DREAM MACHINE

Little ones can arrange the settings in the dream machine to create their own sweet dreams.

This dream machine is no sleek, clean, modern machine. It is more along the lines of a mad-scientist contraption, with vivid colors, plenty of images all over, levers and tabs to move and slide, dials to turn, and flaps to open. The action starts right from the cover, with a tab to slide to the ON position. Next, “RAISE the antenna”—but most toddlers will not know what that is. Then, set the snoring level—again, toddlers may not know about or be interested in snoring, but adult readers will. Readers wanting to set the snoring level to 0, as suggested by the text, will find no 0. A different dial allows readers to choose the kind of dream desired: “fantasy,” “flying,” “weird,” and others. And a sliding tab allows the choice of a dream companion. Spinning a wheel should encourage yawns, and it will also turn down the light. After lowering the dream shield (or closing eyes), there is still one more thing to do: part the curtains to see “SWEET DREAMS.” It is hard to see how such a busy book, in both actions and aesthetic, will encourage any sleep, never mind dreams. It feels like a book that was fun for adults to design, with little thought of its putative purpose.

Sweet dreams are not made of this.