Key takeaways
- The Unicorn and the Rainbow has no villain; the hero finds the rainbow's lost colour crystals by being kind.
- It suits about ages 2 to 6, and it's one of the calmest bedtime books in the library.
- The eight-page example book uses the luminous drawing look at low strength, so the child stays close to the photo.
Unicorn books are everywhere, and most of them are about sparkle. The Unicorn and the Rainbow on I Am In the Story is quieter than that, and we think better for it: it’s a story about being kind, with a unicorn in it. Its example book, “Emily and the Rainbow Crystals”, has eight pages made from one photo (AI-generated, like every example book on the site, so no real child is shown).
The Unicorn and the Rainbow
Seven colors, one brave little heart
Seven colours, one brave little heart.
Make this book with your child →What happens
Four-year-old Emily stands in a wide, sunny meadow and looks up at a rainbow whose colours are “pale and fading like chalk”. A shy unicorn steps from the meadow’s edge and explains that playful storm clouds scattered seven glowing colour crystals; without them the rainbow cannot shine. “We’ll find them,” Emily says.
What we like is how the crystals are found. Each one turns up after a small kind act, not a quest or a battle:
- Emily lifts a fallen branch off a small rabbit, and where it crouched the red crystal is glowing.
- At a clear forest stream she frees a fox cub tangled in the reeds, and two crystals glint among the stones under the water: orange and yellow come back.
- She lifts a fallen bird on a leaf back to a low branch, and the last crystals are glowing in the mossy hollow of an old tree.
At sunset Emily raises the violet crystal to the unicorn’s lowered horn and it floats into place. “Shine, little rainbow,” she whispers, the horn glows, and the whole rainbow blooms across the valley in every colour at once. The last line is the whole book in five words: “Kindness had brought the colors home.”
A detail worth noticing
Every crystal is earned by helping an animal that is stuck or lost, and the helping is always gentle: lifting, freeing, putting back. It’s a small thing, but it models how to approach a shy animal, which is a nice message for toddlers who want to grab every dog they see. There is no villain at all; the storm clouds that scattered the colours were only playful.
Who it suits
| Best age | About 2 to 6 |
| Mood | Calm, bright, kind |
| Villain | None |
| Good for | A first book, bedtime, learning colours, unicorn-obsessed birthdays |
For bedtime, it’s the calmest of the tales (see personalised bedtime stories). For a birthday present for a three- to six-year-old, it’s hard to beat; more ideas in birthday books.
The example uses the luminous drawing look at low strength, so the child stays close to the photo. For a toddler, watercolour is a nice alternative. Other gentle tales are in our fairy tale round-up.
Make a personalised Unicorn and the Rainbow on iaminthestory.com.
Frequently asked questions
What age is the unicorn book for?
About two to six. It's gentle, bright and has nothing frightening in it.
Is it only for girls?
No. Any child can be the hero, and the story is about kindness and colours rather than anything else.
Can a sibling be in it?
The tale has no named parts, but anyone you add joins the story as themselves, beside the hero.
Make this story your own
See the roles and options for this tale on I Am In the Story.
