The Make-Believers

Sibling creators Seacrest and Seacrest Leach spotlight daydreaming in this fantasy-forward double author debut. Savvy opening lines enthusiastically instruct on how to be a “make-believer” (“Start by daydreaming about your favorite things”). Affirming text further conveys a sense of limitlessness, suggesting ways to envision new people, places, and experiences, and hinting that some visualizations can “start looking less like dreams and more like something truly real.” Lui liberally scatters repeating shapes (petals, stars) across luminous, soft-edged vistas that call attention to children’s extraordinary capacity for individual and collective imagination, accentuating the connection and magic that arises from make-believe. Human characters are portrayed with various abilities and skin tones. An authors’ note concludes. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)