MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

Written by Children's Leadership Institute executive director Mark Hoog, and illustrated by award-winning educational artist Robert J. Aukerman, Dream Machine is a positive-minded picturebook about what it takes to make one's fondest wishes come true. When three African-American children, Jazzmin, Bernquist and Jackson, discover a marvelous dream machine, each of them imagines a starstruck future wish for themselves, and asks the dream machine to make it true. But the dream machine has a special secret to granting wishes - the secret lies in the children's own hearts and determination! "'Work hard for your dreams,' Jazzmin read. 'Put yourself on your stage. The price is hard work, which by you must be paid.'" The enthusiastic, cartoon-style artwork perfectly graces this rhyming story about the importance of setting one's own goals and working to make them reality. Highly recommended.