Unicorn Races
Unicorn Races is written by Stephen J. Brooks and illustrated by Linda Crockett. It tells the story of a young girl named Abigail and her unicorn, Lord William. After Abigail is tucked into bed each night, she and Lord William fly off into a fairy kingdom to have unicorn races and eat carbohydrate-rich delicacies.
Since I am not a 10-year-old girl, I have a hard time being impressed by Abigail's tendencies to dress like a princess and dance about with elves and fairies. However, I'm sure there are many 10-year-old girls who love to imagine this scenario, who would be happy to read Unicorn Races.
Linda Crockett's artwork is impressive, with lots of pink and purple thrown in to appeal to the book's reader base. However, several figures appear to have been doctored in Photoshop with an outer glow, which is too precise to match the rough textures of the artwork. My personal opinion is that it would have looked better without the post-processing.
The text of the book is pretty well-written, with examples of good imagery (e.g., "Like a rainbow after a mid-summer's shower, the colorful beasts stretched accross the shadowy skyline."). There are several big words which exclude very young readers, but should be no problem for a reader in about 5th or 6th grade. There are a couple of things in the content which bother me, including an inconsistent naming convention for the unicorns. However, this is no big deal and poses no barrier to enjoyment of the story.