Nine year old Phoebe and her best friend and unicorn Marigold Heavenly Nostrils are hanging out together. As usual, they talk about all the important things in life like friends, school, and embarrassing moments, and also in Marigold Heavenly Nostrils case – how beautiful, amazing, clever and sparkly she is!

They like to play little tricks on each other but never anything nasty – bringing laughs from the victor. When they argue about how much harder the other has to work each day, they decide to swap identities. Phoebe is going to enjoy doing nothing but skipping and frolicking through meadows and M.H.Nostrils is going to be Phoebe. Both promise the other not to do anything weird.

Weird is definitely what happens, with funny results.

Phoebe’s parents and other friends feature in this episode. Her parents despair at an old TV program they used to enjoy. Now as the world is changed, they can see how inappropriate it was. Phoebe tries the same experiment which leads to worries about growing up and changing. Despite constantly teasing each other, they wonder if they will drift apart as Phoebe ages (HMN is nearly as old as time itself), but as usual, talking about it allays any fears.

All of this and more is in small comic strips and always funny. HMN’s ego is huge, hilarious and lightens everything, while Phoebe’s sharp wit can counteract her magical best friend’s narcissistic personality.

This is No.18 in this series, and I found it is not essential to read the previous episodes to enjoy Unicorn for a Day.

Phoebe and Marigold Heavenly Nostrils’ friendship is hilarious as Phoebe is only nine and learning about the world, where MHN is an ancient magical and positively sparkling (in her opinion) being that knows all (in her opinion). This leads to hilarious conversations about all and everything as they banter and bicker and build their remarkable friendship.

Being a Unicorn for a Day is only one of many story threads within this graphic novel. 

There are a lot of words young readers will come across through this collection of comic strips, but there is a handy glossary in the back to help. Learning new vocab while laughing is a great way to do it!

I love the illustration and easy to read lettering style in this funny graphic novel series.

Author / Illustrator – Dana Simpson

Age – 8+

Graphic Novel

(2023, Hardie Grant, Series, Unicorn, Bullies, Friendship, Laugh, Funny, Humour, Body swap, Magic, Banter, Growing up, Fantasy, Family, Change, Graphic Novel)