Review by Frank Plowright

Cassie is a middle child in a large family, and that comes with responsibilities like looking after younger brothers and sisters on occasion. Readers may know her from Dream On, in which Shannon Hale and Marcela Cespedes had her fantasising about winning a postal lottery, not realising the odds were against her. Proper introductions are made here, though, so new readers can quickly catch up as we see Cassie playing with best friend Vali, but not too sure about Stesha whom she feels wants Vali to herself.

There’s a film being made in the neighbourhood, and an enthusiastic Cassie immediately dreams of possibly being in it. After all, there’s no harm in asking. Stesha isn’t going to bother, as they’ll only say “no”, but courage pays off for Cassie and Vali, who’re taken on as extras.

Many children share Cassie’s dream of being in a film or being on TV, and Hale and Cespedes explain the realities well, downplaying the glamour children associated with films. They emphasise the snotty child stars, the endless waiting around and how the same scene is filmed again and again from all angles. However, relentless monotony wouldn’t make for entertainment, so Cassie makes her own version of the film script and the part she plays has some surprises in store. Three packed pages assigned to explaining the assorted people staffing a film seems a case of too much research being passed on, especially when those who interact with Cassie have already been explained.

It’s a horror story being filmed, and knowing that highlights Cassie’s own fears. Hale eventually develops a clever continuing pattern of Cassie seeing the film’s monster as symbolic when encountering poor behaviour, and shows how Cassie’s naturally kind and cheerful personality opens doors that other behaviour closes. However, Hale also eventually shows the fears prompting poor attitudes in others. Another nice touch is mentioning financial problems faced by families with several children, and the restrictions is places on them.

As before, Cespedes includes subtle visual clues that Cassie’s adventures take place in a pre-digital era, an old TV being one, before use of a brick-like mobile phone cements the 1990s. Cespedes also creates a cast whose personalities transmit, and ensures that despite Cassie’s own fears, the scary moments aren’t going to cause nightmares.

Hale takes a generally predictable path, but Dream Big is more concerned with people than plot, and showing how Cassie overcomes fears she thinks only she has, but are actually common to most children. That’s all well handled, and after two books there’s surely an appetite for seeing Cassie again.