Title Not Quite Narwhal Series --- Author Jessie Sima Illustrator Jessie Sima Publisher Simon Schuster - 2017 First Printing Simon Schuster - 2017 Category Children Warnings None Main Characters Kelp Main Elements Unicorns

This is Kelp.

He doesn't mind being a little different from the other narwhals. But when a strange current carries him away, Kelp encounters some mysterious, sparkling creatures who leave him wondering if maybe...just maybe...he isn't a NARWHAL at all.

The artwork in this book is so adorably cute. Kelp is a little unicorn,inexplicably born under the sea and raised by a family of narwhal. He's got the horn that they have, but he can't swim nearly as well as them. But they still love him and he loves them back. But one day he's swept away by the current and from a distance notices something standing on the shore, something that is shaped very much like he is! Out of curiousity he swims over to check it out (swimming takes a while, he's not very good at it remember) and then struggles to make his way on land, having to learn to walk. But even if he does find a group of creatures that teach him about his true nature, he can't forget his friends under the sea!

I loved the artwork in this book, it it whimsical and magical, and even though it is a little silly to have a unicorn whose head is in a glass bubble (how does he eat?) it's still a wonderful story of friendship, family and figuring out where you fit in, and accepting that you might be a little different (how nice that Kelp doesn't feel like he doesn't belong with the narwhals, in so many other books kids are taught you don't fit in till you find your place, but there is nothing wrong with Kelp's place right from the start, there's nothing wrong with being different even if you later find others who are the same). I read somewhere about child psychology that kids don't necessarily pick up on the moral on the last page of the book, but rather learn behaviour through the entire books (so if you have a book about a kid being naughty then kids learn to be naughty, even if the kid learns it's lesson on the last page) and this book is great for being positive all the way through.