Michael Morpurgo 
Mr Skip 

Believing in magic makes dreams come true…Jackie dreams of having a horse of her own, one that’ll be the fastest on the estate, the fastest in all Ireland and the fastest in the world. Mum dreams of a little cottage in the country for her and Jackie to live in.What they get is a garden gnome that Jackie finds in a rubbish skip; one she lovingly repairs and paints; a gnome she calls Mr Skip.And Jackie soon discovers that with Mr Skip, anything is possible.