"Long ago in the wilds of East Africa, when the savannas were new, this moody Baboon discovered a powerful secret."

It's a promising start to a picture book. Unfortunately, I felt the rest of the book didn't live up to the opening sentence.

The basic premise of the book is to wish upon a Star, smile, believe, and that you can do anything. The examples that were used to show that you could do anything we're animals that naturally change as part of their progression. I found this dishonoring to children, even though there is an asterix at the bottom of each page to indicate this information.

I personally liked the moody Baboon character. He is the naysayer of almost every dreamer, until he has a dream of his own. At this point, he realizes that he should be celebrating with others and encouraging them in their success. I loved that transformation of character!

The book also presents the concept of believing in yourself and pursuing your dreams as a secret.

I truly wish I could like the book, but there are too many holes. Two star rating.

Precious book with such an inspirational story for all ages from little children and up. Everyone needs to never stop dreaming big!!!

I was invited to read the award-winning Live Big series created for children by Kat Kronenberg and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Dream Big is the first in the trilogy. It is well written, and takes children through the interactions of various animals.

Some of those little animals are in need of help with their self-esteem, and the other animals are happy to help. The animals and children, too, are shown they should never give up on their dreams.

There are notes for “two-leggers of all ages” in which parents are given information to help children understand that we are all very special in our own unique ways.

These little books would make great gifts for young children – and even some adults!

What made The Grumpy Book Reviewer grumpy? Not a thing!

I think this is a great message for kids and to remind them to dream big and dreams may come true. I think it parts the words didn't seem to flow as well as others, but overall my son enjoyed the book.

Dream Big is one of those children's stories that adults will also love.  It is a fable of hope and demonstrates a belief in transformation. Enjoy the poetry and whimsy of this book along with its positive message.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in excheange for an honest review.

A very sweet story about a Baboon who has a dream and watches as his friends all make a wish on a star and their dreams come true. Is it possible for him to make a wish too? This is a great story for kids of all ages. The book includes inspirational quotes and directions for creating your own drums and dreamcatchers.

A beautiful book for children of all ages. I would definitely recommend this for a classroom or school library. Thank you to the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Great story helping spark profound conversations with our small child - she really enjoyed it and kept requesting it over and over!

Cute story, beautifully illustrated with a great message but the English on it was horrible! I ended up paraphrasing most of it as the original prose just confused my kids (3 and 5). The Twinkle Twinkle poem was nice. I would recommend but wouldnt buy it.

I adored the bright illustrations in this book! This story imparts a positive message about believing in yourself and encouraging others in a positive way. It was told in a way that children can connect to. My children and I enjoyed the little snippets of animal facts throughout the story.

Great story about hope, dreams, love, celebration, forgiveness, and persevering. Includes fun activities at the end of the book and instructions on how you can wish upon your own star. The illustrations throughout the book are absolutely beautiful! Very appealing and relevant to children, highly recommended!

This series of books is about encouraging good behavior, believing in yourself and sharing with others which is all things children need to learn. The illustrations were beautiful in these books.
I received a copy from netgalley and the publisher and I appreciate it. This is my own opinion.

I think the idea of “dreaming big” is a great one for little kids, however, I think this book went about it in the wrong way. I think it was trying to emulate Aesop’s fables, telling how the animals (in this case, a caterpillar, tadpole, flamingo, and termite) turned out the way they are today. In the book, each of the animals wishes on a star and their dream came true: the caterpillar gets to fly (as a butterfly), the tadpole gets legs to dance (as a frog), the flamingo turns a beautiful color (from gray to pink) and the termite gets a big house full of friends (a termite mound). But to me, these things would have happened anyway because that’s how these animals work - they didn’t have to wish on a star, and they definitely didn’t have to work hard or dream big to achieve their goals. They would have turned out exactly the same anyway.

Now I did love the bold illustrations, and I liked how grumpy baboon learned from the animals’ experiences through the book that he could dream big too, and be a happier baboon with friends in the end.

Bright, positive message paired with the bright, colourful illustrations.

'Dream Big' by Kat Kronenberg is set in the African savannah long, long ago. It is part biology/ scientifically-based, part creation story and part wishing-upon-a-story Disney story. This latter, wishing upon your star is a little derivative therefore.

Beautifully illustrated by Stephanie Dehennin, 'Dream Big' tells the story of the metamorphosis of a caterpillar, tadpole and flamingo. In each case, it is supposed to be the first of the species that sets off this magical, inspirational makeover. Inspired by their transformations, moody baboon and lonely termite also wish upon their respective stars to become better versions of themselves. The animals flock to baboon's party and the termite stuck alone underground builds a magnificent earthen castle for many termites to share.

The 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' song doesn't rhyme and misses some of the rhythm of the original. The text lacks some rhythm too.

However, who can knock a positive story for young children! Not this reviewer. the bright, positive message paired with the bright, colourful illustrations make this a wonderful picture book for under-5s. I recommend it.

Thank you to Greenleaf Book Group Press, Netgalley and Kat Kronenberg for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Filled with beautiful artwork, this book teaches children at metamorphoses of some animals and well as giving an uplifting message of hope to believe in your dreams.

This is a fun book with the little song and finding ways to look at things positively. I really liked the illustrations. I think this will be a fun book for families to read together.

This story is set in the African forest where the characters are all different wild life animals. There are lots of new words to learn and new names of animals to learn, which was really fun for my daughter. The book is filled with sounding words which makes it an exciting read. Each story had a song that rhymed with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star that is easy to follow and sing along with. That also added to the making the book a fun read.

Dream Big teaches children that if you really wish for something - and believe that you can receive it - then it will come true.

I received an advanced reader copy of Dream Big through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title.

The illustrations were great and I love the idea of the story. But the flow of the text just didn't work for me.

Dream Big is a book of not letting where you are right now determine what you could become. I loved how Baboon learned through each of the animals that were transformed, and the ending is fantastic. Fun read for kids and parents.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Greenleaf Book Group Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Dream Big. I voluntarily chose to review this children's book and my opinion is freely given.

The animals discover the secret that lights the star within their hearts, as the Baboon doubts that they can become what they dream.

Dream Big is well illustrated, but I was not a fan of the text or the way the premise is presented. The text is wordy and, at times, does not get the point across quickly. The author ignores the science of the transformation in each of the animals, putting that information in small print at the bottom of the page. The book is misleading, saying that the animals believe in themselves and their dreams to make changes happen, but that is biology at work. It is great to aspire for more and to have dreams, but the author misses the opportunity to convey that point to children. Had the author given each of the animals aspirations of becoming something more than their biology dictated, the book would have been more successful. For these reasons, I would not recommend Dream Big to other readers.