I love how Pounder is systematically working their way through every single magical creature I loved as a kid, from Mermaids to Unicorns!

Much like Pounder’s other books, this one is easy to read, imaginative and full of magic! It’s also highly entertaining and a little bit silly as I find Pounder’s books can tend to be which is not really my vibe HOWEVER I think kids will certainly love this and I look forward to recommending this latest series!

Fun slime filled caper that subverts the unicorn tradition in a lovely way.

Fun exciting and wacky this is a perfect summer holiday Read.

If you don't like goo, stay away from this book!
Neon just wants to be normal but that seems very unlikely when she discovers a portal to the UNIverse where actual unicorns live (without horns or hooves, though there's still plenty of glitter). This book was a little TOO wacky for me but I can imagine younger kids loving all the madness.

Neon Gallup is almost 10 and desperately wants to be ‘normal’. She is moving to a new town with her family (again) but she is determined to blend in this time: no bright clothes, no sequins and definitely no glitter! Neon’s mum and dad are going to run a cafe they’ve called ‘Ratty’s’ as they really like rats. It gets worse when her dad paints it ‘rat brown’ and Neon has to wear a furry apron with a rat nose and whiskers on the front.

Whilst in her new bedroom, Neon accidentally discovers a secret compartment containing some sparkly goo and a bright green lipstick. Little does Neon know that the lipstick is actually a portal to the UNIverse, a place where unicorns exist and look like humans (only with extra sparkle). She gets dragged into the UNIverse by Moya who quickly explains to her that unicorns that resemble horses were actually an invention by a guy called Greg as a distraction from the real unicorns (the ones that look like humans). Unicorns are magical creatures who are able to command goo. The UNIverse is run by the Gooheads and there’s a problem when Neon arrives - humans aren’t supposed to be there. The Gooheads decide that Neon must learn to command goo herself before her tenth birthday, which is only a few days away. Only then may she return home. Then ensues a busy few days of Neon meeting lots of unicorns, encountering goo of all descriptions (including Angry Monster goo) and trying to keep herself out of trouble.

I loved the idea of absolutely anything being able to be created from goo. This book is funny and quirky with a nice message about ‘normal’ being different for everyone. The version I read didn’t include the illustrations, but I can’t wait to see the finished version! For fans of Amelia Fang, Rainbow Grey and Peanut Jones.

As my class would tell you, I am not a fan of fluffy books. I tend to enjoy stories that are quite dark in places or with a real sense of danger to them and anything cutsie or saccharine will leave me cold. Sometimes, however, I need something lighter – something fun, with a mild level of peril, that will put a smile on my face and that is exactly what I have found here.

Having adored the brilliantly inventive Christmas story Tinsel when I read it almost a year and a half ago, the name of Sibéal Pounder lodged in my head and when I saw this on Net Galley, with its distinctive cover, immediately requested it. Packed full of the same sense of fun and highly original quirkiness of Tinsel, this is a book I read pretty much in one go and one I am delighted to say is the start of a brand new series.

For those many young fans of unicorns, the truth of their existence is revealed at the start of our story by narrator Neon Gallup. Telling us that the single-horned horses with which we are so familiar are in fact a figment of the imagination, Neon goes on to tell us that while unicorns are in fact the most magical beings on the planet, in fact they look just like you or me and exist in a parallel world to us known as the UNIverse.

Having divulged this shocking revelation to us, we are transported to three days before Neon’s tenth birthday as she and her family move into their new home in the town of Brunty – something Neon sees as an opportunity to reinvent herself as being normal, ditching her trademark multi-coloured sparkly outfits for a far more subdued black. Driving into the town, Neon is puzzled not only by her parents’ decision to open a rat-themed café there, but also by the people digging for treasure in an apparently random fashion.

Arriving at her new home, Neon goes to check out her room and spots a tiny unicorn carved in to the wood of the windowsill. Touching it lightly, she is taken aback when it clicks and the windowsill pops open to reveal a hiding place filled with slime. Looking more closely, she spots the corner of an envelope hidden just beyond the goo and discovers an old lipstick hidden within.

This is not any old lipstick though, and before long it leads her into an entirely new world: the UNIverse, which she mentioned earlier. Unfortunately for Neon, the residents of the UNIverse do not trust her to keep their presence secret and Neon is told that she will not be allowed to return home unless she can pass the test to become a real unicorn before she reaches the age of ten. With no experience of the UNIverse and its peculiar ways, can Neon pass the test, or is she doomed never to return to Brunty and a normal existence?

Even as a – shall we say – more mature individual, I fully understand Neon’s desire to be normal. As someone who has always been perceived as odd, I remember well trying hard to be like everyone else as a youngster and when we meet her Neon feels that pressure intensely. Deciding to ditch her favoured bright colours and sparkles in favour of a drab, black existence seems to her to be the way forward and I was so glad when she was allowed to be herself once more in the UNIverse – a powerful message to today’s children that conforming to what society expects of us is not, and should not, always be possible.

Neon is such a breath of fresh air. Bright, caring and brim full of curiosity, she is impulsive – which gets her into more than one spot of bother – but she is warm-hearted and judges those she encounters on what she finds, not what she sees, which in today’s hopefully ever-increasingly accepting society makes her a great role model for those many children who will recognise themselves in her as they read on.

The most tremendous fun, I really loved this book and can only imagine how much more younger readers will enjoy it once it is published with Sarah Warburton’s illustrations on July 7th. The most enormous thanks must go to publisher Bloomsbury Children’s Books and to Net Galley for my virtual advance read ahead of that date.

First I want to start by saying that I love the front cover of this book it is amazing and would totally catch my eye if I was a child in a bookshop or buying a book for a child. Well written with an enchating storyline and well developed charcaters that I loved. It was funny and magical and I think kids will love it.
It reminded me of a book I loved as a child Flossie Teacake exceot instead of a furcoat magically making her older and letting her experience the world, this was a green lipstick that magically let Neon see another world filled with magic and wonderful creatures. Now I just need to find a battered green lipstick