What Will You Dream of Tonight?

Dreams. Often the topic over the breakfast table in our house, the more extreme and interesting the better. Occasionally my son struggles with night terrors common in his age and reading this picture book has really helped him think about and look at positive images before he goes to sleep. I want to thank the author and illustrator for that. What will you dream of tonight? is a beautifully creative picture book that immediately jumps off the shelf. The delightfully paced rhythm of the story is absolutely perfect for bedtime reading and you may find yourself nodding off as you read it! The rhythm of this story takes you at a gentle, swaying pace through a variety of places, images and adventures you may visit in your dreams tonight. Each page offers a new scenario or adventure and is beautifully captured in the artwork. Riding whales, exploring ship wrecks, flying into space, riding camels and polar bears, this story open up the imaginations of all young children. I adore the final words in this tale with the image of the parent kissing the child, 'you are safe, you are lovely, you're loved', to complete the sanctity of bedtime. The illustrations are perfectly suited to the narrative - bright, colourful and truly capturing the accompanying tale. Embossed in silver on the front cover and each double page dedicated to a new adventure, young children will delight in re-visiting this story time and time again. Although aimed as a bedtime read, this story lends itself well to writing creative stories in a classroom. Teachers could easily show a collection of the detailed images and ask the children to write an adventure based on the image. A whole collection of exciting adventure stories awaits the classroom here. This story opened a whole narrative in our house as we discussed all the crazy places we could think of to go to in our dreams and both my children went cheerfully and, dare I say excitedly, off to bed awaiting what will happen in their dreams. The next morning they were both jumping up and down to tell me what adventure they had been on and what they had seen and done. Their imaginations captured, we have returned to this story again and again just to talk about exciting dream adventures. My children love this book and I firmly believe it sets a calm and positive atmosphere for bedtime. An absolute must for the book shelf. Picture book / Ages 3+ / Reviewed by Joanna Hewish, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 3+