An Awesome Book

With its catchy, to-the-point title and delightfully funky cover image, Dallas Clayton has created a book with such a glorious message, it will surely keep your child filled with hope and an empowered imagination.

The message of the book regards a simple, yet often overlooked concept:

Dreaming.

Sadly, it's a past time commonly disregarded this day in age as a "useless waste of workin' time," by some miserly folk. Though, for one to live in a land whose bottom line has always been, "The American Dream," and not actually dream...well, seems rather counter-intuitive.

This book not only covers unique, fun ideas and images of "rocket-powered Unicorns, musical Baboons, and jelly bean fueled cars," it also enforces the glory and limitlessness of the child imagination.

Clayton does a marvelous job at indicating what the essence of a dream is really all about. Dreams are about breaking your eye open, and dismembering all the tired associations we attach to things as we grow older. Or, as stated in the book:

"They're meant to make you seem as if you don't know up from down, because dreams are dreams and that's why dreams are worth having around!"

Throughout reading this book, I found myself becoming choked up. The simple yet profound message within it reinvigorated some of my lost dreams. If a book has the power to do that to a grown woman, imagine how intense and uplifting it can be for the curious and ever-hopeful child.

Another aspect that's particularly poignant (due to the global economic situation), is how Clayton illuminates the absurdity of placing too much importance on material things. One page has an illustration of money raining down, and how so many people chase it aimlessly. He sums up the emptiness of the pursuit by writing:

"Sometimes they dream of dreams that aren't even their own."

In these all around rough times, it was refreshing to see such an inspiring book. Trite as it may seem, Clayton beautifully illustrates how and why the best things in life (imagination, dreams, hope, love), really are for free.

Appropriate age for independent reading: 1st Grade and up
Appropriate age for reading to: Pre-K and up