Illustrated by Sahar Haghgoo
2.5 stars
Kind of conflicted about this one.
Princess Minna always knows when something is wrong in the kingdom when the seagulls flip and flap around Castle Tall-Towers and scare off all the doves. She sets off to make things right before Lord and Lady Welling-Tunboot arrive to play freeze dance.
I enjoyed the narration and general silliness. Great example of onomatopoeia. There were so many fun dynamics at play in this one with humorous world building and interesting characters.
But I’m kind of annoyed everyone just expects Minna to fix everything. She likes fixing things, but, geez, the poor girl is obviously tired. Give her a moment to herself. People do “nice” things they think she will like (like kiss babies and admire their decorations), but don’t actually help her (even when they think she’s about to be eaten by a dragon!) and make more work for her in order to make them happy. Minna finally gets some sleep but only after she figures out everyone else’s problems and has a moment to take care of herself. I know I’m taking it all a bit seriously but I’m not sure what lesson I’m supposed to take away from this. It’s fine to include this storyline but her self-sacrificing is never addressed and just treated as a totally normal, expected thing.
Having said all that, the illustrations are really sweet. Loved having the full-color visuals.
Based on the title, I was fully expecting the unicorn mix-up to play more of a role rather than as part of general mix-ups.
Overall, it was a fun and silly read with some humorous moments, but the message of putting everyone else first and neglecting her own feelings just didn’t sit well with me. Might try the first book in the series and see how it goes.