Born to Sparkle

Starred review from August 15, 2021
Everyone has the capacity to sparkle. Young readers are encouraged to live their dreams. They can choose to follow any path, to be anything they want; they need not set limits. Perhaps their aim is to be a doctor, dancer, teacher, or chef, and no matter how big their dreams are they can make it happen. But the author reminds readers that there is a very important caveat to consider. They must understand the difference between a wish and a dream. When you make a wish, the tendency is to sit back and wait to see if it will come true. Dreamers must work hard, practice, learn, and be brave, for it might be a long and difficult road. But it is all achievable. Bomgaars is tender with readers, never condescending, speaking directly in simple statements and providing examples and directions, all the while reminding them that their sparkle lives within them. Olczyk depicts the narrator as a stuffed toy animal wearing a green, leafy headdress and a swirly, fluffy pink boa. The listeners are a menagerie of stuffed animals, big eyed and paying rapt attention, sometimes in costumes that represent the professions of which they dream. There are sparkly stars floating through every page and some real glitter safely adhering to the jacket cover, though not on the case cover. The author, who has Down syndrome, is an activist, TV personality, and entrepreneur who is certainly living and achieving her dream. Uplifting, encouraging, and quite lovely. (afterword) (Picture book. 5-8)

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