I'm afraid I didn't get time to read and review this one before the e-galley expired. My sincere apologies. It looks like a fun book and I may yet pick up a copy of it one of these days.

As a lover of unicorns I simple adored this title little ones would definitely love it 5/5 stars awesome book

Xander and the Rainbow Barfing Unicorns was a clever story. Xander is a boy who loves magic, until one bad day at school that is. But just as he is about to give up on believing in it, he runs into 3 unicorns. They are not what he expected, and they seem to have a big problem. The illustrations were breath taking and the story itself took me on an exciting journey.

This book is meant to be funny and I'm sure if you're 8, zombie barfing unicorns will be hilarious. For me it was poorly written and ridiculous, but I'm not the target audience either.

I am deeply disappointed in Capstone for publishing a book that uses the word “spaz”. This is an offensive term to people who are spastic and totally unacceptable. I’d equate it with the r-word.

I think this series will appeal to readers with a certain sense of humor that yearns for quirky, weird, gross and magical books.

I enjoyed this book and think it is a great book for children just starting to read chapter books. The added benefit is this is part of a series so children can continue reading about Xander, Cradie, Blep, and Ronk while building confidence in their reading skills. This book will appeal to many different types of children due to being funny, a little gross, including magic, and having unicorns. As of right now it doesn’t look like the library I work at plans to order this book but I will be recommending it for a possible purchase.

Xander and the Rainbow-Barfing Unicorns is written by Matthew K. Manning and illustrated by Joey Ellis.

Xander Stone is a twelve-year-old boy that encountered a unicorn when it puked a rainbow-colored mess all over his favorite shoes. In order to keep the reality of unicorns a secret, Xander agreed to protect them on their interesting adventures.

It's a chapter book with some illustrations that enhance the unique story. Xander and the Rainbow-Barfing Unicorns is geared towards children, particularly ages eight to ten.


Note: I received this book from NetGalley, which is a program designed for bloggers to write book reviews in exchange for books, yet the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was just a lot of fun. It’s a new beginning chapters series about Xander and the magic he discovered behind his house. In particular zombie unicorns that barf rainbows. While a fantastical story, it has a lot of heart and a main character that many kids could see themselves in. Weather it from growing up and losing the magic of magic, or just being picked on at school. Kids will be rooting for Xander and drying to find ways to barf rainbows.

Test-reader/daughter (8-year-old reading machine) absolutely loved this book, She tore through it in a few hours, laughing. Sounds hilarious. How could I not sell a book with a title like this?

Do you believe in magic?

Xander does. He’s been a magic hunter for most of his life. When he was younger his friend Kelly would go on magic hunts with him but no longer does. On the very day that he decides to give up on magic it blasts across the sky in all of its technicolor glory. He doesn’t see fairies, gnomes or a spirit.

Instead he witnesses three rainbows, but there’s no pot of gold at the end of these rainbows. What Xander discovers are three unicorns! But not just your garden variety type. These are zombie unicorns 🧟‍♀️🧟‍♂️🦄 and they barf rainbows 🤢🤮🌈🌈🌈!

“RONK!”

Being zombies they also smell terrible and tend to be accompanied by flies. The unicorns have heard about human adults who no longer believe in magic and will experiment on them if discovered. Xander knows it’s up to him to protect these rainbow vomiters from harm, but how?

Matthew K. Manning has written one of the most entertaining books I’ve read this year. The writing engages the reader from the beginning with this amazing and absurd story (I say that with the utmost respect) that is so imaginative and funny. I wanted these rainbow-barfing unicorns to be real. I wanted to go watch them vomit rainbows into the sky for myself. I wanted to visit Pegasia to witness for myself this magical dimension.

Joey Ellis’ illustrations capture the comedy in this book perfectly! My favourite illustration today is of Xander bathed in a rainbow yet pretending he can’t see anything out of the ordinary. It accurately depicts the humour of a kid obviously caught in a lie, denying it regardless and refusing to make eye contact. I expect my favourite illustration will change each time I open the book though.

I spent the whole book thinking this would make an incredible series and I dreaded nearing the end because I needed more! More unicorns! More vomit! More fun! Then I made it to the very end and lo and behold, what do I see on the back cover? The covers for the next three books in the series! Yippee!!! They look like as much fun as this one and I can’t wait!

I will be buying this book as soon as it’s released (for myself) so I can reread it to my heart’s content and have already recommended it to my favourite librarian for an avid young reader who consistently checks out the same kid’s books I do. I need to read the rest of the series urgently!

Food I craved while reading this book: apple donuts, cotton candy and blueberry strudel.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Capstone for introducing me to this new favourite.