What’s Your Dream?

What’s Your Dream? by Simon Squibb (Puffin Books) PB RRP $16.99 ISBN 9780241798140

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

This is a workbook where young readers are challenged to ‘Discover your potential. Unlock you confidence’ and is written by the number one Sunday Times bestselling author. In this book, Squibb starts by posing the question, ‘What is your dream?’ If the reader has or doesn’t have a dream, the book asks them to write things in the book like what they look like, things they like to do, eat or read. It continues in a step-by-step fashion, giving reasons, for example, the reason why one ought to have a dream (‘it encourages us to take action – thinking about what we can do in our lives and how we can help other people.’)

Interspersed between the break-out sections, Squibb writes of other young people who have had dreams and how their dreams do things like focus on goals ‘that means we know exactly what we want to achieve’ and ‘gives us purpose – a powerful reason for pursuing our dream that keeps us on track to achieve it.’ It is clever how each section builds on the section before and after it.

Kids, aged 8 to 11 years are encouraged to write their answers into the book and to keep on reading. Chapter headings include ‘I’m Ready! How Do I get Started?’ ‘I’ve Started, Now What?’ and ‘I’m Stuck! What should I do?’ right through to ‘I’m Doing it. Am I there yet?’ and ‘I’ve finished! What did I learn?’

The book – printed on poor quality paper – finishes with Chapter 9, ‘The Dream Diary.’ In this section, the child reader is encouraged to open the book every six months and to note down how they’re getting on with their dream. This is followed by double page spreads in which the reader is invited to write down ‘one thing I’ve done,’ ‘One thing I’ve learned,’ ‘One thing I want to do next,’ and ‘One goal I’m setting myself.’

This is a useful, interactive and well-presented and well-designed book. Recommended.