The ad in the comic book said "Unicorn. 25 cents." Lucy wants one.
She mails in her money, waits, and dreams of the day she will be leading her pink-maned unicorn along a path lit with golden stars, riding him over a rainbow and taking him to show-and-tell. She will name him Sparkle. She will give him a cupcake.
On the big day, Sparkle arrives in a large box. A creature that very much resembles a goat--with a horn that looks more like a party hat--chomps the cupcake and runs off. "Sparkle, not the underpants!" cries Lucy as Sparkle approaches the clothesline. There would be no riding over rainbows on this smelly, flea-bitten creature. When even show-and-tell is a bust, Lucy loses it: "You are a bad unicorn," she scolds, just before calling "the unicorn man" to return her purchase. Sparkle tries to play ball with her and lick her, but Lucy isn't having any of it. Her heart thaws a bit, however, when a storm scares Sparkle and she has to soothe him with a bedtime story, warm milk and a pat on the head. ("His fur was very soft.") She had to admit, "sometimes he made her smile...."
So Lucy ends up feeling pretty bad as she watches the unicorn man drive away with Sparkle. "Lucy yelled, 'WAAAAIT!' Sparkle bleated, 'BAAAAH!!' " The truck stops and Lucy opens the box. "Welcome home!" she says to her smelly, flea-bitten, lovable Sparkle. Irresistible pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations of Lucy and her scruffy new friend add charm to this buoyant story of reality trumping fantasy. --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness