MELODY THE UNICORN AND THE BEAUTY WITHIN

Maheshwari presents a picture book about loving oneself.

Melody, a unicorn, wishes to be like all the other unicorns; they’re all multicolored, while she’s pure white. Her friends don’t care what she looks like, but she does. Several deliberate attempts to add color don’t work, but then Melody accidentally backs into raspberry bushes: “They had brushed her with color,” the text notes. “For the first time in her life, she felt beautiful.” But the color doesn’t last after it starts to rain. Next, Melody finds flowers make her colorful, but these blow away. Her friends tell her “Don’t you know that your friendship is more important than your color any day?” Her friend Ruby tells her she has a beautiful singing voice, and Melody comes to believe that “Her beauty had been inside her all along.” Maheshwari’s story is a simple one, yet her message is clear and one that young children will appreciate. Learning to accept others and understand that everyone has unique qualities is always a powerful message; the dedication, too, is worth sharing with children: “Dedicated to everyone who has ever felt they don’t fit in.” Alshalabi’s cartoon illustrations are colorful and engaging, creating a sense of a truly magical world.

Love and acceptance star in this delightful children’s book.