One year has passed since Phoebe skipped a rock across a pond, accidentally hit a unicorn in the face, and was granted a single wish—which she used to make the unicorn, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils, her obligational best friend. In some ways, not much has changed. At school Phoebe still clashes with her rival--and sometimes “frenemy”--he ever-taunting and imperious Dakota. Outside of school, she still fills her free time with extra-credit homework assignments, dramatic monologues about the injustices associated with school cliques, and imaginative conspiracy theories regarding global forces like the “powerful construction paper lobby.” But unlike before, Phoebe now has a best friend to share it with—someone to make her laugh and to listen to all her extravagant ideas.

 

In this second volume of Heavenly Nostrils, titled, Unicorn on a Roll, the reader is invited on a journey into the lives of Phoebe and Marigold as they navigate the difficulties of grade school, celebrate the winter holidays, and explore their super hero/super villain personas together. Join in the fun, as Phoebe competes against Dakota for the leading role of “Lisa Ladybug” in their fourth-grade play—or as she struggles to “manage” the PR debacle related to her nose-picking-scandal. (“I will neither confirm nor deny the events surrounding Boogergate.”) Witness a band of unicorns staging an “intervention” and learn all the details of Marigold’s secret crush on a mysterious creature she has never seen. Perhaps most important, watch as this surprising friendship between a charming, nine-year-old dreamer and a vain, mythical beast forever changes both of them for the better.

Phoebe and Her Unicorn is a daily children's comic strip by American cartoonist Dana Simpson. Originally called Heavenly Nostrils, the strip debuted as a webcomic on April 22, 2012, in Universal Uclick's GoComics website.It was later launched in more than 100 newspapers on March 30, 2015, under the current name.

 

The strip begins when 9-year-old Phoebe Howell skips a rock across a pond and accidentally hits a unicorn in the face. Freed from the trap of gazing at her own reflection in the pond, the unicorn—named Marigold Heavenly Nostrils—gives Phoebe one wish, which she decides to use by making the unicorn her best friend.

 

Marigold, like all unicorns in the series, is experienced in magic. Through various "spellcraft", she is able to perform such feats as divert or redirect rain and send text messages and broadcast a Wi-Fi hotspot through her horn. However, her most frequently-used spell is "The Shield of Boringness", which causes humans to view her as nothing out of the ordinary and allows her to interact with them on a daily basis.

 

Phoebe deals with childhood challenges both mundane and magical with Marigold, her friend Max and even her arch frenemy Dakota in a quick-witted romp through a little girl's world.