UNICORNS IN UNIFORMS

Individually, hardworking unicorns keep their village humming; collectively, they fend off an existential threat.

“In the forest, / there’s a village / near a magic grove of knolls. / We live there with pixies, and sprites and gnomes and trolls.” That “we” is a clutch of uniformed unicorns who “know just what to do” and are “ready to help you!” One unicorn, sporting a blue postal service–style jacket, delivers the mail; one, clad in overalls, paves roads; one, wearing a smock, grooms hair (a gnome’s beard, in this case); and so on. After work, they reward themselves with an outdoor party, but the fun ends abruptly: “Ears up! Horns at alert! Is that the danger bell?” Off to work they go, but this time the unicorns’ uniforms are identical (purple leotards emblazoned with the letter U) because the animals are banding together to fight—uh-oh—“dragon weather” (represented by a dragon-headed cloud in the sky). It’s a refreshing angle: a picture book in which unicorns don’t just prance around and do isolated magical deeds. Not all of Ferry’s rhymes scan perfectly, but they sure are perky, and only a goblin wouldn’t be uplifted by this salute to the satisfactions of hard work. Kang’s digital art presents a tidy sage-and-pine-green forest inhabited by a shaggy-maned, pastel-colored unicorn crew that calls to mind the My Little Pony characters in workaday garb.

A spirited ode to collaboration…and to work attire.