THE MAKE-BELIEVERS

TV presenter and producer Ryan Seacrest and his sister, Meredith Seacrest Leach, encourage readers to use their imaginations to the fullest.

“You can be a make-believer,” the authors tell readers. Your mind can take you anywhere—up and away in a hot air balloon, blasting off on a rocket ship, or traveling across a rainbow, atop a majestic unicorn. Clouds transform into colorful fish; a child joins a llama in song. Though the simple, stream-of-consciousness text accompanying these images suggests that there’s no wrong way to daydream, it nevertheless offers examples in case readers feel a bit stumped. And once dreams become bold enough, they may serve to improve young people’s lives. These are laudable messages but ones that are clumsily delivered. The prose is tepid, verging on cliched (“Dreams to dream while the sun shines bright, and your eyes are wide open”). The authors deem these vivid experiences “Dreamy Moments”—which feels like an at best distracting and at worse cynical attempt to commodify childhood wonder. Visually, a digitally rendered palette of mellow hues emphasizes comfy purples, warm oranges, and calm aquatic blues and greens. The cast of children traipsing through the scenes are diverse in terms of race and ability and include kids using wheelchairs and hearing aids.

Lukewarm attempts at sparking creativity.