NONFICTION - May 1, 1994

A DREAM IS A WISH YOUR HEART MAKES: My Story by Annette Funicello with Patricia Romanowski (Hyperion: $22.95; 256 pp.) Who would have guessed it? All along, Annette really was . . . Annette! Whether beneath “mouseket-ears” or atop Laguna Beach sand, here is one child of the Fifties who passed unscathed through the social turmoil of the past 40 years--and is darn proud of the accomplishment. The little girl who caught Walt Disney’s eye at a talent show and went on to become the chaste heartthrob of at least one generation and the campy queen of another seems, by her own testimony, to have suffered divorce and disabling disease without ever developing an edge. Nothing phases her. Here, for instance, is Annette on giving birth: ‘It was fairly comfortable. . . . When I first came out from under the anesthesia and opened my eyes to see my baby, my heart filled with love and thanks to God for sending her to me.” Good to her parents, a world-class car-pooler, a popular singer who never herself thought she could sing, a 50-year-old woman who still consistently refers to Paul Anka, Frankie Avalon and Fabian as “idols,” Annette tells the story of a life full of silver-lined clouds, pluck and happy tears. She has nothing bad to say of anyone, especially “Mr. Disney” (she only called him “Uncle Walt,” as he requested, in an emotional memorial service). Readers who pick up this pleasant, upbeat book hoping to see Cubby or Doreen dissed, have got the wrong celeb bio: In Annette Funicello’s peanut butter, there are no unsightly chunks.