The Dragon and the Unicorn: The Magic of Friendship - Charly Froh - ★★★★.¼

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AUTHOR: Charly Froh

ILLUSTRATOR: Zuzana Svobodova
GENRE: Children's Picture Book.
RATING: 4.25 stars.

A sweet story of an unlikely friendship.

Dan the Dragon stays on Cloud City, and Fran the Unicorn lives in Sparkle Land. They’ve never met. In fact, they don’t even know about each other’s existence. Both thought that their life was perfect as is. One day, when a blizzard strikes the Emerald Kingdom, both Dan and Fran are carried away by the wintry gusts and find themselves stranded far from home. At the place they’ve landed, there’s no one else. Each regards the other with curiosity and wariness. Each thinks that they can rescue themselves on their own. But soon they realise that they can work better when they work together.

This is a really cute story. Kids anyway love magical creatures such as unicorns and dragons, so the book scores a winner by getting both of these in a single title. The friendship between Dan and Fran is balanced, with both helping each other and learning from each other, and even willing to try new things with each other. It highlights how satisfying friendships are mutually beneficial.

The story stresses on the importance of not judging by appearance, and not being shy about asking for help when we really need it. Of course, asking for help from strangers is risky in the real world, but with certain safe policies, children can hopefully understand better whom to approach for assistance.

The illustrations are what take the book to the perfect level. I loved the creative choices of the illustrator. Both Dan and Fran are sketched with some rainbow-coloured elements, thereby making every single page striking! Dan’s glasses are an adorable add-on, and his fire is like nothing I have seen before!

Based on the vocabulary and writing style, this would work really well for 3-8 year olds.

Recommended for sure.

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