When your fears disappear, your dreams appear!”

An aspiring pitcher with a mean fastball, nine-year-old Child wants nothing more than to be on his local little league team. But the team is dwindling and to make matters worse, Child has a gang of bullies targeting him

I was first intrigued by the Closet of Dreams based on the title and cover. It alluded to the idea of a boy wanting to play baseball and the fears that were getting in his way. As well as a bully who tries to intimidate him from being able to play. Closet of Dreams is a short chapter book that does read on the younger end of middle grade, and I thought it was both entertaining and somewhat silly in an endearing way (Child enlists a dog, and circus animals to include an elephant, bear and hippo who can speak to his baseball team). The illustrations added appeal and I especially liked the full page one of the baseball field and thought it could interest kids who enjoy the sport.

I guess the main thing that bothered me about the story is that the two main characters didn't have names besides "Child" and "Gamma." Although, I get that this was intentional as they were characters from the world that the authors created as kids, it just made it difficult for me to connect with Child somehow. Purely a me thing. Overall, I thought the highlight of the book was the messaging of overcoming one's fears so that one's dreams can come true. Child ultimately developed the courage he needed to succeed. I also really liked that Child showed empathy toward Eddie when he witnessed Eddie's mother yelling at him and felt this was a special moment that helped him develop a better understanding for why Eddie behaved the way he did and the amount of pressure that he was under at home. Overall, a nice story that shows a little kindness toward others can go a long way.
**A huge thank you to Books Forward for the recommendation**

A wonderful children’s book about bullying, pet adoption, playing baseball and making friends. The authors wrote about overcoming your fears and standing up to bullies because you never know what your bullies are going through themselves.

Thank you to Mark Ukra, Tara Mesalik MacMahon, the publisher and net galley for this digital copy.

Read this book with my nieces and nephews over several weeks. They loved the plot but not the illustrations in the book

Thank you for the ARC.
A nice, fun, and quick read chapter book for any child. Ha, the main character's name itself is CHILD. A nice story of growing up, loving animals, overcoming fears and facing your bully. This was an enjoyable fast read with plenty of drawings for each chapter.
I just reviewed Closet of Dreams by Mark Ukra and Tara Mesalik MacMahon. #ClosetofDreams #NetGalley

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my gifted copy.

We are a huge baseball family, so I just knew I had to read this to my nephew. We both absolutely loved it!! Such a cute story, and I definitely recommend this beautiful book.

Thank you, BookLogix, for the advance reading copy.

I enjoyed this book so much and I really feel this book will help a lot of kids.

The book deals with bullying, adoption of animals, making friends, being more involved with the community and playing sports.

I really appreciate how the author represented each character with an important role in the story. There’s only one complaint about the illustrations and I do hope it would get better with the next book.

I am quite happy with how all the issues are addressed properly in the book.

Well written for beginners and young readers!