Pip Bird - The Naughtiest Unicorn

For Eloise – LB

For Helen and Helen – RLO

For Emily – David O’Connell

Cover and interior illustrations by David O’Connell

Special thanks to Liz Bankes and Rebecca Lewis-Oakes

Text first published in Great Britain in 2019

by Egmont UK Limited

The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN

Text copyright © 2019 Egmont UK Ltd

Illustrations copyright © 2019 David O’Connell

ISBN 978 1 4052 9478 2

Ebook ISBN 978 1 4052 9477 5

www.egmont.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.

Egmont takes its responsibility to the planet and its inhabitants very seriously. We aim to use papers from well-managed forests run by responsible suppliers.

Cover

Dedication and Copyright page For Eloise – LB For Helen and Helen – RLO For Emily – David O’Connell Cover and interior illustrations by David O’Connell Special thanks to Liz Bankes and Rebecca Lewis-Oakes Text first published in Great Britain in 2019 by Egmont UK Limited The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN Text copyright © 2019 Egmont UK Ltd Illustrations copyright © 2019 David O’Connell ISBN 978 1 4052 9478 2 Ebook ISBN 978 1 4052 9477 5 www.egmont.co.uk A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet. Egmont takes its responsibility to the planet and its inhabitants very seriously. We aim to use papers from well-managed forests run by responsible suppliers.

Title page

Map

Chapter One:Magic Monday

Chapter Two:Through the Portal

Chapter Three:Unicorn Best Friend Forever!

Chapter Four:Dave’s Doughnuts

Chapter Five:History Comes Alive . . .

Chapter Six:Perfect Prancing

Chapter Seven:An Unexpected Quest

Chapter Eight:The Fearsome Forest

Chapter Nine:To the Rescue!

Chapter Ten:Party Time

Who is your Unicorn Best Friend Forever (UBFF)?

Unicorn Jokes

Look out for more brilliant adventures with Dave and Mira!

It was Monday morning and Mira Desai was VERY excited. This was no ordinary Monday morning. This Monday morning was the first day of the holidays AND it was Mira’s first day at a new school! Because this was no ordinary school . . . this was:

Mira had been desperate to go to Unicorn School since her sister Rani started going two summers ago. Rani wouldn’t stop going on about how wonderful her unicorn (Angelica) was. She kept saying how amazing she was at all the magical quests. And she was always making whinnying noises in Mira’s ear to make her jealous. AND she’d brought home about a hundred Unicorn School quest medals, which had their own special shelf in the living room.

Rani said that quests could go on for days and days and were super exciting. And the time Rani spent at Unicorn School did seem like ages to Mira. But time passed differently at Unicorn School, and Rani was really only ever gone for a day in normal time.

Mira had dreamed of having her own unicorn since FOREVER. She practised plaiting the manes and tails of all her toy horses, persuaded her dad to let her groom his beard and even tried attaching a horn to their cat, Pickles. He wasn’t very pleased.

It was a bit of a mystery who was selected to go to Unicorn School and who wasn’t. Lots of people from Mira’s family had gone to Unicorn School, including Mira’s mum, so Mira hoped more than anything that she would get to go, too. Mira always tried to live her life as open to magic as possible. She wished on stars, she believed in fairies, she said hello to black cats who crossed her path. And then, one incredible day, Mira woke up with a sparkly envelope on her pillow.

Mira remembered it as if it was yesterday. (It was actually last Thursday.) She screamed so loudly that Pickles flung himself off Mira’s bed into a pile of dirty clothes, and Mira’s dad came running in to check what was wrong.

But there was nothing wrong. Everything was finally right. Her hands shaking with excitement, Mira opened the letter:

Dear Mira Desai,

We are delighted to invite you to join us at Unicorn School. You will be in Class RED.

Please use the Magic Portal to access the school.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Yours sincerely,

Madame Shetland