Message-driven but blessedly free of the standard-issue self-referential story line, this outing highlights the value of books in setting career goals. Mitchell, a professional football player and active literacy advocate, sets his tale at a library Family Fun Day. When a magician invites children to announce what they want to be, before reaching into his hat, each pulls out a book in the relevant field en Ryan, who tries a trick of his own by claiming that he wants to be a dog, but gets a volume on stars and planets that reflects his real yen to become an astronaut. "The desires that are within you bring out the magic in these books," the magician concludes. "Follow your dreams and they will take you wherever you want to go." Lew-Vriethoff's cheery biblio bustle, replete with diverse sets of parents and children sharing books in a spacious, modern library, culminates in a view of the magician turning his big, seemingly bottomless hat toward readers with a (perhaps the) question: "What are your dreams?"

PreS-Gr 2 New England Patriots wide receiver Mitchell has written a serviceable paean to reading as a means of making your (career) dreams come true. Suitably cheerful cartoon illustrations show a diverse group of children and families at a magic show at the library, with psychic reader's advisory as the grand finale. One by one, children from the audience reach into the magician's top hat for books, each of which is somehow about that child's dream career, thus proving that "books are magic." The lanky white magician even convinces a skeptical kid who claims to want to be a dog when he grows up: deep down the boy wants to be an astronaut, so the magic hat gives him a book about space. There are missed opportunities to promote the joy of reading for its own sake, as well as to encourage perseverance when reading does not feel like magic. Nevertheless, the amusing story encourages children to see the library as a fun place and to see books as a source of inspiration and support for their passions. VERDICT A good-natured addition, if a bit simplistic about the benefits of reading. Sarah Stone, San Francisco Public Library