Goat is wildly jealous of Unicorn in this picture book from Bob Shea, deeply resentful of being upstaged in almost every arena, from transport—while Goat bicycles to school, Unicorn flies!—to treats—when Goat brings marshmallow squares, Unicorn makes it rain cupcakes! But once he actually speaks to this newcomer, Goat is surprised to discover that Unicorn thinks he is the impressive one, and that there are things that Unicorn is jealous of as well (goat cheese! cloven hooves!). Eventually the two become a team, with complementary qualities that make them, well... pretty great.

Published in 2013, Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great is the first of two picture book featuring these characters—the second is the 2019 Unicorn Is Maybe Not So Great After All—and offers a humorous look at the common childhood experience of jealousy. I appreciated the pouty, resentful tone of Goat's various declarations about Unicorn, whom he assumes is very self involved, as I think it reflects how a young child might react, if feeling insecure about being outshone by a peer. I also liked the conclusion, which flips the script, highlighting how even those who seem to possess everything might feel insecure about how they measure up to others. That being said, while I liked the story here, and could even appreciate the snappy, melodramatic way it was told, somehow the end product didn't wow me as much as I expected it to, given the fact that so many of my friends seem to love this one. My funny bone (notoriously hard to reach) wasn't tickled, and I found the artwork mostly unappealing. I've enjoyed other Bob Shea titles, and I've also enjoyed other humorous unicorn stories, so I'm not sure why this one left me mostly indifferent. Tastes vary of course, so I'd still recommend this one to young unicorn lovers with a sense of humor, as well as anyone seeking children's stories about jealousy, learning to communicate, and eventually, friendship. ( )

Goat feels very jealous of all the attention unicorn gets...until unicorn approaches goat, in awe of goat's ability to make his own cheese and use his cloven hooves to climb steep mountains. A great book about jealousy and friendship, which is also just really funny.

Goats and unicorns are pretty great in my book. Pretty cute if a little reminiscent of Mo Willems (not like that's a BAD thing, per se). ( )

I LOVE the glittery cover of this book. Sparkle cupcakes! There is also a pretty fantastic fight scene right in the middle. ( )

Ugh, Unicorn. Always making it rain cupcakes. What a dope.
Cloven hooves are where it's at. ( )