If You Find a Unicorn, It Is Not Yours to Keep: Life Lessons for Magical Daughters

by DJ Corchin

Award winning author DJ Corchin offers delightfully fantastical life lessons in this sweet and witty collection that inspires readers to embrace the magic within them.

You have a choice to cast good spells or bad spells. Choose good spells.
People will tell you you can't be a knight because you have magical abilities. They are wrong.
And remember...if you happen find a unicorn, it is not yours to keep!

DJ Corchin offers timeless wisdom with a mystical twist in this lighthearted rulebook for the whole family to enjoy. Plenty of enchanting lessons to live by paired with whimsical illustrations are sure to be passed down from generation to magical generation. A perfect graduation, birthday, or just-because gift for daughters of any age.

Genres: Middle Grade, Childrens

144 pages, Hardcover

First published March 28, 2015

About the author

DJ Corchin is an author and/or illustrator of over 24 children's books. A Thousand NO’s illustrated by Dan Dougherty launched to wonderful reviews, became a Barnes & Noble Bestseller, and won the Eric Hoffer Award for Best Children’s Book. Additional award-winning titles include Do You Speak Fish?, The I Feel... Children’s Series, The Band Nerds Book Series, and If You Find A Unicorn, It Is Not Yours To Keep.

He visits groups and schools all over the country discussing his stories and how people can find a path through their own creative universe.

DJ loves to connect people through humorous stories about communication, kindness, and social-emotional awareness. His books are known for being fun and thoughtful discussion starters for both kids and adults in this crazy, complex, human world.

Reviews

[Jasmine from How Useful It Is · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of advices. Magic and magical creatures. I'm not familiar with many magical creatures mentioned in this read so the book was an okay read but I would have loved it more if I recognize who they are. Some advices are good. Short sentences and a quick read. Cute illustrations and again many illustrations of magical creatures I don't recognize. I love advice books with illustrations and this one has it. This book is intended for readers ages 7 and up!

Thank you Sourcebooks Kids for the opportunity to read and review!

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Dearest Daughter, you were born with special, magical abilities.

This book consists of a life lesson, accompanied by a black & white drawing depicting a magical creature or object. Unfortunately, this format quickly becomes tedious, and the book is overly long.



I think there's some real promise here, however, along with some beautiful sentiments, and I'd love to see it edited down to form a cohesive story about a young girl's journey through worlds both fantastical, AND real.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

[Mel (Epic Reading) · Rating 2 out of 5]

First, let’s be clear that this is not a story. It’s just snippets of advice provided in a lyrical way with cute illustrations. Like one of those little tiny self help books people buy at the checkout that have tidbits of advice.
My immediate reaction is ‘ugh’. I find this sort of cheap throw-away content to be useless frankly. For me it’s pretentious and never helpful.

However, if you have a child that might gleam something from a book like this then it’s very cute. I could see maybe doing a page a day, or two a day, with your child. Maybe chat about it after and what it might mean or how it might relate for them. There might be an application here with adult interaction. As a general self-help book for kids; yes it’s cute but that’s not enough.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an electronic ARC from SOURCEBOOKS Kids through NetGalley.
I love the layers included in this book. Readers can read it as a fun and funny book of advice about magical creatures and objects. Drilling deeper offers readers plenty of life lessons to think about. Corchin blends the two levels together and offers thoughts wrapped in love for their daughters and the other daughters and sons who find the magic in this book.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first read the title, I thought it was lessons *from* his daughter. That might make a better book. Well, we'll see what I think when I get around to reading it.
---
Ok, well, it might have been an even better book, but there's lots to love about this one, at least for me. I think it has fairly wide appeal, but I'm not sure.

So, what's fair use? I wouldn't want to quote everything, because a few of the adages make little sense, and several are variations of one another. But here are some of my favorites:

"When you encounter a troll, give it a cupcake. Every troll has a sweet side. You might get to see it."

"If you find yourself in a dark forest where the ground engulfs suit and you become stuck, grow and be for others the light you never had."

"Magical ideas come in the form of stars. A powerful wizard looks up and plucks them from the sky. A compassionate wizard shares them with others. A courageous wizard kneels down so others may stand upon her shoulders to reach."

"The Unmovable Ram cannot be pushed back once it is charging towards you. The more you try, the stronger it gets. But if you allow it to keep going, it is easily swayed in any direction you wish it to go."

A good gift book, if you know your recipient well enough, because they could refer to it as needed, not read it once and be done. Not just for kids, for sure. (It's shelved "tween" in OKC.)

[Literary Classics Book Awards & Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a parent of a very special daughter with the potential for greatness, one would most assuredly provide her with guidance on how best to utilize her talents. If that daughter possessed magical abilities, the task of lighting her path would be even greater. Mystical Rules for my Magical Daughter is a book written from the perspective of one such parent passing on generations of wisdom to a child who possesses the power to change the world, one person and one action at a time. This compilation of proverbs written as to a young girl who lives in a castle and encounters trolls and other mythical creatures, offers insight into living a magical and mystical life to the greatest of one's ability.

Gems of wisdom hidden cleverly within wonderfully imaginative scenarios provide young girls with lessons which will help guide them throughout their life in the most magical of ways. Fanciful illustrations are utterly delightful and help tie together each wonderfully whimsical page of this book which is sure to be treasured by young girls who are blessed to receive this jewel of a book.

Mystical Rules for my Magical Daughter, by DJ Corchin, is highly recommended.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Corchin teaches his daughter about life using fantasy & magic as the base. So many of the lessons have double meanings which makes it fun for adults to figure out as well. A great book not just for daughters but for all kids to learn the lessons of kindness, magic, and even pain.

[Emily Ramos-Niaves · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was written as a series of life lessons on each page that every child should know. It is a must read with unique illustrations and stories.

[Stephanie (Gorelenore) Cover2CoverBlog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review coming soon.
Visit www.cover2coverblog.blogspot.com to see it first.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus or Netgalley

[dyslexicbooknook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this little book, read it to my little nieces and they loved it too!!! 🥹

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that's actually quite peculiar, but handled in a clever enough way. Each spread is a short example of fantasy life advice, and the illustration for it – so this is a very quickly-browsed volume indeed. The life lessons as I say are all derived from some kind of fantasy existence, so mention wizards, unicorns, magical musical instruments and a whole host of other things. Some are just there, but while some stronger ones might touch a nerve some are strong enough to hang a novel from – witness the ultra-powerful magician who knows their power can come from sitting and listening and learning, the vial that gives all you would ever want from life – and that is guaranteed to take seventy years in the finding, and so on. In the most head-spinning kind of roundabout way we're told to honour our pledges, not to hog the wish-giving Orb, how to leave the Sorrow Pond, and to take what comes to us head-on, lest the onyx gem gets too much fear to feed on.

In a strange way this was quite compelling. I will never find it in myself to rate such simple, low-word-count gift books too highly, and I did take umbrage at the slackness and simplicity of the line drawings here now and again, so this seems not to be a hugely positive feedback on the title. But – at least until I'm corrected in my belief that you'll never find a book doing the same thing better – I cannot dissuade anyone from having a gander. Perhaps, then, three and a half stars.

[Joy Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The book a fictitious s magic advice book for a fantasy world , each passage reads more like a poem, than a story. The drawing were whimsical, and might appeal more to grownup than children.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a slightly unusual book about fantastical ideas and what to do when you encounter them, for example casting good spells and how to be a good wizard. I'm not entirely sure who the intended audience is for this book, I'm guessing middle grade students in the 7-11 age range, but I'm not sure that they would be overly captivated by this book. The illustrations are quite simple and the advice is short and obviously a bit unusual. Fantasy is definitely not my favourite genre so that could be clouding my opinion of this book, but I can't really identify examples of students I could see really enjoy this book. I'm not sure that I would purchase a copy for my grade 3 classroom library. I don't think it is a bad book, I'm just not sure how many students would really want to read it and don't see it being one of those books kids go back to again and again. Definitely an interesting concept, but not quite the right book for my classroom. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to check out an ARC of this book!

[Alyson Del Vecchio · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute book. Though it is a children’s book, it is more for adults. It contains pearls of wisdom from a parent to a child. A child won’t really have a clue what the messages are, but an adult will. It seems a fun little gift book from a parent to an older child or young adult.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.