Review: Dream Big, Laugh Often
Dream Big, Laugh Often, and More Great Advice from the Bible by Hanoch Piven and Shira Hecht-Koller, illustrated by Hanoch Piven Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2023 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Ann Koffsky Buy at Bookshop.org Dream Big, Laugh Often explains its mission on its first page, saying that, “even though the stories of the Bible are very old, there is still a lot that we can learn from each of these characters." With that premise set up, the book describes fourteen biblical characters. Each one has an illustration and a brief text. The headers include the character’s name, followed by the lesson to be learned. (For example: Noah: Be Good. Abraham: Trust the Journey.) The text references the traditional bible stories, but does not retell them. Instead, it uses them as jumping off points, highlighting the “advice’. So for example, In the profile of Jonah there is no mention of Nineveh. It instead focuses on Jonah needing a time out (inside the fish!). Most times, this appro...