Wish on a unicorn

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Now I didn't believe a broken-down old unicorn could make wishes come true . . . not for a minute. But what if it could?

Mags has a lot to wish for--a nice house with a mama who isn't tired out from work; a normal little sister; a brother who doesn't mooch for food; and, once in a while, she'd like some new clothes for school. When her sister Hannie finds a stuffed unicorn, Mags's wishes start to come true. She knows the unicorn can't really be magic, but she won't let anything ruin her newfound luck--even if it means telling her own sister to believe something that can't possibly be true.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Mags lives in a trailer with her overworked mother, her perpetually hungry little brother Mooch and her retarded sister Hannie. As the oldest, Mags is the responsible one, but when Hannie finds a ratty old stuffed unicorn and says it's magic, Mags almost believes her. The wishes that come true aren't spectacular: Mooch gets a sandwich after wanting something to eat, and Mags gets new clothes--hand-me-downs from her aunt, but there is some kind of magic. The unicorn acts as a catalyst, letting Mags see beyond the humdrum of everyday life and realize how important her family is to her. With colorful regional language (Hannie is ``stubborn as an elbow,'') and clear psychological insight, Hesse's debut ranks with Betsy Byars's Pinballs and Cynthia Voight's Homecoming in describing families surviving as best they can under economic privation. Ages 9-12. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

School Library Journal Review

Gr 4-6-- Margaret Wade's family lives on the edge of poverty. Her mother is a single parent who works at night, and Mags feels beset by responsibilities and worries far beyond those of other 12-year-olds. Hannie, her retarded half-sister, finds a stuffed unicorn and is sure that it can grant wishes; Mags, too, almost comes to believe in the toy's power. There is no magic, but the events the unicorn's discovery precipitates lead Mags to a new realization of the depth of her love for her family. Hesse is sensitive to the youngster's mixed feelings of duty, caring, and frustration. Her plot moves satisfactorily, and she is successful in depicting the family's everyday environment; her description of the dinner Mags fixes for her brother and sister speaks volumes. The narrative is not always smooth, and the overuse of similes is distracting, but Hesse does capture the spirits of a stalwart young heroine and her family. --Tatiana Castleton, Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Gr. 4-6. Maggie loves her younger brother, Mooch, and her brain-injured sister, Hannie, but sometimes it's just too hard caring for them while their single-parent mother works nights at the mill. At school Hannie's a drag--she even wets herself on the playground--and it's difficult for Maggie to make friends when the kids sneer at her family as trash. The plot's contrived, the folksy idiom of the first-person narrative is overdone, a stuffed unicorn is dragged in as metaphor, and the depiction of the minor characters is shallow (you can recognize the bad kid because his eyes are too close together). Yet the dogged struggle of the family in their trailer rings true--the poverty is palpable; Mooch steals food because he's hungry--and no easy solution is offered. Kids will be moved by the burdens on the oldest girl, who resents adult responsibility and yet finds the loving strength to reach beyond her years. ~--Hazel Rochman

Horn Book Review

Sixth-grader Mags comes to understand how important her family is to her when her brain-damaged younger sister finds a dirty stuffed unicorn and insists that it can grant each of them a wish. A compassionate story of a poor family who are rich in solidarity and spirit. From HORN BOOK 1991, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

Kids at school. . .they won't talk to me because of Hannie. . .I guess they're afraid Hannie'll rub off on them or something."" Eight-year-old Hannie is ""slow,"" and between watching out for her and trying to keep bright, rebellious little brother Mooch out of trouble, Maggie is afraid she'll never have friends. Then Hannie finds are old stuffed unicorn and decides it can make wishes come true. Her faith is so great that Maggie begins to believe it too, especially when some of her own wishes are realized--though not always as she had envisioned. Maggie yearns not to live in a trailer, to have friends, and to have her mother find a daytime job; what she gets is new understanding of her family's importance to her, and of what kind of friends are worth having. Maggie, a likable, forthright sixth grader who bears up well under difficult circumstances, is this first novel's strongest component. Six-year-old Mooch rings less true, while the action is poorly paced and the worthy moral loses impact with frequent repetition. Adequate fare for middle readers. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.