Here is a sweet and exciting fantasy for kids bridging up from early chapter books.

Unicorn Island
by Donna Galanti.
Illustrated by
Bethany Stancliffe.

Epic!/Andrews McMeel, 2021. ISBN 978-1524864705.

Review copy received from the publisher.  

As the story opens, our heroine Sam is preparing to use her very limited cooking skills to make a special meal for her mother to celebrate them living in the same place for a year, only to find out that her flutist mother has taken a short-term, no kids gig in Europe.  

Sam is sent off to stay with her grouchy Uncle Mitch in Foggy Harbor, and the elements of a classic fantasy-mystery are introduced.  There is an old house full of character and secrets, the aforementioned grouchy and reticent uncle (who shares her affinity for burning food as well as her hair color), a local kid her age to befriend, and an unchanging fog bank off the coast, into which Uncle Mitch regularly rows deep into the night.  

The large text size and numerous full-color illustrations put this at the chapter book or not quite middle grade level for me, but despite all the main characters having single-syllable names, the text includes good descriptive language and a mystery that isn’t quite wrapped up in this book.  Though her friend Tuck is only shown in the pictures as Black, not described as such, I did appreciate that his veterinarian mother plays a key role.  The illustrations are in a crisp digital style, with pictures that contrast happy and tense moments, as in Sam and her mother first shown dancing with cheerfully steaming pots and then both sadly looking at a burned mess.  A picture of her talking with Tuck becomes more than just talking heads with a misty beach setting, and Sam’s always-flowing hair adds to the fantasy feel of it all.  

The unicorns advertised on the cover don’t make their appearance until halfway through the book, but the action builds enough to keep things moving pleasantly along.  I am personally hoping that Sam’s long-lost aunt will be rediscovered in the next book. We can always use more fantasy books at younger levels to engage those readers who aren’t interested in realism, and this is a lovely choice, particularly for readers who enjoyed books like the Kingdom of Wrenly and Zoe and Sassafras series or Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures.