Follow Your Dreams by Katherine Mengardon
May. 22nd, 2024 10:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Discover …
100 inspiring and extraordinary jobs
Why not become a cat behaviourist?
Or a rollercoaster engineer?
How about a coral reef gardener?
Find out what’s involved in these incredible careers and meet the real people who followed their dreams and are doing these jobs today.
Katherine Mengardon is an education expert on neurodiversity, play and creativity and the author of several non-fiction books. This useful book for readers aged 9+ suggests 100 jobs grouped around whether they are interested in: animals, art, maths, the environment, music, gadgets, performance, sports, fashion and writing. I enjoyed the interviews with some people who do these jobs but would have liked more information on education requirements.
I’m always in two minds about books like this because on the one hand it’s sad that children need to think about what they want to do for a living after leaving school but equally it is a fact of life and if children have a broad idea of where their interests lie, then it can give them a focus. What I will say is that Mengardon has clearly put a lot of thought into the types of jobs described here and there is a lot of variety in the careers available. It is also smart that she has tried to group jobs around different interests that children have as it gives them an idea of the breadth of careers open to them. Certainly there were jobs here that I had never come across, including cat behaviourist, soil brander, luthier, beaver ranger and coral planter.
Mention should be made of the illustrations by Rachel Hunter, which are bright and engaging, and the book design is smart, with text arranged into columns and interviews broken up good use of photographs. I should say that the interviews were actually my favourite part of the book as it gives people the chance to describe what their job involves, which I think makes it seem more real and engaging to the reader.
Where I did think that the book falls down is in going into education requirements for the different roles. I understand that education requirements may change with time, meaning that there is no point in going into details specifics for readers at this age level, but I think more could have been emphasised on whether a role would require a degree or if it could be carried out through an apprenticeship or did not require formal qualifications. Part of the reason this stood out for me is that some roles (e.g relating to social media or podcasting) are emphasised as being those that you can develop skills on your own without needing formal qualifications and I would have liked to have seen more consistency on it.
All things being equal, if you have a young reader who has no idea what they want to do in life, then I think this book may be of interest to them - if only to give them ideas of the types of role that are out there. However I do think it needs to be read as the start of a general conversation with them about what they are interested in rather than being seen as a definitive guide.
The Verdict:
Katherine Mengardon is an education expert on neurodiversity, play and creativity and the author of several non-fiction books. This useful book for readers aged 9+ suggests 100 jobs grouped around whether they are interested in: animals, art, maths, the environment, music, gadgets, performance, sports, fashion and writing. I enjoyed the interviews with some people who do these jobs but would have liked more information on education requirements.
FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS was released in the United Kingdom on 28th March 2024. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
100 inspiring and extraordinary jobs
Why not become a cat behaviourist?
Or a rollercoaster engineer?
How about a coral reef gardener?
Find out what’s involved in these incredible careers and meet the real people who followed their dreams and are doing these jobs today.
Katherine Mengardon is an education expert on neurodiversity, play and creativity and the author of several non-fiction books. This useful book for readers aged 9+ suggests 100 jobs grouped around whether they are interested in: animals, art, maths, the environment, music, gadgets, performance, sports, fashion and writing. I enjoyed the interviews with some people who do these jobs but would have liked more information on education requirements.
I’m always in two minds about books like this because on the one hand it’s sad that children need to think about what they want to do for a living after leaving school but equally it is a fact of life and if children have a broad idea of where their interests lie, then it can give them a focus. What I will say is that Mengardon has clearly put a lot of thought into the types of jobs described here and there is a lot of variety in the careers available. It is also smart that she has tried to group jobs around different interests that children have as it gives them an idea of the breadth of careers open to them. Certainly there were jobs here that I had never come across, including cat behaviourist, soil brander, luthier, beaver ranger and coral planter.
Mention should be made of the illustrations by Rachel Hunter, which are bright and engaging, and the book design is smart, with text arranged into columns and interviews broken up good use of photographs. I should say that the interviews were actually my favourite part of the book as it gives people the chance to describe what their job involves, which I think makes it seem more real and engaging to the reader.
Where I did think that the book falls down is in going into education requirements for the different roles. I understand that education requirements may change with time, meaning that there is no point in going into details specifics for readers at this age level, but I think more could have been emphasised on whether a role would require a degree or if it could be carried out through an apprenticeship or did not require formal qualifications. Part of the reason this stood out for me is that some roles (e.g relating to social media or podcasting) are emphasised as being those that you can develop skills on your own without needing formal qualifications and I would have liked to have seen more consistency on it.
All things being equal, if you have a young reader who has no idea what they want to do in life, then I think this book may be of interest to them - if only to give them ideas of the types of role that are out there. However I do think it needs to be read as the start of a general conversation with them about what they are interested in rather than being seen as a definitive guide.
The Verdict:
Katherine Mengardon is an education expert on neurodiversity, play and creativity and the author of several non-fiction books. This useful book for readers aged 9+ suggests 100 jobs grouped around whether they are interested in: animals, art, maths, the environment, music, gadgets, performance, sports, fashion and writing. I enjoyed the interviews with some people who do these jobs but would have liked more information on education requirements.
FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS was released in the United Kingdom on 28th March 2024. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
