I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. ⛤⛤⛤⛤ Aquicorn Cove by Katie O'Neill is a children's graphic novel. It's very short and sweet. It took me about 5 minutes to read. Even though it's a very quick read, it's an engaging, heartwarming story with adorable illustrations.
This story is about a girl, Lana, who returns to her seaside town with her dad to help her aunt clean up debris after a big storm sweeps through the village. She ends up finding a little, injured aquicorn, a sea creature resembling a seahorse. She learns about their underwater home and how the village is slowly destroying it by fishing with plastic nets, which causes them to scoop up more fish than they need. Wanting to protect both their world and her own, she tells her aunt to go back to the way her grandmother used to fish and, in the process, heals the little aquicorn.
I think this is a cute story that will engage young readers and teach them about conservation, environmentalism, death, and love. Many heavy topics are packed into this one quick read. I would recommend that everyone, both young and old, pick this up and read it.
#NetGalley #AquicornCove

Yes! Yes yes! Is all I keep thinking. From the art style to the story— this is a book that keeps on giving

This was the most adorable and heartwarming story I read in a while, and the art is fantastic! I wish there was more of it. Finished it dying to read everything Katie O'Neill has ever worked on :)

A cute children's comic about family and doing good for your community with a strong environmental message. Lana returns to her old hometown with her dad to help out her aunt after a storm devastates the coastal community. There, she discovers a small, sea-horse like creature (and aquicorn) and learns that there is a community living in the reef-- something her aunt knows all too well since she was close to its ruler many years ago. But overfishing and pollution have damaged the reef, and if something doesn't change the reef will die and with it the town that relies on the reef to act as a storm break. Neither of those things is going to happen if Lana has anything to say about it.

This is the third comic by Katie O'Neill I've read and each of them is equally cute and uplifting. I really appreciated the message about needing to respect and protect our environment-- not only for its own sake but for ours as well. The illustrations were adorable as always, and I think everyone who reads this is going to want an aquicorn for themselves. Overall: cute, short, and sweet, with an important message.

I fell in love with Miss O'Neill's Tea Dragon Society graphic novel earlier this year. Her art style is soft and fanciful, and her storytelling is magnificent.

The story opens with a girl named Lana and her father returning to the seaside village where Lana was born to help her Aunt Mae and the villagers recover from a storm. Lana loves the ocean, and the looming return to the city saddens her; after all, the sea is where she feels closest to her dead mother.

When Lana finds an injured seahorse in a tidepool, she takes it back to her Aunt's house to care for him. She doesn't realize that her act of kindness is noticed by the Acquicorns who live in the reef, until full-grown Acquicorn seahorses start to bring Lana possessions that were lost to the sea during the storm to return to the villagers. But then one day, the Aquicorns bring a treasure to Lana that she takes to Mae, hoping that Mae knows who the treasure belongs to. Mae is stunned, because this treasure was something that once belonged to her.

Accompanied by a powerful storyline of love and friendship, Miss O'Neill discusses the impact of humans on the environment in a kid-friendly way, opening up for conversations about how humans can be self-sufficient and provide for themselves, their families, and their communities while also respecting and protecting the environment, ensuring that their home is still beautiful and strong for future generations.

Also, there are mermaid unicorns. What is not to love about mermaid unicorns?

Oh there is so much to love about this one! From understanding and dealing with emotions to conflict resolution, the effects of global warming to acceptance of personal responsibility and last but not least, community responsibility for the environment. I love this one! I’ll be getting it for our library and calling up our elementary school’s library. Such a treasure. Doesn’t hurt that the artwork is beautiful as well!

A cute, quick, and lighthearted read with a good environmental message! Definitely will be looking to add this to our juniors collection!

This is a touching graphic novel that focuses on a young child, who is yet to find her place in the world after her mother's death. The book also highlights the moral responsibility that each of us has to bear in order to preserve our environment and the need for us to limit ourselves in accordance with our need instead of greed.

The book has a colourful format that encourages younger readers and has a lot of self-explanatory panels without text which makes it easier for younger kids to understand and progress faster.

Recommended for kids of all ages. This book will go a long way in helping them develop an unbiased view of the world and their surroundings

Katie O'Neill has another charmingly whimsical children's graphic novel with Aquicorn Cove. She does such an excellent job of including diverse characters casually and addressing societal issues in a manner that children may understand. Here the focus is on the deterioration of the choral reefs and the main character comes to learn about it along with the reader.

Additionally, the art is lovely, very bright and clear and colorful.

I really enjoyed the Teadragon Society graphic novel, so was so excited to be able to get my hands on an advance copy of Aquicorn Cove! Kate O'Neill does it again, with soft visuals, diverse characters, and an enchanting story. The young main character of the story used to live by the sea with her mother and father, before her mother drowned in a storm. During a visit to her aunt, she discovers an aquicorn (a sort of sea-horse unicorn) and a whole underwater world. Alongside the fantastic elements of the book are themes of grief, loss, climate change, and conservation. One thing I love about Katie O'Neill's books, besides pretty much everything, is her depictions of the various relationships between characters. The soft fairytale image of the books can be deceiving, and the relationships are always deeper and more poignant than they appear at first glance. Her inclusion of diverse and lgbt characters also gets a big thumbs up from me. Some readers might be put off by the somewhat unexpected plot line about pollution, with a strong message for responsible use of the world around us. A must-read for fans of The Teagarden Society, fans of graphic novels, or anyone looking for a bit more depth to their fairytales.

Aquicorn Cove was a quick and enjoyable story. I kind of wished there was more, but I really loved the story we got. The artwork was cute and colourful, it reminded me a lot of Ponyo. I definitely recommend it to people who like graphic novels and prefer shorter stories and not a complete story arc.

*Thanks to NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review*

Katie O’Neill has one of the most adorable and most gorgeous illustrations. I have never loved the illustrations in anything as much as I do in this book. I loved the adorable f/f romance and all the characters. I loved that Aquicorn Cove addressed the harms in fishing sea creatures and the harm of what plastic can do to our beautiful seas. I will definitely have to check out The Tea Dragon Society.

This is an adorable graphic novel and I will likely pick up a copy to share with my niece in a couple years. She loves books and the beach, so this is perfect for her in about 2-3 years.

Young Lana and her dad visit the village they moved away from a few years ago, after her mother died. They are visiting Aunt Mae, who is a bit of a leader among the villagers and helps to keep things running smoothly. They have just experience a bad storm and are in the process of rebuilding and cleaning up. On a walk to the sea, Lana finds a sick seahorse-like creature and brings it back to Aunt Mae's house to help it heal. We then see how first Aunt Mae, then Lana, are introduced Aure and her world under the sea.

The artwork here is gorgeous. The characters are cute and cleanly drawn, making it easy for the younger children to decipher what is being depicted. While in the village, there are lots of rich, earthy tones in the art, but as we move toward the beach and sea, we see more in shades of aqua, coral, and gold, with touches of darker shades.

Given that this book is targeted to young readers, what could seem a bit preachy to someone well into adulthood, it provides kids with lessons about conservation, taking care of earth and its creatures, and taking care to not take more than you need.

One final note for parents: There is a suggestion of a romantic F/F relationship. No one is doing anything overt, and young children may not pick up on it, but I thought I'd let you know in case you're overly sensitive to your child seeing adults who care for each other.

That is just cuteness overload! I really didn't expect so many meaningful messages to be incorporated into a short graphic novel but the author has definitely succeeded. The illustrations look like they've been taken from a dream.

Ms. O’Neill’s art is adorably cute, and I liked her previous graphic novel, The Tea Dragon Society, so much that I bought a signed copy, so I was excited to see she had something new coming out with equally adorable fantasy creatures.



Lana and her father have returned to their seaside hometown after it’s been hit by a big storm to help her Aunt Mae. Lana is happy to be away from the big city and back near the ocean, partly because she has so many wonderful memories of her mother there. When she discovers a hurt seahorse-like animal, she brings it home to help recuperate. As Lana helps her aunt and the other villagers recover from the storm, as well as the little fish, she discovers how intertwined the villagers are with the sea and each other – and finds strength of her own.



One of my favorite parts of this book was its depiction of Lana’s grief and how she overcame it. I thought it was handled in a very age-appropriate way that didn’t dumb-down the overwhelming feeling of grief, while still focusing on Lana’s happy memories of her mother.



The art is deceptively simple, but stunning. I especially loved the differences in color palettes between village life and the underwater realm. The author’s love for the sea really stands out, with beautiful illustrations of various marine flora and fauna. The character designs are expressive as well, from Lana to Aunt Mae to the mermaid-like Aure. I especially loved the depiction of the relationship between Aunt Mae and Aure.



I liked the basic theme of the novel – that helping and protecting others makes you stronger. I thought the emphasis on conservation was a bit heavy-handed, but then, this is a story meant for kids. Overall, though, this is an adorably fun and quick read, and I’ll definitely be buying a hard copy for my kids.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This is so very adorable and just right for my grade 6 and 7 students. I am definitely buying this for my library. I already have kids who loved The Tea Dragon Society and I know they will love this too.

Aquicorn Cove is sweet and magical and realistic, a tale of happiness and sadness, of discovery and wonder, and of the start of making things right again.

Lana is a little lonely, a little sad after the passing of her mother and her and her father's subsequent move to the city, but she's happy to be back in her little hometown by the sea. Even if they're there to help clean up after a bad storm. But she's back, back in a place that makes her happy. When she discovers a mysterious little sea creature, battered from the storm, in a tide pool, she takes it in, cares for it. And soon Lana discovers there's more to the sea that just waves and the fish her aunt and her grandmother and her grandmother before her have fished from the ocean. There's something far more serious going on.

Katie O'Neill's art style is one of my favourites. The variety of body shapes in all the characters, the little smiles during happy moments. The realistic cabins, farms, and boats against the pastel colours of the undersea palace and the Aquicorns. The wonderful juxtaposition in the first few pages of little Lana struggling to carry her little suitcase from the car to the house while her big, buff Auntie Mae just casually lifts two duffle bags onto her shoulders moments after the two have the biggest, sweetest hug. There's just a wonderful combination of realism and fantasy here.

This is a book that mixes sweetness and hope with sorrow and reality and the impact that people and industry have on the environment. It's about moving on after a loved one has passed away, continuing to live while doing things that remind you of them. It's about change and technology, understanding that making things easier doesn't always make them better for everyone. It's about the little things, young children and small creatures, and why it's so important to listen to them, to help them and care for them. A must-read for fans of Katie O'Neill's gentle fantasy stories.

A beautiful, whimsical, heartwarming story about conservation and nature. The art is colourful and adorable, and the story is simple but wholly relatable. Recommended for all ages!

Aquicorn Cove is a gentle, gorgeous reminder that conservation efforts need involvement from everyone (big, small, human, and merfolk) in a community.

A short but sweet graphic novel with some gorgeous artwork and heartfelt themes. Put simply, this book was ADORABLE and I could probably stare lovingly at this artwork forever. I am definitely interested to check out any of Katie O'Neill's other works!