Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Quirky cast, heart, Southern charm in Wish follow-up.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 9+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
DREAM. It's right there in glow-in-the-dark letters on 11-year-old Idalee Lovett's ceiling, and she's got a dream all right—becoming a country songwriter. Back when she was 5, her dad ditched the family and is no longer around, but her mom, aspiring country singer Lovey Lovett, turned the big old family home into a boarding house, now home to assorted quirky characters including Idalee's 4th-grade teacher, a pet psychic, a recently stranded truck driver and his son Odell. Also 18-year-old blue-haired Jackie, whose sister Charlie, Charlie's friend Howard, and her dog Wishbone (all seen in Wish) come to visit. Determined to win an songwriting contest and sure she needs a new guitar to do it, Idalee learns that her late grandpa supposedly hid a treasure somewhere in the house before he died, and is determined to find it. So when Lovey takes off on tour with her band the Junkyard Dogs, Idalee and her new friends are on the hunt. Which is soon causing them to make some questionable choices.
Is It Any Good?
Barbara O'Connor's long-awaited Wish follow-up connects that tale's deep heart and quirky characters with an 11-year-old country songwriter and the eccentric residents of her mom's boarding house. Idalee Lovett's never been afraid to Dream, and as a group of new friends and new possibilities come into her life, she brings readers along on a wild ride that involves lots of questionable decisions, hard-won wisdom, and unexpected developments.
Aspiring songwriters of all ages will relate to tween Idalee's plight in a world of "write what you know": "Most country songs are about cheating boyfriends or smoky bars. I don't know much about those kinds of things, so I write about stuff like tire swings in weed-filled yards or the smell of granny's bread."
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about stories like Dream, with characters growing up in small, rural towns. What other small-town stories do you know? Are the towns in those stories like the one in Dream?
As Lovey's experience shows, traveling musicians don't have an easy life. Or a glamorous one. But they keep going. What do you like doing enough that you persevere even when things get hard?
Is songwriting something you'd like to do? What would you write about? Who are your favorite songwriters?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Friendship
- Topics : Animals ( Dogs ) , Arts ( Music and Sing-Along ) , Family Stories ( Grandparents , Moms , Single Parents ) , Friendship
- Character Strengths : Gratitude , Perseverance
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Publication date : August 26, 2025
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 8 - 12
- Number of pages : 256
- Available on : Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 25, 2025
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