Review by Woodrow Phoenix

The Shimmering Box of Unicorn Sparkles is a slipcase containing books 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the ongoing Phoebe and Her Unicorn series by Dana Simpson featuring the daily lives and adventures of nine-year-old Phoebe Howell. She and her unicorn best friend, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils explore the world of magical creatures and their eccentric ways in and around home and school in girl-friendly, gentle vignettes. The ‘shimmering’ is more of a theatrical designation than a description as the box is just cardboard, which feels like the marketing department have missed an opportunity to add extra desirability to this collection. Children find glitter completely fascinating and irresistible, as all parents and schoolteachers know: a little sprinkling of glitter across the surface of the box would have made it a lot more eyecatching.

As with the previous box set The Big Sparkly Box of Unicorn Magic, which collected books one to four in one box (with no glitter on that one either), there is no new material in this selection. It’s just the four books Unicorn Crossing, The Magic Storm, Unicorn of Many Hats and Unicorn Theater in a bright yellow container. Two of these books The Magic Storm and Unicorn Theater are full-length stories rather than collected daily strips. Parents looking for bargains should be warned that they will not save any money buying the four books together here as the box is priced exactly the same as if the quartet were purchased separately. On the other hand the convenience and tidiness of this presentation makes it a good birthday and Christmas gift that should keep the recipient occupied for a while.