WISH ON A UNICORN

``Kids at school...they won't talk to me because of Hannie, even though sometimes I think Patty Jo wouldn't mind being friends. 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 Mooch out of trouble, Maggie is afraid she'll never have friends. Then Hannie finds an old stuffed unicorn and decides it can make wishes come true. Her faith is so great that Maggie begins to believe 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 and to have her mother find a daytime job, as well as to have friends; what she gets is new understanding of her family's importance to her, and of what kind of friends are worth having. Maggie, a likeable, forthright sixth grader who bears up well under difficult circumstances, is this first novel's strongest component. Unfortunately, six-year-old Mooch's character rings less true, while the action is poorly paced and the worthy moral loses impact with frequent repetition. Adequate fare for middle readers. (Fiction. 8-10)