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Lauren's pony Twilight changes into a unicorn when she whispers the magic words. The only catch is that Lauren has to keep it a secret or she could put Twilight in great danger.

Lauren's friend Jessica doesn't want her father to re-marry. On the day f the wedding, Jessica is so unhappy that she runs away from home. Lauren and Twilight could help Jessica with a little magic, but if they do, will Twilight's secret be safe...?

118 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 2002

14 people are currently reading
360 people want to read

About the author

Linda Chapman

734 books201 followers
Linda Chapman was born in Liverpool in 1969. She had many different jobs before becoming a full-time writer in 1999 including working as a theatre stage manager, a dog trainer, a bookseller, a nanny, a teacher and a research assistant. She has written over 300 books for children, some under her own name, others under different names and she often collaborates with other authors. She is currently writing books with Julie Sykes and they are co-authors on the NYT bestselling Unicorn Academy series as well as Mermaid Academy, Forever Homes and Pocket Unicorns. Linda lives in Leicestershire with her husband, three children, two horses and three dogs. She has written many different series including: My Secret Unicorn, Star Friends, Best Friends Bakery, Stardust, Skating School and, most recently, Magic Keepers and Moonlight Riders.

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5 stars
308 (39%)
4 stars
216 (27%)
3 stars
179 (23%)
2 stars
52 (6%)
1 star
18 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
Profile Image for Sonja Rosa Lisa ♡  .
5,074 reviews638 followers
December 10, 2023
Lauras Pony Sternenschweif ist tatsächlich ein Einhorn und hat magische Kräfte, nur darf das niemand wissen. Doch als Lauras Freundin Jessica Hilfe braucht, muss sie eine Ausnahme machen. Kann Laura Jessica vertrauen?
💗✨ 💗✨ 💗
Ich denke, die meisten Kinder mögen Einhörner und Einhorngeschichten. Dieses ist der dritte Band der Kinderbuchreihe, in der es um Laura und ihr magisches Einhorn geht.
"Der steinerne Spiegel" ist eine zuckersüße Geschichte, in der sich alles um Freundschaft dreht und um die Probleme, die eine Patchwork-Familie hervorrufen kann.
Lauras Freundin Jessica bekommt eine neue Stiefschwester und die beiden Mädchen müssen sich nun miteinander arrangieren.
Laura und Sternenschweif können helfen.
Ich mochte diesen Band und finde es gut, dass auch dieses Thema einmal hier aufgegriffen wurde.
Profile Image for Carmen Vicari.
217 reviews5 followers
February 21, 2018
Seit Laura auf dem Land wohnt, hat sie einen ganz besonderen Gefährten. Ein kleines, graues, unscheinbares Pony. Das Besondere an dem Tier ist, dass Laura es mit einem Zauberspruch in ein strahlendweißes, wunderschönes Einhorn verwandeln kann, das zudem auch noch sprechen kann. Laura genießt ihre Zeit mit Sternenschweif, ihrem Pony und staunt immer wieder über seine Verwandlung.
Nun will Laura aber auch anderen helfen und gerade bei ihrer Freundin Jessica tut dies Not. Diese ist todunglücklich, weil ihre neue Stiefschwester plötzlich bei ihrer Familie eingezogen ist. Alle bemühen sich um die ständig schlecht gelaunte Samantha, die am liebsten jeden Tag in die Stadt gehen und shoppen möchte.
Laura versucht, ihre Freundin nicht bloß zu trösten und aufzumuntern, sondern ihr richtig zu helfen. Doch kann sie das zusammen mit Sternenschweif?

Zusammen mit meiner großen Tochter habe ich nun schon einige Bücher und Geschichten mit Laura und Sternenschweif gelesen. Man merkt der Geschichte direkt an, dass sie englischer Abstammung ist, wird doch immer wieder mal z.B. von einem Mr oder einer Mrs gesprochen, was ich dann meiner 6jährigen Tochter erst einmal erklären musste.

Während in anderen Büchern farbige Bilder zu Sternenschweif und Laura abgedruckt sind, gibt es in dieser Reihe nur schwarz-weiß Bilder in recht groben Zügen. Meine Tochter sprechen diese gar nicht an, so dass sie eher der Geschichte lauscht und dabei mit ihrem Pferd versucht, das Gehörte nachzustellen. Denn die Geschichte ist kindgerecht gehalten. Einfach, nachvollziehbar und voller Magie.

Als Erwachsener ahnt man schnell, wohin die Geschichte laufen wird, wie sie sich entwickelt. Für ein Kind bleibt sie jedoch bis zuletzt spannend und faszinierend. Natürlich möchte meine Tochter die Geschichten mit Sternenschweif bald selbst einmal lesen, doch derzeit ist sie noch eine Leseanfängerin, so dass ich in den Genuss komme, die Geschichten ihr vorlesen zu dürfen und dabei selbst an den Abenteuern von Sternenschweif teilnehmen kann.

Fazit:
Glücklicherweise warten noch viele Sternenschweif – Geschichten auf uns und daher war der Abschied von dieser zauberhaften Geschichte nur ein kurzer, denn das Abenteuer mit Sternenschweif geht bald weiter.
16 reviews2 followers
August 30, 2020
Based on Linda Chapman’s own experiences with nannying a pony-obsessed little girl, My Secret Unicorn follows a young girl named Lauren and her pony named Twilight, who is secretly her unicorn.

Now, I enjoyed this book series as a kid. I recall reading each book when I was in Year 3. I decided to re-read the whole series again to see if it holds up, but I am afraid that it does not. First of all, there are the characters in the book series. Explaining the plot further, A nine-year-old girl named Lauren Foster moves with her family from the city to Granger’s Farm, where she meets a bookstore owner named Mrs Fontana who gives her a book about Arcadia and unicorns. After buying a pony named Twilight from an auction, Lauren finds out from her unicorn book that there are key ingredients and steps to unlocking her secret unicorn: a moonflower petal must fall when the first evening star arrives while she recites a “Turning Spell” and an “Undoing Spell” that can change him back to a pony. After this first time, Lauren only has to recite the secret spell without anything else. There is much more to the lore of the series, (like Arcadia itself, how the unicorn cycle works and the magic system) but that is a general idea.

Lauren Foster is a very flat and sometimes unlikable character. She has nothing that defines her besides being horse-obsessed, and she often makes brash decisions that cause more trouble than what is needed, such as arguing with Twilight or her friend Mel whenever they are stuck in a snowstorm or fire hazard. Not only that, but the book series also focuses too much on Lauren - almost at times pushing Twilight aside. For example, in Book #9 Snowy Dreams, Twilight learns about the time limit regarding Unicorns Friends where he will eventually have to choose between returning to Arcadia or staying with Lauren, but we only see this from Lauren’s point of view on how she feels rather than Twilight’s point of view.

Twilight is a boring character. All he is defined is as Lauren’s unicorn friend. Furthermore, because he is dull as a funeral service on 0.25x speed, I cannot grasp the relative importance of any of his problems – however few there are. It is not Twilight’s fault, though; he has an excellent setup to do something interesting. However, the book series is more worried about Lauren and her problems.

There is also missed potential with other characters. After reading Book #10 Twilight Magic where Lauren saves Jade, I thought the next book would have been about Lauren and Mel making friends with Jade and Monica, finally putting their rivalry to rest and getting to know them better. However, it did not do that. There is also a bully girl named Kate in Friends Forever, who excludes Lauren from her circle of friends when Mel reunites with them. While Kate does do some genuinely terrible things (such as moving the flagposts in a game of Capture The Flag), she does not have as much character as she should have. If Kate was more manipulative and gaslight Lauren and Mel into thinking they should not be friends, then she could have been a more genuine threat. There is also another Unicorn Friend named Michael who is one of the few people that knows that Twilight is a unicorn, but the series does nothing with him.

Not to mention, the magic system in the series (as well as keeping Twilight a secret) gets increasingly inconsistent and contrived. For example, in Friends Forever Book #7, Twilight is turned into a unicorn in broad daylight in a clearing where anybody could see what was happening, but nothing comes of this. Another example is Book 13# Moonlight Journey, where we finally get to see Arcadia, but much of Arcadia feels unexplored, underdeveloped, and the illustrations make Arcadia look bare and boring. It does not help that the book series rushes over all the fantasy elements like they are not much of a big deal, which undermines the magical value of what we are experiencing. What is Arcadia, and who are The Unicorn Elders? Who is Sidra? Twilight already knows this, but how? How did Mrs Fontanta learn about unicorns? Who invented the Keeper Of Magic system with the magic resources in the first place? Moreover, why can’t we be clued in too? Things feel missing in the book series! It fails to introduce, build or set up any of the concepts.

However, my biggest problem with My Secret Unicorn is that Twilight and Lauren’s relationship does not feel genuine. Sure, they spend plenty of time together, but their scenes feel more forced rather than natural - and the dialogue often feels like the characters are saying what they are expected to say, rather than wanting to say it. For example, Lauren often says that she loves Twilight as both a pony and a unicorn, but because they cannot communicate with each other when Twilight is a pony and only share their most intimate scenes when Twilight is a unicorn, it makes her statement meaningless. Several books will tell you that the success of this duo is due to them working together, but you will quickly see that Twilight does not need Lauren at all. There are times when Lauren is disadvantaged because she does not have magical powers like Twilight, and it feels like the conflict could have been easily solved if Lauren was written out entirely. I am okay with Twilight being an independent hero, but when the book series tells me Lauren and Twilight need each other, I call nonsense on that nonsense! Lauren is treated with much more scene time than she deserves, which ultimately makes the story weaker, despite her lack of strengths or advantages making her useless.

Nevertheless, my last problem with My Secret Unicorn is that I do not understand why Lauren cannot tell anymore about Twilight? If you look at fantasy/supernatural stories regarding secret identities and objects, you realise that they do not keep secrets for the same reason – their reasons need to make sense to the story. For example, Fetlocks Hall kept its unicorn side secret because it wanted to keep itself away from prying eyes and the potential villains could do if that happened – and that made sense because it was a well-respected school with high fees and A-standard students. In My Secret Unicorn, we are never told or shown why Lauren has to keep Twilight a secret. There is nothing at stake if she does since there is no villain or massive threat, there is a memory wipe potion introduced in Book #3 so there is no more prolonged tension in the story. Lauren at the end of the series is given the position of Keeper Of Magic where she has to help and look over other Unicorn Friends (which is barely explained and raises far too many questions) which ruins the point of keeping unicorns secret, to begin with.

Even if we assume that keeping unicorns secret is to protect Lauren’s friends and family, telling certain people would help with that. There are several times where Lauren struggles strictly because no one knows that Twilight is a unicorn, and if she told certain people, it would make her life 10x easier. When you go off of tropes of a genre, but those tropes go against the particular story you’re telling, it feels lazily thought-out.

To conclude, this has been one of the most disappointing childhood revisits I have ever had because My Secret Unicorn does not hold up very well in my eyes. It has unlikeable and underutilised characters, rushed pacing that overlooks essential beats, and an adventure that lacks fun. Everything is hollow, offensive, or unpleasant. I honestly never expected myself to dislike “My Secret Unicorn” before re-reading it. It had a fun idea, but it failed in its execution.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Emily.
340 reviews32 followers
January 19, 2011
Again, these are Claire's ratings. I suppose it might mess up the rating system a bit, but since it is aimed toward her age group, I'll give it the stars that her age requests. :)

Another fun romp with a girl and her secret unicorn. This time, they help her friend come to grips with a 'new' family (her dad is remarrying and the fiancee has a daughter). This was full of more sighs from the 6 year old. (Andrew, however, played with his stuffed dog and some trucks. All boy!)
Profile Image for Chiara.
139 reviews
February 6, 2016
Jessica doesn't want her father to re-marry after her mother's death.
Profile Image for Yoyomaus Die Büchereule.
2,222 reviews31 followers
January 23, 2023
Deine Freundin ist traurig und du weißt nicht warum,

gut, dass du ein magisches Einhorn hast,

welches dir da helfen kann.

 

 

Zum Inhalt:

Lauras Pony Sternenschweif ist kein normales Pony. Es hat die magischen Kräfte eines Einhorns. Mit diesen besonderen Fähigkeiten will Laura ihrer Freundin Jessica helfen, die wegen ihrer neuen Stiefschwester sehr traurig ist. Aber dabei riskiert Laura, dass Sternenschweifs Geheimnis entdeckt wird. Kann sie Jessica wirklich vertrauen?

 

Cover:

Das Cover ist wieder zuckersüß und zeigt bei meinem Band das Einhorn Sternenschweif, wie es dem Betrachter auf pinkem Hintergrund entgegenblickt und dann sieht man neben dem Pferd Steine, welche zu dampfen scheinen. Eine schöne Assoziation zu den magischen Steinen, um die es hier auch geht und auch ein Blickfang für junge Leserinnen, welche Einhorngeschichten einfach lieben. 

 

Eigener Eindruck:
 Laura und ihr Pony Sternenschweif hüten ein Geheimnis, denn Sternenschweif ist in Wahrheit ein Einhorn und besitzt magische Kräfte. Diese Kräfte setzt Sternenschweif ein, um Laura und ihrer Freundin Sally zu helfen, doch damit kann auch das streng gehütete Geheimnis der Beiden in Gefahr geraten. Doch Laura und Sternenschweif müssen etwas tun! 

 

Der dritte Teil der Sternenschweif-Reihe liest sich wieder sehr einfach und ist vor allem für Leseanfänger wirklich gut geeignet. Die Geschichten sollten der Reihenfolge nachgelesen werden, auch wenn es immer viele Erklärungen gibt, aber so werden Vorgängerbände nicht gespoilert. In diesem Band geht es darum, dass die Freundin von Laura – Sally – traurig ist und Laura ihr gern helfen möchte, jedoch nicht weiß wie. Sternenschweif entpuppt sich hier wieder als Helfer in der Not und zeigt ihr, dass Sally eine Stiefschwester bekommen soll, welche wirklich gemein zu ihr ist. Das führt dazu, dass diese von zu Hause ausreißt und nun ist es an Laura und Sternenschweif Sally zu retten, auch wenn sie damit ihr streng gehütetes Geheimnis preisgeben müssen – und das fand ich ehrlich gesagt ein bisschen schade, dass das schon so schnell passiert. Sieht man aber davon ab, bekommt man eine schöne Geschichte rund um das Thema Familie, Patchworkfamilie und Freundschaft. Dann natürlich die ordentliche Portion Pferd und kleine Pferdefans sind happy. Mich hat aber leider gestört, dass immer wieder Dinge aus vergangenen Büchern so arg durchgekaut werden – wie sie eben zu dem Geheimnis gekommen ist etc. Das nimmt viel Platz im Buch weg, der meiner Meinung nach hätte anders gefüllt werden können. Deshalb gibt es von mir einen Stern Abzug. 

 

Fazit:

Da es sich bei dem Buch um ein Kinderbuch handelt und dieses sich für mein Empfinden mit vielen Wiederholungen aus anderen Bänden nährt, konnte es mich dieses Mal nicht sonderlich begeistern. Das hat mich auch dazu veranlasst es neutral zu bewerten, denn wenn ich ehrlich mit mir ins Gericht gehe, hätte es mich als Kind und Pferdenarr wahrscheinlich einfach nur weggeflasht.

 

Idee: 5/5

Charaktere: 3/5

Logik: 3/5

Spannung: 3/5

Emotionen: 3/5

 

 

Gesamt: 3/5

 

Daten:

ISBN: 9783440170434

Sprache: Deutsch

Ausgabe: Gebundenes Buch

Umfang: 112 Seiten

Verlag: Kosmos

Erscheinungsdatum: 12.08.2021
Profile Image for Ares.
622 reviews3 followers
July 22, 2025
Laura hilft ihrer Freundin Jess die mit ihrer Stiefschwester Samantha nicht gut klar kommt. Ihr Vater heiratet eine neue Frau nachdem ihre Mutter gestorben ist. Über das Thema wurde sehr schnell drüber gefegt aber ich denke dies ist der Jungen Leserschaft zu Schulden, Tod von Eltern ist da sicherlich ein wichtiges aber sehr sensibles Thema das man lieber nicht zu viel drin hat.

Sternenschweif ließt sich immer noch Klasse auch wenn man älter ist, ich denke nur man muss Nostalgie für die Bücher haben.

Sternenschweif und Laura haben herausgefunden das wenn Laura sich wünscht jemanden zu sehen, und Sternenscheweif Rosenquarz mit seinem Horn berührt, der Wünsch war wird und man durch den Stein Menschen beobachten kann. Damit helfen sie Jess zu sehen das Samantha sich Sorgen macht nachdem Jess weggelaufen ist und nichts gegen sie hat sondern nur mit der Situation überfordert ist.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Rain | Angelina.
95 reviews
December 6, 2023
Summary:
- Laura finds out that with her unicorn’s power she can see through a rose quartz and see current situations
- Jessica just randomly spawned as a friend? Or I just don’t remember her getting introduced? Pretty sure she just spawned, no clue where she came from

This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
129 reviews1 follower
October 17, 2020
My favorite part was in the end when Samantha was happy and finally nice to Jessica. My least favorite part is when Lauren Foster told Jessica she had to drink the Unseeing potion.
Profile Image for Lauren.
141 reviews3 followers
June 29, 2021
Loved this book and such an easy read. :)
Profile Image for Lissa .
859 reviews
September 26, 2022
4.5 Stars

Read an indefinite amount as a kid.

So fun!

I’d forgotten about the rose quartz seeing stones! Love those.

Very much enjoying this re-read of the series.
Profile Image for Kira.
85 reviews2 followers
December 23, 2023
ich liebe die Details mit der Karte am Anfang!
Profile Image for Flauschi.
145 reviews4 followers
August 23, 2025
Süß für zwischendurch aber auch nichts sagend.
Profile Image for Dolly.
Author 1 book671 followers
March 19, 2011
Our oldest is addicted to reading fairy books. I encourage that passion, as it translates into a happy reader. But I'm also happy when she branches out, so I like this series as well. We've read a few books in the My Secret Unicorn series and we are working our way through all of the books. This was another interesting story and a quick read and I'm happy to share these books with our girls.
Profile Image for Cloe.
30 reviews
October 23, 2008
My favorite part was on page six:
Twilight Star, Twilight Star,
Twinkling high above so far.
Shining light, shining bright,
Will you grant my wish tonight?
Let my little horse forelorn
Be at last a unicorn!
Profile Image for Emma Gee.
8 reviews
February 26, 2010
I read this book when i was about 8, so i really enjoyed them because i love mystic creatures. The developing relationship between the unicorn and the girl made me feel like it was me, because of the way the story was written.
11 reviews
July 27, 2009
a great kid book and many more magical adventuresin the series of my secret unicorn
Profile Image for Marina Li.
38 reviews25 followers
January 17, 2012
This book was magical. And it's interesting. I love this book very much :)
Profile Image for Maylie.
3 reviews
Read
May 10, 2012
I remember that this was one of my favourite series when I was in 3rd grade. Old times, old times.
Profile Image for Yasmín.
128 reviews6 followers
August 22, 2012
primer libro que pude leer en ingles totalmente, y no para el colegio. Tenia 17 años ;-)
Profile Image for Oliver.
149 reviews2 followers
October 16, 2012
Tackles a difficult situation lot of kids can identify with.
Profile Image for Karen.
32 reviews44 followers
April 10, 2013
It's very cute and a thoughtful treasure.
Profile Image for Lia.
26 reviews
December 17, 2013
It's very good like the other books in the series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews

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