Sugarlump and the Unicorn

Product Information

Now, Sugarlump is a farm horse out in the fields - but he soon finds his new life hard work, and wishes to be free of his load so he can gallop. I am not sure that any children's author out there is better at matching playful rhythm and whimsical language than Julia Donaldson. The unicorn ended up turning Sugarlump into a fairground horse on a carousel, where Sugarlump was apparently happy and exclaimed “this is the life for me”.

There are many ideas that children can take away from this book, such as never giving up on your dreams or trying until you reach your goal, but also that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side and you have to appreciate what you have. But when a magical unicorn grants his wish, he soon discovers there's no match for the fun of playing with playing with children.This gentle, magical story with its message that the grass isn't always necessarily greener on the other side has a reassuring happy ending, and is certain to be another winner with preschool aged children. One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler.

which generated quite some negative feedbacks and reviews about this book, although my kids have never commented about this line, and neither do I think the line would have caused any negative thoughts in their little brains. Sugarlump wished that he could be out in the big wide world, so the unicorn “pawed the ground and tossed her mane”, and “flashes her eyes of blue”; and upon turning around seven times, Sugarlump becomes a farmer’s horse. But he quickly tires of each succeeding life he wishes for and ends up depressed, however, the unicorn knows just where he'll be happy. Sugarlump, who is initially quite happy being a rocking horse for the children thinking 'This is the life for me', but when the children are out at school he dreams of being out in the big wide world. After his wishes are granted, Sugarlump realises in the end that he just wants to be with the children.I do wonder however whether all horses would end up sad and unhappy like Sugarlump because no role seemed to be perfect (seeing Sugarlump’s track record, I think he is going to get dizzy and bored soon turning round and round at the same merry-go-round, listening to the same old music). My novel THE GIANTS AND THE JONESES is going to be made into a film by the same team who made the Harry Potter movies, and I have written three books of stories about the anarchic PRINCESS MIRROR-BELLE who appears from the mirror and disrupts the life of an otherwise ordinary eight-year-old. The story is a classic be-careful-what-you wish-for plot but handled in a gentle way that ends on a positive note. So the magic unicorn transforms him into a race horse - but still, Sugarlump isn't quite sure if this life is right for him. A story of finding one's place that closest to the heart may take a little wishing, a unicorn to grant the wishes and a few changes along the way.