Follow Your Dreams: 100 inspiring and extraordinary jobs

by Katherine Mengardon

Whether you’re an animal lover, a math master, a science whiz, a tech expert, a fashion fiend, a planet protector, a music marvel, an amazing artist, a born performer, or a sports fan – you can turn your passion into a profession!

In this book, you’ll discover jaw-dropping jobs that put the WOW into the world of work. The careers are arranged by interest, to make the content engaging and easy to navigate, with exciting ‘jobs of the future’ in cutting-edge areas like AI and the environment.

Why not become a space psychologist? Or an in-vitro meat scientist? How about a coral reef gardener? Find out what’s involved in these incredible careers, why they’re so important, and the skills you need to land the role. Plus, meet the real people who followed their dreams and are doing these jobs today – with photographs of them at work to challenge stereotypes and bring the jobs to life.

This beautifully illustrated, inspiring book is an ideal gift for children aged 9+ to encourage creative thinking, big dreaming, and buckets of ambition.

144 pages, Hardcover

Published June 18, 2024

Reviews

[Sarah Faichney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realise it was only a sampler I was getting to review. From what I read, 'Follow Your Dreams' seems like a decent jumping off point for children and young people to consider the plethora of potential career options available to them. It seems a well curated collection of dream jobs and I liked the inclusion of interviews with experts in their fields. Each entry is informative yet succinct. I hope this sparks ideas and aspirations in young minds. Every school library needs a copy! 

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this didn't exactly get off on a good foot – "85% of careers that will exist in 2030 haven't been invented yet". Well, with nothing whatsoever to back up that ridiculous claim for the next six years, this could still drum all those school careers advisers out of a job. But let's face it, if you're an older child in this audience, the book admits it will feed you into a career only for someone to invent the real one for you just as you've finished training for the first.

This, then, is a colourful guide to the careers it can think of and name, as opposed to the great many that have yet to become reality (growth-inspiring-plant-music composer; streaming-history-cleaning Ed Sheeran remover, because who'd let a potential employer see that?!; disposed covid mask placer for TV and films wanting their backgrounds to get that 2020 look; etc). We start with wildlife-centred jobs, and break away to have a two-page profile and interview with a wildlife photographer. Next it's visual creativity, STEM science kinds of jobs, musical careers and so on and so on. The times we meet the pros are wonderfully diverse with ethnicity and gender (the senior game designer very much a female, and of much renown in her field).

All the entries are a page long, touching on three or four points and cramming in some of the designer's output to brighten up the page. They can mention things that may be less than positive (the travel involved in stand-up, for one) but do have a great habit of avoiding all the years of zero income (hello, slam poets of the world). It's all very readable, well-presented, and generally full of sense. OK, you can't just decide you're a children's author, and being a VAR referee does kind of imply you're a referee first, so that doesn't make much sense, but the book is certainly no worse than others in its category. I never did well with careers advice at school – just because I had a 464 I was supposed to be a computer programmer(?!) – but this with its errant go-getting positivity will only open doors, and not slam any shut. A strong four stars.

[I Read, Therefore I Blog · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book on different jobs for children or teenagers to considering doing in the future. Based on the few sample pages, it seems to aim at inspiring people to consider each job as their future career choice. Some important information such as academic requirement or salary level is sadly missing.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely book detailing inspirational jobs that anyone could aspire to do. Well presented and written.

[DonutKnow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the colour scheme and the feeling that I got thinking that there is a wide world of possible opportunities out there 🙏🙏