It's Not All Rainbows

The day Kevin woke up on the wrong side of the bed – or, more accurately, not on the bed at all - starts out as a bad hair day which he thinks he can get over by staying positive and continuing to smile. He slaps on some cool sunglasses to cover up the bags under his eyes as he whips by in his red convertible past the intersection of “Cheerful Drive” and “Upbeat Avenue”. When Kevin’s car breaks down and he gets caught in a rain storm, he thinks maybe a Glitter Soda at the Soda Shack will cheer him up, but the lineup is extremely long, and, when he gets to the front, they are all sold out. A series of unfortunate circumstances ensues. A double-page spread illustrates the details of Kevin’s increasingly bad day, including (but not limited to): spilling clam juice on himself, being chased by gulls, spilling maple syrup on himself, getting chased by puppies (cute but nevertheless ravenous), tripping, and becoming tangled in the aforementioned puppies’ leashes. Finally, Kevin snaps. He can no longer pretend he’s having a fantastic, “sparkly” day. It is undeniably a “really horrible, lousy, awful day”. A crowd of unicorns around Kevin begins to disperse nervously, seemingly unsure as to how to handle this unprecedented outburst. However, one unicorn, hidden among the others, shyly says to Kevin, “I’m having a bad day too…”. This unicorn’s open commiseration prompts others to chime in as well as they all begin to air their grievances (“There’s glitter in my eye”, “There’s glitter in BOTH my eyes!”). Sharing an enlightening moment of honesty and empathy, they collectively come to the realization that “unicorns don’t always have perfect, magical days. And that’s okay”.

Jessika von Innerebner’s illustrations are bright, silly, and colourful. Donuts, the sun, music notes, and all manner of inanimate objects are drawn with manic, toothy grins throughout. Rainbows, stars, cupcakes, and sweets of all kinds are pictured in abundance. Rounded, cute unicorns with billowy cloud-like manes walk or skateboard down the street wearing fanny packs, leg warmers, and cozy, knit sweaters that say things like “YAY” or “I ? smiling”. On some pages, a full scene is drawn out whereas, on others, small vignettes convey bits of narrative against a white background. The colour scheme is evocative of candy, with plenty of sparkle to go around.

It’s Not All Rainbows is a misadventurous romp that hides at its centre a sweet, gentle story reminding everyone it’s okay to feel down when things aren’t going as well as you’re used to; it’s normal to occasionally feel frustrated, sad, or out of sorts. We don’t always have to “keep it happy”. Especially, the reader learns that talking about your true feelings with others can help by showing you that you’re not alone.

Jessika von Innerebner has been an illustrator on many projects including Nathan Archambault’s Rox’s Secret Code, the charming “Miranda and Maude” series by Emma Wunsch, as well as multiple picture books by talented Indigenous storytellers and authors such as Trudy Spiller, Jaadee Kung, Kevin Locke, Theresa Larsen-Jonasson and Teddy Anderson. Her clients have included Penguin Random House, Marvel/Disney, DC, and ABRAMS. This was von Innerebner’s first published book as an author, but the publication information in It’s Not All Rainbows reveals that it is the first in a series of books about “Kevin the Unicorn”, and I look forward to reading others.