I promised multiple new blog categories this year, so here’s the second! Double Booked compares two very similar series to each other. In case you were confused. Or just wanted to know the differences. Or if I didn’t want to do a Series Spotlight on one of these two series.

Today I’m going over Owl Diaries and Unicorn Diaries. Both written and illustrated by Rebecca Elliot. Both for ages 5-7. Owl Diaries has 21 books. Unicorn Diaries has 11. I’ve read them all, so I know what I’m talking about, surely.

I’ve done a review of Owl Diaries already, so let me give you a quick idea of what Unicorn Diaries is about.

Premise – Unicorn Diaries

Unicorn Diaries is an early chapter book series about Bo the Unicorn. Bo writes in his diary about the different events in his life. Usually school related. Usually friend related. Each book takes place over the course of a day or two. Bo gets life experience. They usually involve getting patches for school. You get the picture.

I guess my Owl Diaries review didn’t cover book 21, so hang on a sec.

Mini Book Smarts – Owl Diaries 21

Eva thinks her old teacher is being replaced. Then she finds out they’re not.
More importantly, best character Sue actually apologizes for calling Eva out about the false teacher news even though Sue was correct about Eva messing up. I think Sue might officially have lost her mean girl status. Which means we need a new mean girl owl.

Okay now that my credibility is back, let’s get on with how similar these series are.

The Introduction Pages

Both series have a set of introduction pages introducing the main characters, the things they like, and what it’s like to be an owl or a unicorn.

They

are

very

similar.

Not really surprising, since the same author wrote them. Maybe this kind of intro worked well for Owl Diaries. Maybe Owl Diaries in general worked well for them, and the published asked them to do it again, but with unicorns. Hard to say.

Characters

Both Eva and Bo go to school, so we see all their classmates and teachers (like you saw above). Eva’s class is much bigger than Bo’s, but that’s probably because all of Bo’s classmates have magic powers. The reader needs to be able to keep up with all that magic. Bo’s class (and unicorns in general) tend to be defined more by their powers than their personality, like Eva’s classmates.

Themes and Plot

Each book’s themes are pretty different, though some focus on similar themes. You’ve got your new friend books. Characters get sick books. Baby books. Other than that, pretty different stuff. Because of the thing I mentioned in the last section.

Not only are Bo’s classmates magical, so is the whole world he lives in. There’s dragons, witches, goblins, the whole fantasy lot. Each book focuses on Bo and his friends earning a new badge in class. These badges don’t involve learning morals, actually, more about doing things. The morals they learn are gravy.

Eva’s world is significantly less magical, so plots are focused more on her classmates and family rather than the spectacle of the world around them. Joining a band, going camping, weddings. More grounded, normal, relatable things. More family and friends character things, less outside world character things.

Conclusion

This is the part where I’d normally ask you if you should read these series, but that doesn’t really work for this type of article.

So is one of these series better than the other? Is that an okay question to ask? Personally, I prefer Owl Diaries, but I can definitely see the Dragon Masters crowd liking Unicorn Diaries more. There’s more…spectacle? And I will say the fantasy creatures are a little different than you would expect them to be. It can be interesting. I think the diary format works a lot better for Owl Diaries. Since Eva’s life is more personal and less adventure-al, it feels like you’re reading someone’s diary.

So check one out. Or both. Whichever you think sounds more interesting. Hopefully I covered all the bases, but if there’s something I left out, feel free to leave a comment or shoot me a message! I’d be happy to tell you anything you want to know about either of these series.