By Shannon Hale
A kitten makes herself a paper horn, announces she is a unicorn, and gets laughed at for it.
Kitty builds a horn out of paper and yarn and glitter, sticks it on her head, and knows, absolutely knows, that she is a unicorn. The other cats find this hilarious and say so. Then a real unicorn turns up, enormous and shining and unmistakably the genuine article, and Kitty sees exactly how un-unicorn she is, and the bottom drops out of her. What Unicorn says back is the whole book. She has been watching Kitty, and as far as she is concerned Kitty is a kitty-corn. And then Unicorn pulls out a headband with fluffy pink ears, because she would rather like to be one too. LeUyen Pham draws Kitty's small crumpled face so well that grown-ups get caught out by it.
This is the funny one at the little end, and it is aimed squarely at the child who has decided they ARE a unicorn rather than merely that unicorns are nice. Kitty's certainty is enormous and completely unearned, and your child recognizes it instantly because it is theirs. Shannon Hale writes it in about ninety words, so a two-year-old can sit through it, and LeUyen Pham does the rest. The reason it beats the other small sparkly books is the ending: nobody grants Kitty a horn and nobody tells her to stop pretending. Unicorn simply joins in. There are a few more Kitty-Corn books behind it if this one lands.