and claw-sharpening — while a third kitten, Boris, just naps through it all.
A small green chameleon wishes it could be handsome like a flamingo, smart like a fox, and funny like a seal, taking on new parts until it's a jumble of everyone else.
A boy named Carlos climbs a tree in the Costa Rican cloud forest, dropping his banana-leaf umbrella below, where a tree frog, baby tapir, jaguar, and more all try to squeeze inside as it floats along.
A dapper frog rides off on horseback to woo a coy little mouse, and their courtship unfolds through verse after verse of the old folk song, right up to their wedding day.
Every night at six o'clock, a City Watch commander reads his little boy a farmyard picture book about cows and lambs, then starts reimagining it as a story about the city streets his son will actually grow up in.
Two chopsticks, inseparable best friends, hit a fork in the road and must face something they've never done before: figuring out how to function apart.
An awkward naked mole rat with thick glasses and a love of interpretive dance and fungus identification goes looking for other mushroom-obsessed friends who understand her.
Eight little ballerinas practice plié, relevé, and jeté together in perfect step until Miss Lina introduces a ninth dancer, Regina, and their tidy rows suddenly fall into disarray.
