Review by Woodrow Phoenix

Unicorn Bowling is the ninth volume collecting the daily newspaper strips of Phoebe and Her Unicorn, featuring 9-year-old Phoebe Howell and her magical companion, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils. The ‘adventure’ part of the title is slightly overstated as these stories are generally fairly low-key in nature. The two friends mostly wander around the woods near Phoebe’s house, hang out at home after school and have many conversations about the secret world of unicorns, with occasional visits from other magical creatures. This volume begins in the middle of winter, which means Christmas wishes that may come true with Marigold’s help, and a new year to investigate more of Marigold’s powers, for instance how do unicorns fight crime? Why do unicorns sparkle when they get hiccups? And how do you cure a unicorn of sparkly hiccups?

Valentine’s Day requires a lot of card construction, and the fourth grade talent show is an opportunity for Phoebe to finally put her piano practice to good use without magic. An invitation to Max’s birthday party means a pizza party taking place in a video arcade, which brings back memories for Marigold: “This place is as noisy as the legendary chamber of cacophony. It is a terrible place, in which the chirping of pixies, the ring of bells, and the cries and fiery explosions of 100s of phoenixes… Conspire to drive unicorns into fits of frothing madness!” But it turns out that’s not necessarily bad after all. Read on to discover who actually invented the first video game – you’ll never guess what the answer is –  and to find out just how unicorns enjoy bowling, with the shirts and everything.

More revelations in the next volume, where we meet The Unicorn Whisperer.