A Unicorn Named Rin
by Crystal Z. LeePublished by: Balestier on April 22, 2021
Genres: Easy Reader, Fantasy
Pages: 32
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
The royal phoenix is missing from the Tang dynasty palace! Princess Pingyang is worried. Can Rin the unicorn find Fan the phoenix? Together with her friends—dragon, tiger, and tortoise—Rin embarks on a journey to mystical lands in China. Along the way, Rin discovers the value of teamwork and the warmth of friendship.
A Unicorn Named Rin celebrates the wonder and beauty of Chinese history and culture. This exquisitely illustrated picture book makes an ideal read for children 3-8 years old:- Easy-to-read vocabulary enables confidence in early readers- Whimsical illustrations encourage imagination in all unicorn lovers- Storyline fosters dialogue around collaboration, empathy, and kindness - Real locations in China make for an inspiring geography, history and cultural exploration adventure
Content Tags:
Perfect for readers who:
- Are 5 – 8 years old
- Like books about unicorns
- People that are behind on their reading
- Like different kinds of animals
- Want to learn more about Chinese culture
Many thanks to Balestier and Turn the Page Tours for a copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Minion Reviews is a series where my 10-year-old daughter reads and reviews books. It’s kidlit reviews from the mouth of a kid.
Everything that follows is 100% her opinion. So I’m just going to step back and give her the keyboard and let her do her thing!
Minion’s Rating:
I gave this book four unicorn horns because it didn’t have a whole lot of detail and there wasn’t very much going on, so it’s maybe better for littler kids. Where there was some things going on, it was pretty good. I liked all the animals and the way they did human things. I liked all the pictures of animals and what they looked like. They weren’t like other animals I’ve seen before in books. They were different colors and drawn differently.
About The Book:
A Unicorn Named Rin is about a phoenix that went missing, and a qilin, a chinese unicorn, named Rin that was the fastest flying unicorn in China had to go find the phoenix with some help from their friends. Rin meets lots of different animals along the way like a turtle, phoenix, and tiger that help them on their quest.
Five things I liked:
- All the different animals in the book.
- That all the animals could sing and the singing made the phoenix be able to find its way back.
- That the unicorn was sent to find the phoenix because it was the fastest flying unicorn in China.
- That all the animals could do things that only people could do like talk and read.
- I liked that the book told the name of the unicorn and where Rin lived.
If I had a unicorn . . .
I would name it Shimmer, and I would ride it everywhere. We would go on quests, just like Rin, except we’d try to find more unicorns. She would have a lot of friends like Rin. They would be all sorts of animals, like dragons and more unicorns.
Mama Minion’s Thoughts
In case you couldn’t tell … unicorns are kind of Minion’s thing. There seems to be a rush lately of unicorn books. Certainly, there’s been a major influx of them at the library I work at, as more and more readers seem to be picking them up. What these unicorn books don’t have, unfortunately, is diversity. Almost none at all. So imagine my excitement to have stumbled upon A Unicorn Named Rin, which not only has a unique Chinese unicorn (a.k.a. a qilin) but is set in China with very unique Chinese-inspired illustrations and some lesser-seen animals!
I highly recommend this one for readers who enjoy unicorns but want a little included diversity in there, too. I, for one, am tired of the same old unicorn stories. So yes to being set in China. Yes to all the Chinese culture (including language!) thrown into the book in an easy-to-understand way. I think it’s important for young readers to understand that the concepts they love (like unicorns, for example) aren’t just American or Western concepts and there are other beliefs out there.
There’s even a glossary in the back that explains the locations mentioned in the book and how they exist in real life. It also explains a little about the significance of the animals that appear in the book, which was also nice. It’s a fun story filled with unique animals and friendship that I think will be a winner for young readers, especially those who already love unicorns. This is probably a sort of unicorn story they haven’t seen yet.
Wonderful review, Minion! And I agree with you, Sammie, about the lack of diversity in unicorn books. Hopefully there’s more in the future!
Thanks! I’m really hoping for some more. I’m so excited to see an increase in diversity in children’s books in general, so I think it’s definitely moving in the right direction. 😀
[…] ★★★★☆ || GoodreadsMinion and I read this one together and reviewed it! It was a little young for Minion, and I think that showed in her review. I’m really excited to get this into the library, though, and into the hands of some of our children there. Unicorn books are big right now, so I absolutely loved the diversity of this one! It’s a really cute story about friendship, set in China with some Chinese culture slipped in. […]