The Girl Who Could Not Dream by Sarah Beth Durst

4th Grade to 8th Grade

Sophie loves the hidden shop below her parents’ bookstore, where dreams are secretly bought and sold. Sophie is fascinated by dreams – from good dreams to nightmares – because she has never had a single dream of her own.
When the dream shop is robbed and her parents go missing, Sophie must discover the truth to save them. Together with her best friend – a wisecracking loyal monster named Monster – she must decide whom to trust with her family’s secrets.

I want the Dreamchatcher Bookshop to be a real place. Not only do they sell books, they sell cupcakes. Those are my two favorite things. You can sit and read a book while eating a cupcake. How great is that?!

I feel like this book could be made into a Disney/Pixar movie. It’s sweet but heart wrenching at the same time.

This book features another one of my favorite things: Dreams. Dreams are great. This story has every sort of dream you can think of and a few you wouldn’t think of.

With that I will know tell you about my top 3 dreams.

Dream #1: I’m driving down the street very badly, running into stuff and people. And my dad is running behind me yelling, “YOU’RE GOOD! YOU’RE GOOD!”        

Dream #2: I’m flying at the beach. I’ve maybe had three different flying dreams but this is the one I remember the most vividly. When you have a flying dream it feels so real that when you wake up you feel like you can really fly. But you never can.

Dream #3: I’m in a warehouse and I’m eating ice cream out of industrial sized barrels. I’m scooping it into my mouth with my hands. And somehow I get my hands on a cookie the size of a Frisbee and I use the cookie to scoop up some ice cream and somehow am able to stuff the whole cookie in my mouth. BEST DREAM EVER!

If you have had any amazing, interesting, or just plain weird dreams, post a comment about your dream below.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves dreams, even the scary ones.

Confessions of an Imaginary Friend as told by Michelle Cuevas

For Kids 6 and Up

This story is about Jacques, an imaginary friend who doesn’t know he’s imaginary.

All his life, he’s been by his sister Fleur’s side. But when he discovers that he’s actually Fluer’s imaginary friend he’s crushed. So he goes off on a quest to find out who he truly is.

This is a very interesting book. I love all of the imaginary friends. If you are a fan of ‘Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends’ you should read this book.

My favorite imaginary friend is the roller-staking cowgirl. She wears cowgirl gear but instead of boots she wears roller skates with spurs on the sides. Personally I would read a whole book just about her.

All the places Jacques goes in his journey are hilarious and so imaginative. I feel like this book had to be written by a child because I don’t think it’s possible for an adult to have come up with all this. Unless that adult is a child at heart.

What the Dog Said by Randi Reisfeld

12 and up

Grace Abernathy has had a rough year. Ever since her police officer father was killed a few months ago, she hasn’t wanted to do much of anything. She’s pulled away from her friends and her grades are dropping. But when her older sister Regan drags her into her plan to train a shelter dog as a service dog, her life takes another unexpected turn. Especially when the mutt named Rex starts talking to her. Has Grace lost her mind? Or is this dog something really special? An angel? A spirit? Either way, he just might be the therapy Grace needs.

What I liked most about this book is the service dog classes that Grace takes with Rex. The dogs in the book are taught to do amazing things like push elevator buttons with their nose and flick light switches. My favorite is helping a person in a wheelchair shop for groceries. It’s amazing all the work that goes into training a dog.

Service dogs are trained to help people with many different physical and mental disabilities, including muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, blindness and hearing impairments, and autism.

It’s definitely not easy training a service dog and I could never train service dogs for a living. I know. I have one. I am a complete push over when it comes to him.