The Unicorn and the Rainbow a personalized book with your child as the hero

Once upon a time, at the edge of a quiet green valley, there lived a child called Alex, who loved exploring more than anything in the world. Every morning Alex packed a little bag with an apple, a piece of string and a notebook, and set off to see what the day might bring.

Above the valley there was a rainbow that never went away. It arched over the hills from one side to the other, red and orange and yellow, green and blue, indigo and violet, and it had been there for as long as anyone could remember.

But one sunny morning, Alex stood in the middle of the wide meadow, looked up and gasped. The rainbow was fading. Its colours had gone pale and dusty, like chalk on a wet pavement, and some stripes had almost disappeared.

"What's happened to it?" Alex whispered.

There was a soft rustle at the edge of the meadow. Out from between the trees stepped a unicorn. It was small and white, with a silvery mane and a long spiral horn, and it looked very shy and very sad.

"Please don't be frightened," said the unicorn in a soft voice. "I need help. I'm the keeper of the rainbow. Last night some playful storm clouds came tumbling over the hills, and they bumped into the rainbow and knocked loose its seven colour crystals. They scattered them all over the valley. Without the crystals, the rainbow can't shine, and by sunset it will be gone altogether."

The unicorn's eyes filled with tears. Alex reached out and gently stroked its silvery mane.

"Don't cry," said Alex. "I'm good at finding things. We'll look for them together."

The unicorn brightened a little. "Thank you," it said. "The crystals glow, so we'll know them when we see them."

So the two of them began to search the meadow. They looked under the buttercups and behind the tall grasses, but they found nothing. Then Alex heard a small squeak. Kneeling down in the grass, Alex found a little rabbit, trapped under a branch that the storm had blown down.

"Hold still, little one," said Alex, and very gently lifted the branch away. The rabbit wriggled free, twitched its nose in thanks and hopped off into the grass. And there, in the place where the rabbit had been, something glowed.

It was a crystal, as red as a ripe strawberry.

Alex held it up towards the sky. A single bright stripe of red streamed back into the pale rainbow overhead, and the unicorn danced round in a circle with joy.

"One!" cried the unicorn. "Six more to go!"

They followed a mossy trail out of the meadow and deeper into the trees, the unicorn trotting alongside, until they came to a clear forest stream that ran chattering over smooth stones. At the water's edge, a little fox cub was whimpering. Its legs were tangled up in the reeds, and the more it struggled, the tighter the reeds held it.

"It's all right," said Alex softly, kneeling on the bank. Carefully, one reed at a time, Alex worked the tangle loose, until the fox cub was free. It licked Alex's hand and scampered away up the bank. Then Alex looked down into the clear water, and there, among the stones, two crystals were glinting, one orange and one yellow.

Alex rolled up both sleeves, reached into the cold water and lifted them out. Two more stripes of colour streamed back into the sky.

"Three!" cried the unicorn.

The trail led on into a shady woodland, where the trees grew close together and the last faint grey clouds from the storm still drifted overhead. It was very quiet. Then, from somewhere nearby, came a thin little chirp.

At the foot of an old oak tree sat a baby bird, fluffy and frightened. It had fallen out of its nest, and its mother was flying round and round above it, calling.

"Don't worry," said Alex. "I'll put you back." Standing on tiptoe on a mossy root, Alex lifted the little bird ever so gently and placed it back in its nest on the branch. Its mother settled down beside it and sang.

And there, in the mossy hollow of the old tree, right below the nest, the last crystals were glowing softly: green, blue, indigo and violet, all four of them nestled together.

Alex scooped them up. Three more stripes streamed back into the sky, green and blue and indigo, and the last grey clouds drifted away.

"There's one left," said the unicorn. "The violet one belongs right here." And it bowed its head and touched its horn.

So they walked back through the woodland, past the stream and down the mossy trail, and they reached the meadow just as the sun was setting, turning the whole sky pink and gold.

The unicorn lowered its head. Alex held up the violet crystal, very gently, to the tip of the unicorn's silvery horn.

For a moment nothing happened. Then the horn began to glow. It glowed brighter and brighter, and with a sound like a hundred tiny bells, the whole rainbow bloomed across the sky in every colour at once, red and orange and yellow, green and blue, indigo and violet, arching bright and whole over the valley.

"You did it!" cried the unicorn.

"We did it," said Alex.

Then, out of the grass, came the little rabbit. Down the trail came the fox cub. And from the woodland flew the mother bird, singing. They had all come to see the rainbow shine again.

Alex and the unicorn sat down together in the meadow grass and watched the mended rainbow glow above the quiet valley, until the first stars came out. The rainbow shone brighter that evening than it had ever shone before.

"It's kindness that makes it so bright," said the unicorn softly. "Every crystal you found, you found by helping someone first."

And from that day on, whenever Alex looked up at the rainbow over the valley, it seemed to shine just a little brighter, just for a moment, like a wink.