The Princess and the Unicorn, by Carol Hughes

If you think the pink-and-gold cover art for Carol Hughes’s The Princess and the Unicorn is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, chances are good you will really like the book.

The Princess and the Unicorn is the story of two unlikely allies: a 10-year-old human princess and a young fairy girl, who bond together to save a unicorn from the princess’s evil governess. (You can tell she’s evil because she wears a turban and a vermilion and turquoise negligee. Plus, she smokes.) Along the way, they have several G-rated adventures, learn a few Disney-approved lessons, and eventually triumph over their enemies.

Hughes is a solid descriptive writer, and her book features a pleasant dusting of humor, but reading such an utterly straightforward chapter book is a strange experience. The Sisters Grimm this isn’t—The Princess and the Unicorn is so sincere and devoid of sarcasm or tongue-in-cheek humor that it reads like a picture book or an early-reader, but it comes with the hefty page count (274 pages) and price tag ($16.99) of a novel for older kids.

So take a long look at the cover art from The Princess and the Unicorn. If flowers, a bubblegum pink background, and Taylor Swift-style crimped hair is the kind of thing you’re in the market for (and money is no object), you could do worse.

...hey, at least it’s not a musical.