I received an electronic ARC from Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books through NetGalley.
Sanchez Vegara shares about fifty important people in history who believed in and pursued their dreams. They have enriched lives for generations. Broken into time blocks, the author takes readers through people who lived at approximately the same time in each section. She includes a one page summary of each life along with an illustration, quote and timeline of their life. I love the final space for a 51st dreamer that encourages readers to write about themselves and their own hopes and dreams.
A definite must for families to read together.

This is brilliant! I have been a super fan of the whole Little People BIG DREAMS series and to have a treasury like this is amazing. There is such an array of wonderful people and all in readable sections. I would have absolutely loved this book when I was young and I intend to buy it as gifts. I think for schools where perhaps buying the whole series is not possible this will make an excellent addition to the library and both pupils and teachers will be able to learn so much and be inspired. I cannot recommend this whole series highly enough.

With huge thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a truly amazing book.

Thank you netgalley and Quattro for the free ARC copy. My son and I completely loved it. We would love it to be in alphabetical order but we still love the bite size information and the illustrations. I would definitely love to have a hard copy of this book.

Celebrating a whopping fifty volumes of the Little People, Big Dreams series, comes this gallery of the greats as a special variant. Now, each and every volume before now has told its story twice – once with the simple text on the pictorial pages, and then again later on, more for the educator or the older reader. I think what we have here is a third draft – I can't recognise any of the contents as what's been produced before, meaning while all the people featured are returning characters, the writing is novel to this.

The format is suitably encyclopaedic, with dates and place of birth and death, and the person's story, all on page one, and their portrait and a quote on the next. Overleaf, a much more pictorial timeline is yet another way of educating us, and here things really shine. Having made the whole book into chronological order, we can see overlaps and progression throughout history, meaning this is not just a collection of biographies. Ada Lovelace (our second life here) is being born on the timeline of the first, because her errant father was Byron and under his watch said first person, Mary Shelley, thought up Frankenstein. But Ada herself has a guest on her timeline, from way in her future – Alan Turing. Thus lives from way back are shown to have an effect on more recent times, and we can see how people, to borrow the old saw, stand on the shoulders of giants.

That's always been the philosophy of this series, and in reducing the need for really naff artwork, and for bringing us the weave of history through these lives, this splendid spin on the whole previous fifty is much more than a reproduction or summary of the books so far. It's a really fine entity in itself.

Terrific little treasury of varied and diverse people from history; from scientists, artists, activists, writers and sportspeople who have contributed to our world in their own unique way. I particularly liked the way it's laid out, categorised first by time period and then a synopsis of the individual and then a timeline of their life and important events. Being a visual person I liked seeing it spread out this way and it makes it easier for children to develop their understanding of their lives. Very interesting read for older children or as a bed time story book. My 6 year old in particular loved reading about the scientists and authors.

Many thanks to the publishers for an ARC in return for an honest review

I loved this! This is a collection of the short stories about significant people throughout history from around the world. I actually learned so much while reading this and discovered people I had never heard about. This book was organized well, easy to read and follow with amazing illustrations. Each person has a blurb, a quote and a timeline of their life. It was really a joy to read and it would be extremely useful in an educational setting, you could do many things with this story including reading about one person a week, a book report, etc. I do think some of the language is a tad advanced as well as some of the situations that occur, they will need further explanation. I also think whoever reads it should be aware that this book shows only the positives of everyone mentioned.

This truly is a treasure! Between the covers of this treasury are stories about 50 of history’s most amazing people. You will read about each life, complete with fears, struggles, triumphs, and dreams that made each one great. The selection includes writers, mathematicians, activists, leaders, scientists, doctors, educators, explorers, designers, painters, aviators, performers, athletes, broadcasters, naturalists, and humanitarians. It has been split into 5 eras in history (1790-1885, 1885 – 1920, 1920 – 1940, 1940 – 1947, 1947 – 2003), each focussing on 10 amazing people. Each of the 50 write-ups includes a colour illustration, a timeline with illustrations, and a summary of their accomplishments. The book includes a glossary, an index, and an activity for your little dreamer to write about his/herself.

My 8 ½-year-old niece loved this format! The colourful timelines with illustrations kept her absorbed for quite a while and the one-page summaries were the perfect length to pique her interest. It is organized so that readers can choose how long they want to be involved in the treasury; for those who have just a little time, there’s the opportunity to read about just one person and for those with more time, it’s possible to read the whole era of ten great lives.

I’m going to venture to say that this is the best children’s treasury I’ve ever read!

Publishes November 9, 2021.

I was gifted this advance copy by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara, Quarto Publishing Group, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

A wonderful varied collection of 50 Little People Big Dreams stories. It has beautiful illustrations of a diverse array of people who made history and simple text written to inspire. The treasury is organized by each person's birth year, so it's interesting to consider how each person influenced history. The stories are abbreviated and I believe have the same text, but fewer drawings. This would make a wonderful bedtime book or gift!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

Readers of my blog know that I regularly recommend each entry in this series. Now, there is (finally) a compilation of these excellent biographies for young children.

There are fifty stories here. Each is inspiring and interesting. The entries are organized by time period. There are so many names to choose from among the many. I will just include one from each section here: Lucy Maud Montgomery, Josephine Baker, Anne Frank, Stephen Hawking and Mindy Kaling. No matter where you dip into this book, you will find a good bio. Each short entry has a portrait and quote and is followed by a detailed time line with story pages that, I think, are from the original books.

The book opens with a brief note from Ms. Sanchez Vegara. She notes that learning about people is a strong interest of hers and that she most definitely likes telling stories that will encourage children to dream. She has done just that with this title. Buy it for a child you know. It could make a perfect holiday gift.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.