Read Unicorn Academy 2 – Scarlett and Blaze free for 7 days. £7.99/month after - less than a paperback.
Julie Sykes' Scarlett and Blaze is a snowy unicorn adventure for 7 year olds about a girl who'd much rather have fun than be careful (and a unicorn who's exactly the same).
Scarlett is in her first year at Unicorn Academy. She and her unicorn Blaze love going fast and jumping high, and the rule about only jumping with a teacher watching? Mostly a nuisance.
It's the second book in the series, and it's February. The weather has turned bitterly cold, and then Sparkle Lake starts to freeze. That's never happened before. Every unicorn on the island needs to drink its magic water, so the teachers are very worried indeed.
Scarlett, on the other hand, thinks ice skating sounds brilliant.
Blaze finds her magic early on and it's fire. That's perfect for toasting toffee nuts and for drenching snooty Valentina in melted snow. It's less perfect in a stable full of hay!
And that's really what this book is about. Scarlett is funny, generous and great company, but she doesn't stop to think. She shows off with Blaze's new power, and it's her best friend Isabel who ends up paying for it.
The person who keeps telling her to slow down is Layla, the quiet one in their dorm who's always got her nose in a book. Scarlett finds her SO boring. Watching her slowly realise Layla might be worth listening to is one of the nicest parts of the story (and Layla turns out to be a lot braver than Scarlett ever expected).
There's a mystery underneath it all. Strict Ms Nettles insists the lake can never freeze, then Scarlett spots her smiling to herself with a little bottle in her hand. So is someone freezing the lake on purpose?
Isabel and her unicorn fall through the ice into freezing water before they're pulled out. Later a huge sabre-toothed polar bear chases the girls up a glacier, and Blaze drives it off with fireballs that singe its paws and nose. It's exciting rather than gory, but a child who worries about animals getting hurt may want to know the bear runs away.
Got a reader who's all go and no brakes? They'll probably recognise a bit of themselves in Scarlett. And if they're more of a Layla, they'll enjoy seeing the careful one get her moment.
If they haven't met the dorm yet, the series starts with Sophia and Rainbow, on the day the new pupils are first paired with their unicorns.
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