Pearl the Magical Unicorn

Pearl #1

by Sally Odgers

'Pearl the Magical Unicorn' is the first Sally Odgers' series where the magical unicorn Pearl and her friends take on some of life's tough lessons with humor and heart. . .

©2020 Sally Odgers (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

Genres: Childrens, Fantasy

Paperback

First published January 7, 2020

About the author

Sally Odgers was born in Tasmania in the 1950s, went to school there in the 1960s, married there in the 1970s, and had her children there in the 1980s. Her first book was published in 1977.

Reviews

[Schizanthus Nerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pearl is a unicorn whose magic doesn’t exactly turn out how she plans. All she wants to do is share some apples with her best friends in the Kingdom, Tweet the firebird and Olive the ogre. However, each time she tosses her head or wiggles or prances something unexpected happens, like strawberry milkshake falling from the sky onto one of her friend’s heads.

Perhaps it would be better if Pearl didn’t try to use her magic after all. Then Pearl and her friends encounter three big gobble-uns who are planning something dastardly (and smelly).

This is a cute friendship story during which Pearl’s friends help her to believe in herself. Young readers who enjoy sugary sweet stories will enjoy hanging out with Pearl and her friends. I wasn’t a fan of Pearl’s random exclamations which included “Purple potatoes!”, “Cold crumpets!”, “Sizzling salad!”, and “Toddling toads!” but I’m not exactly the target audience; they may find these funny.

This book is extremely PINK! Pink things fall out of the sky, the illustrations are greyscale with lots of pink and plenty of words are pink too. I really liked the illustrations, particularly those showing Pearl suspicious, confused and cranky. I actually found the illustrations funnier than the story and they’re most of the reason why I will be ordering the second book of the series from the library. Also the second book is called The Flying Unicorn; flying combined with dodgy magic is something I want to see. I’d give this book 3.5 stars but am rounding up.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m obviously not the target audience for this book, nor was it my choice. My daughter received it and wanted to read it, so of course I said yes.
Pearl wants apples to share with her friends, but can’t quite use her magic correctly so she gives up... until gobble-uns (why not goblins?) force Pearl to use her magic once more.
This would be good for young girls who are beginning to read extended texts.

[Mehsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een eenhoorn, magie, vriendschap, en veel humor! Een superleuk kinderboek!


Wat een superzoet en tof boek is dit zeg! Ik heb onwijs genoten! Er was zoveel leuks, van magie die niet helemaal goed gaat (waardoor een van de vriendjes al bang is voor Rozie’s magie), trollen, en lekkere zoete appels. Het was een heerlijk avontuurlijk en fantasierijk boek en ik vloog er dan ook doorheen.

Rozie is eenhoorn, dus je zou zeggen magie is voor haar geen dingetje, nou eigenlijk dus wel. Ze vergeet vaak een spreuk, doet de verkeerde, en tja, het is toch niet zo tof om roze melk over je heen te krijgen als je een appel wil. Ik wilde Rozie een knuffel geven want ze wilde haar magie gewoon opgeven (NEE, niet doen). Ik moet wel zeggen dat de spreuken ook niet zo simpel zijn. Niet ala Harry Potter met een goede spreuk en de juiste intonatie kom je een end, maar hier moet je de juiste volgorde weten van het spreukje (hip-hup-hip of toch hip-hip-hup) en ook nog eens een bepaalde beweging (of bewegingen) doen. Tja, niet de makkelijkste.

De illustraties waren ook erg leuk al had ik ze toch liever in kleur gezien. Het voelde nu af en toe een beetje onaf vooral omdat er op andere tijden wel kleur was te vinden, alleen de karakters en verschillende dingen in de achtergrond hadden het weer niet.

Ik moet echt de rest van de boeken zien te vinden! Ik zou dit boek ook echt aanraden aan iedereen.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Dimity Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's unlikely the lads will flock into the stores for this one as cute and overwhelmingly pink as it is (not saying boys aren't into pink mind) however Odgers' jolly little tale of Pearl and her best mates is oozing 5 - 7-year-old appeal and of course as great glorious helpings of all things unicorn!

[Tanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

A unicorn book I don't actually hate!!!

Ok, that was a bit harsh but this book is has a much more meaniful message than the others: just because you can't do magic properly doesn't mean you should give up. With the help of Pearl's friends to boost her incredibly low self esteem she can do magic successfully. Kind of.

The most annoying part was how the actual book was formatted. It's very ...PINK. Certain words are in pink (I honestly don't know why, reading level standards maybe?) and in a different font so reading it is a bit jarring and disrupts the flow. The juxtaposition of the pink words and certain parts of the illustration are highlighted in pink in a grayscale image makes me think the artist/colorist really digs this color. And only this color.

[Elizabeth Mun · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about Pearl, the unicorn. Her friends are Tweet the firebird and Olive the ogre. Pearl is actually Magical Pearl but she kept on getting her magic wrong so she thought she would give up and become just plain Pearl. One day they saw real gobble-uns in a cave. Pearl thought she wasn't going to give so she made herself Magical Pearl again because she decided to use her magic. So she sneezed in the middle of her magic and that made dust around the gobble-uns and the gobble-uns had pink skirts on them! That made the gobble-uns go close to the outside of the cave. The apples from the apple tree nearby fells on the ground which made the gobble-uns run away.

I loved this book because even though Pearl gave up to be Magical Pearl when she made lots of mistakes, she decided to try again to be Magical Pearl one day when she saw the gobble-uns and that made feel happy. She thought that being Plain Pearl was actually very tricky because even though she made lots of mistakes with her magic, she realised that the magic is actually her strength. I can relate to this story when I make lots of mistakes when I'm playing my violin but not a lot of 5 year olds like me can even play an instrument.

[Caspette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating of 4.5

A cute, simple, story about a magical unicorn who is having a rough day.

Pearl tries to magic up some crunchy apples for her friends and things don’t go according to plan. This follows a story about how Pearl deals with her frustrations and learns to accept herself.

I jointly read this with my beginner reader with an older sibling within ear shot and we all sniggered with laughter at various points during the story.

The illustrations are lovely and make the story more enjoyable.

Kids were undecided on their rating so split the rating between them at 4.5 stars.

[Trisha Parsons · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why I chose this book: I'm trying to read more chapter books for younger readers so I can more easily recommend them. It's easy to steer caregivers to beginning readers or chapter books but a little harder to find the early chapter books intermixed with regular chapter books.

Brief summary: Pearl can wield magic, but she's not very good at it, so she decides not to do it anymore. But, will she use her magic to help her friends when they are in trouble?

What I didn't like about this book: The artwork is not very aesthetically pleasing, and the illustrations are primarily black and white. The pops of color are all bright pink. There isn't much detail to the illustrations, like set dressing or items; the illustrations are pretty much of Pearl and her friends Tweet and Olive, so it was kind of hard to get immersed.

What I like about this book: The story is easy to follow and the words are not so simplistic that there's no flair with the vocabulary. Pearl is funny, and she uses expressions like "Hopping hats" or "terrible tutus" to express her frustrations. These expressions will appeal to young readers while also offering them the chance to expand their vocabulary.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odgers Dodgers #1
Pearl #1
Pearl is a somewhat not all there unicorn who can't do magic to save her life, and the book has an unhealthy obsession with pink things.
Young readers will possibly be amused by the shenanigans going on, but there is not much there for the parent who may be reading with them.
I've definitely read something by this biddy before, maybe even this book, but anyway, this is average fare.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the vein of Hot Dog but without the clear messages. Pearl is a unicorn trying to get to grips with her magic. She and her friends go on an adventure to get apples. This book was so pink! Didn’t quite get there for me.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very pink and cutesy.
I am soooo not the demographic for this book....but will be interested to see what my library little-ies think of it.
Love Sally Odgers....but not convinced by this series.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was fine but the pink writing was distracting and I wasn't a huge fan of the illustrations.

[Kat Schrav]

Cute graphic novel series for early readers. 5yo and up.

[Willow Fraser · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it so much

[PottWab Regional Library]

E

[Jaime · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 9.5 year old said she thought it was a bit too short and that the ending didn’t really feel like an ending. But she still wants to try #2!

[Lorynn Khumalo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the unicorn and they got the apples and I was so happy.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pearl is struggling with her magic and decides to stop despite encouragement from her friends. liked the pictures, Pearls creative start to each sentence is interesting.

[Angel Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pearl the Magical Unicorn by Sally Odgers is a graphic novel about Pearl, a magical unicorn, and her bffs Tweet the firebird and Olive the Ogre. This book is definitely for children, I picked it up from the library book sale for one of the nieces.

Pearl has a hard time getting her magic to do exactly what she wants (Unicorn magic is very complicated), but today, she just wants to make apples for her and her friends to snack on. This is then followed by many pages of pink gooey shenanigans.

It was cute. If you have young graphic novel reader/unicorn lovers, I think it would be a hit.

[Nik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haha, ok that was cute.
Somewhere between a picture book and a chaptered novel. The story is a bit short, so not all the chapters make sense but it's a good way to move to chaptered stories.
The story was cute and funny, with a good message of not giving and believing in yourself.
The black, white and pink of the pages is rather pretty too.
This one will definitely be going to my niece for her birthday present.