What do you think?
Rate this book
Ryan Hart #4
Ways to Build Dreams
Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award winner Renée Watson continues her bestselling young middle grade series starring Ryan Hart, a girl who is pure spirit and sunshine.
Middle school is just around the corner for Ryan Hart, which means it's time to start thinking about the future--and not just how to prank her brother, Ray!
During Black History Month, Ryan learns more about her ancestors and local Black pioneers, and their hopes for the future, for her generation. She wonders who she wants to be and what kind of person her family hopes she becomes. Drawing on the ambitions of those who came before her and her own goals, Ryan is determined to turn her dreams into reality.
Grow and shine and share with Ryan Hart in this series that brings ever more humor, more love, and more fun.
Acclaim for Ways to Make Sunshine
A New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year | A Parents Magazine Best Book of the Year | A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year | A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year | A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year | A WORLD Magazine Best Book of the Year | An Amazon Best Book of the Year
Middle school is just around the corner for Ryan Hart, which means it's time to start thinking about the future--and not just how to prank her brother, Ray!
During Black History Month, Ryan learns more about her ancestors and local Black pioneers, and their hopes for the future, for her generation. She wonders who she wants to be and what kind of person her family hopes she becomes. Drawing on the ambitions of those who came before her and her own goals, Ryan is determined to turn her dreams into reality.
Grow and shine and share with Ryan Hart in this series that brings ever more humor, more love, and more fun.
Acclaim for Ways to Make Sunshine
A New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year | A Parents Magazine Best Book of the Year | A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year | A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year | A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year | A WORLD Magazine Best Book of the Year | An Amazon Best Book of the Year
208 pages, Hardcover
First published October 17, 2023
16 people are currently reading
179 people want to read
About the author
Renée Watson
36 books1,659 followersRenée Watson is the author of the children’s picture book, A Place Where Hurricanes Happen (Random House, June 2010), which was featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Her middle grade novel, What Momma Left Me debuted as the New Voice for 2010 in middle grade fiction by The Independent Children's Booksellers Association.
Renée’s one woman show, Roses are Red, Women are Blue, debuted at New York City's Lincoln Center at a showcase for emerging artists. Her poetry and articles have been published in Rethinking Schools, Theatre of the Mind and With Hearts Ablaze.
When Renée is not writing and performing, she is teaching. Renée has worked in public schools and community organizations as an artist in residence for several years, teaching poetry, fiction, and theater in Oregon, Louisiana, and New York City. She also facilitates professional development workshops for teachers and artists.
One of Renée’s passions is using the arts to help youth cope with trauma. She has facilitated poetry and theatre workshops with young girls coping with sexual and physical abuse, children who have witnessed violence, children coping with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and children who relocated to New York City after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Renée graduated from The New School, where she studied Creative Writing and earned a certificate in Drama Therapy.
Renée currently lives in New York City.
Renée’s one woman show, Roses are Red, Women are Blue, debuted at New York City's Lincoln Center at a showcase for emerging artists. Her poetry and articles have been published in Rethinking Schools, Theatre of the Mind and With Hearts Ablaze.
When Renée is not writing and performing, she is teaching. Renée has worked in public schools and community organizations as an artist in residence for several years, teaching poetry, fiction, and theater in Oregon, Louisiana, and New York City. She also facilitates professional development workshops for teachers and artists.
One of Renée’s passions is using the arts to help youth cope with trauma. She has facilitated poetry and theatre workshops with young girls coping with sexual and physical abuse, children who have witnessed violence, children coping with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and children who relocated to New York City after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Renée graduated from The New School, where she studied Creative Writing and earned a certificate in Drama Therapy.
Renée currently lives in New York City.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
October 23, 2025
What an enjoyable conclusion to this warm and loving series. Looking forward to reading these books again someday.
May 18, 2023
Delightful. More of this please. Short and sweet and a joy to read. Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.
Ryan’s growing up, graduating and in another few months, will start middle school (6th grade) so things are in flux. At home, she got her family keeping her grounded, with dad asking what kind of person Ryan wants to be, while at school, she’s asked to consider how she’s going to change the world. Tough stuff for Ryan, who has dreams and aspirations but questions how they can make a difference.
By book’s end, Ryan is giving the graduation speech, she realizes change comes by trying your best. By starting small, and making change in simple everyday actions. One small dream at a time.
Extra props for introducing readers (including this adult) to Beatrice Morrow Cannady
Ryan’s growing up, graduating and in another few months, will start middle school (6th grade) so things are in flux. At home, she got her family keeping her grounded, with dad asking what kind of person Ryan wants to be, while at school, she’s asked to consider how she’s going to change the world. Tough stuff for Ryan, who has dreams and aspirations but questions how they can make a difference.
By book’s end, Ryan is giving the graduation speech, she realizes change comes by trying your best. By starting small, and making change in simple everyday actions. One small dream at a time.
Extra props for introducing readers (including this adult) to Beatrice Morrow Cannady
March 18, 2025
What a perfect ending to this series (and the author note 🥹😭)! I'm so happy these books exist. 💛
October 18, 2023
The story of a girl on the cusp of middle school is full of lots of small moments in ordinary life; there's nothing dramatic, but it's all interesting, and there's enough going on, and enough food for thought, to invest the reader in Ryan's world.
But most of all the story is full of love --from her parents, from her friends (with empathy even coming from a boy she hadn't before been able to quite trust), from her teacher, and from herself--not just love back to all those people, but loving herself, and believing, as the title promises, that she will keep on building dreams. Though the honor of being her class valedictorian comes with the horror of public speaking, Ryan rises to the challenge. And her speech, which brings this part of her life, and the book, to a close, says something many of us need to be reminded of--
"So, instead of telling you to dream big and change the world, I want to say, go change your world--your family, your neighborhood, your community. I've learned that it's not only important to dream of doing big, big, big, things, it's also important to dream of simple, everyday things we can do to make the world a better place."
Yes. I needed to hear that.
But most of all the story is full of love --from her parents, from her friends (with empathy even coming from a boy she hadn't before been able to quite trust), from her teacher, and from herself--not just love back to all those people, but loving herself, and believing, as the title promises, that she will keep on building dreams. Though the honor of being her class valedictorian comes with the horror of public speaking, Ryan rises to the challenge. And her speech, which brings this part of her life, and the book, to a close, says something many of us need to be reminded of--
"So, instead of telling you to dream big and change the world, I want to say, go change your world--your family, your neighborhood, your community. I've learned that it's not only important to dream of doing big, big, big, things, it's also important to dream of simple, everyday things we can do to make the world a better place."
Yes. I needed to hear that.
July 24, 2025
This was a great series. The littles and I enjoyed it a lot. And I loved the lesson on little dreams mattering as much as big dreams. I hope my two take the lessons in this series with them for a long time.
September 2, 2023
This series has my heart! I’ve been reading it aloud to my littles since it came out and I can’t believe our girl Ryan is moving to the 6th grade soon!
In this one you get to be back with Ryan, her family and friends! As well as a school project for Black History Month on a person local to Ryan’s community. I loved learning fun new info in this one and think it would be a great pairing for projects in the future. A great addition to such a fun easy to read series for kids!
Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy
In this one you get to be back with Ryan, her family and friends! As well as a school project for Black History Month on a person local to Ryan’s community. I loved learning fun new info in this one and think it would be a great pairing for projects in the future. A great addition to such a fun easy to read series for kids!
Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy
June 14, 2023
Another delightful Ryan Hart story! I love that these books give students options that are short and sweet! And spending time with Ryan means learning and growing, so I can’t wait to share her stories with students!
October 3, 2024
3⭐️ This book was good but I preferred the third book. Ryan is still learning a lot and showing so much by being there for her brother Ray and helping him prepare.
July 14, 2025
My kids have loved this series!
July 10, 2023
E ARC Provided by Edelweiss Plus
In this sequel to Ways to Make Sunshine, Ways to Grow Love, and Ways to Share Joy, we see Ryan finishing up her fifth grade school. Her baby sister Rose is cute, but requires a lot of care, and her older brother Ray is still annoying. She's planning an elaborate prank to get back at him, but not sure what to do; she only knows she will somehow tie it in to his poetry recitation. The biggest thing at school is a project on Black leaders who made an impact in Oregon, and Ryan's group is assigned Beatrice Morrow Cannady. While she's excited to work on the project with friends Kiki and Hannah, she is less than excited to work with Brandon. Ryan also is struggling with the impact that she wants to make on the world, although her parents and grandmother are insistent that the kind of person she is when she grows up is more important than what she will do. Her teacher, Ms. Anderson, also has positive and supportive messages for the class, asking them all to write about the person on display in the room, when Ms. Anderson has them looking into a box where there is a mirror, so the students are writing about themselves. Ryan asks her familiy to help her with these projects, and they also help her when she is afraid of public speaking.
Strengths: Ryan is an engaging character who has realistic reactions to many common elementary school experiences. I did appreciate that Brandon turned out to be a much better classmate than Ryan expected, even saving her from getting into trouble for not doing work with some quick thinking. I also really enjoy herr grandmother and their thrift shopping. I would really like to see the next book start a new series, with a slightly older look for middle school readers. It would be nice if the first book had enough of a recap that readers could start it without having to read the first four books. Not sure what that would look like, but I'm always up for a realistic fiction series for middle school.
Weaknesses: The prank never seemed in character with Ryan's personality, and in fact ended up being a poorly timed celebration rather than a prank. I would have preferred a different sub plot.
What I really think: The page decorations and upbeat attitude make this a great choice for readers who enjoy series like Sheth's Nina Soni, Cabot's Notebooks of a Middle School Princess, and
Moreno and Lovett's Maggie Diaz.
In this sequel to Ways to Make Sunshine, Ways to Grow Love, and Ways to Share Joy, we see Ryan finishing up her fifth grade school. Her baby sister Rose is cute, but requires a lot of care, and her older brother Ray is still annoying. She's planning an elaborate prank to get back at him, but not sure what to do; she only knows she will somehow tie it in to his poetry recitation. The biggest thing at school is a project on Black leaders who made an impact in Oregon, and Ryan's group is assigned Beatrice Morrow Cannady. While she's excited to work on the project with friends Kiki and Hannah, she is less than excited to work with Brandon. Ryan also is struggling with the impact that she wants to make on the world, although her parents and grandmother are insistent that the kind of person she is when she grows up is more important than what she will do. Her teacher, Ms. Anderson, also has positive and supportive messages for the class, asking them all to write about the person on display in the room, when Ms. Anderson has them looking into a box where there is a mirror, so the students are writing about themselves. Ryan asks her familiy to help her with these projects, and they also help her when she is afraid of public speaking.
Strengths: Ryan is an engaging character who has realistic reactions to many common elementary school experiences. I did appreciate that Brandon turned out to be a much better classmate than Ryan expected, even saving her from getting into trouble for not doing work with some quick thinking. I also really enjoy herr grandmother and their thrift shopping. I would really like to see the next book start a new series, with a slightly older look for middle school readers. It would be nice if the first book had enough of a recap that readers could start it without having to read the first four books. Not sure what that would look like, but I'm always up for a realistic fiction series for middle school.
Weaknesses: The prank never seemed in character with Ryan's personality, and in fact ended up being a poorly timed celebration rather than a prank. I would have preferred a different sub plot.
What I really think: The page decorations and upbeat attitude make this a great choice for readers who enjoy series like Sheth's Nina Soni, Cabot's Notebooks of a Middle School Princess, and
Moreno and Lovett's Maggie Diaz.
May 17, 2023
First sentence: Everything feels new. The clothes I got for Christmas still fit in that stiff way that new clothes fit, and they haven't been worn enough to start fading. We've finally stopped eating holiday food and have gone back to more everyday meals--peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, burgers and fries, spaghetti. We're two weeks into the new year, and still people are saying Happy New Year! if it's the first time they've seen someone since December.
Premise/plot: This is the fourth Ryan Hart novel. Previous books include: Ways To Make Sunshine, Ways to Grow Love, and Ways to Share Joy. This LOVELY chapter book covers Ryan Hart's last five months in elementary school (aka, January - May of her fifth grade year). Readers spend time with Ryan Hart at school and home.
My thoughts: I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, crazy love the Ryan Hart series. I adore every single member of her family. I love Ryan, Ray, Rose, the parents, and the grandma. I ADORE the relationships between all the family members. I love seeing the complexities of those relationships. I love seeing Ryan hang out with her best friends. I love seeing her strive at school. I love the occasional trip to church. Everything about Ryan Hart's world is one I'm invested in--I just adore this series so much.
This one has so many perfectly-perfect scenes. I don't know if this is the last book, but if it happens to be the last book it is incredibly satisfying. (Do I want it to be the end? No. Never. I want to be friends with Ryan forever and ever and ever.)
Quotes:
Premise/plot: This is the fourth Ryan Hart novel. Previous books include: Ways To Make Sunshine, Ways to Grow Love, and Ways to Share Joy. This LOVELY chapter book covers Ryan Hart's last five months in elementary school (aka, January - May of her fifth grade year). Readers spend time with Ryan Hart at school and home.
My thoughts: I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, crazy love the Ryan Hart series. I adore every single member of her family. I love Ryan, Ray, Rose, the parents, and the grandma. I ADORE the relationships between all the family members. I love seeing the complexities of those relationships. I love seeing Ryan hang out with her best friends. I love seeing her strive at school. I love the occasional trip to church. Everything about Ryan Hart's world is one I'm invested in--I just adore this series so much.
This one has so many perfectly-perfect scenes. I don't know if this is the last book, but if it happens to be the last book it is incredibly satisfying. (Do I want it to be the end? No. Never. I want to be friends with Ryan forever and ever and ever.)
Quotes:
Always, they ask, What do you want to do when you grow up? but I have never been asked, Who do you want to be? I've never thought about there being a difference.
Like she [her Grandma] is thinking again about how I am changing, changing. She is smiling at me in a way that tells me her love is not based on what I do, but who I am.
December 29, 2023
Things are changing for Ryan Hart. She will be finishing 5th grade and moving up to middle school. This series is a delight! Here are five things I loved about this one:
😃 Ryan's family shares meals, movies, church, and special outings together. I learned about a place called the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm that I really want to visit. 🌷
😀 Ryan loves to bake. Her creations (like lemon-marionberry pancakes) sound delish.🍰
😀 Ryan has a very special relationship with her grandmother. Such a wise woman who has a sunny outlook on life. 🤗
😀 Ryan helps her brother with his slam poetry competition. Better than continuing a prank war. 🎤
😀 Ryan learns that it is more important WHO you want to be than WHAT you want to do when you grow up. 🎓
Here is an excerpt from the book that sums things up nicely:
So, instead of telling you to dream big and change the world, I want to say, go change your world--your family, your neighborhood, your community. I've learned that it's not only important to dream of doing big, big, big things, it's also important to dream of simple, everyday things we can do to make the world a better place.
😃 Ryan's family shares meals, movies, church, and special outings together. I learned about a place called the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm that I really want to visit. 🌷
😀 Ryan loves to bake. Her creations (like lemon-marionberry pancakes) sound delish.🍰
😀 Ryan has a very special relationship with her grandmother. Such a wise woman who has a sunny outlook on life. 🤗
😀 Ryan helps her brother with his slam poetry competition. Better than continuing a prank war. 🎤
😀 Ryan learns that it is more important WHO you want to be than WHAT you want to do when you grow up. 🎓
Here is an excerpt from the book that sums things up nicely:
So, instead of telling you to dream big and change the world, I want to say, go change your world--your family, your neighborhood, your community. I've learned that it's not only important to dream of doing big, big, big things, it's also important to dream of simple, everyday things we can do to make the world a better place.
February 8, 2024
Ways to Build Dreams is the 4th and final book in Rénee Watson’s Ryan Hart series and we have loved every single book! These stories are set in Portland, Oregon and have a strong sense of place. Ryan’s family is real and genuine, her everyday life issues are relatable, and the reader gets to follow along as she struggles and grows, faces hurts and deals with disagreements.
These books have been wonderful family readalouds. They are all about 150 pages and have lovely illustrations every few chapters. I love that these books hold space for the bittersweet because that is so real and true to life. Yes, there are many happy moments, and the series itself wraps up very neatly, but along the way we get a front row seat to the big and small disappointments of life.
These books are a beautiful window in Black culture with storylines around wash day, hair care, soul food, Black Church services, and more.
We highly recommend this series for family read alouds and emerging readers. We own all of these and I’m so glad to have them on our shelves for my kids to reread!
These books have been wonderful family readalouds. They are all about 150 pages and have lovely illustrations every few chapters. I love that these books hold space for the bittersweet because that is so real and true to life. Yes, there are many happy moments, and the series itself wraps up very neatly, but along the way we get a front row seat to the big and small disappointments of life.
These books are a beautiful window in Black culture with storylines around wash day, hair care, soul food, Black Church services, and more.
We highly recommend this series for family read alouds and emerging readers. We own all of these and I’m so glad to have them on our shelves for my kids to reread!
December 28, 2023
WAYS TO BUILD DREAMS is the fourth and final installment of Renée Watson’s Ryan Hart series and just like the first three books, this one does not disappoint. This book features Ryan navigating fifth grade and preparing to go to middle school. Relationships with family members are once again at the heart of the book as Ryan adjusts to the changes in her family resulting from the arrival of her baby sister and figures out a way to pull a prank on her annoying older brother Ray. Like any fifth grader, Ryan is also managing school and ever-changing dynamics of friendship. The relationships and relatable, slice of daily life events are what makes this book—and series—a standout. Ryan is an engaging, realistic heroine who provides readers with a positive role model for hard work, kindness, and positivity. So sad to see this fabulous series come to a close!
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC to read and review.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC to read and review.
November 12, 2023
Renee Watson is one of my favorite children’s authors writing today. In Ways to Build Dreams she does what she does best again. In this book, she is able to bring forward well-developed characters with believable and engaging relationships with each other as well as bringing forward Black history and Black excellence. In this book, Ryan Hart works to continue doing as she has done in each of the books of her series, trying to live up to her name. Watson does marvelously at developing the relationships between Ryan and the others in this series throughout all the books while doing so in a way that does not rely on having in depth knowledge of the previous books in the series. All of the books in this series have been of a similar high quality and this one is the same. I would highly recommend Ways to Build Dreams to the kids, particularly the Black kids, in your life.
October 28, 2023
Ryan Hart is back with many changes on the horizon that has her thinking of her future.
💭
Ryan just celebrated New Year’s and she’s ready to finish out elementary school strong. From Black History Month to Valentine’s Day to April Fool’s Day to graduation. Ryan spends the semester thinking of ways to prank her brother, Ray, as well. Between worrying about her best friend moving to a different middle school, to learning about strong Black people in our history to Ryan thinking about what dreams she has for the future, it’s a big semester for Ryan!
💭
I adore this young MG series. Ryan is such a doll and I love the lessons she learns in each book. This is the fourth novel and I can’t wait for more!
I wanted a bit more from this one. Nothing really big happened.
💭
Ryan just celebrated New Year’s and she’s ready to finish out elementary school strong. From Black History Month to Valentine’s Day to April Fool’s Day to graduation. Ryan spends the semester thinking of ways to prank her brother, Ray, as well. Between worrying about her best friend moving to a different middle school, to learning about strong Black people in our history to Ryan thinking about what dreams she has for the future, it’s a big semester for Ryan!
💭
I adore this young MG series. Ryan is such a doll and I love the lessons she learns in each book. This is the fourth novel and I can’t wait for more!
I wanted a bit more from this one. Nothing really big happened.
July 23, 2023
The fourth book in a wonderful series. Even though these books were technically written for children younger than my age, I still find them very enjoyable to read. Ways to Build Dreams encourages the reader to follow their dreams and change the world in small ways.
"So instead of telling you to dream big and change the world, I want to say, go change your world-your family, your neighborhood, your community."
" Change doesnt happen because of the big moments-change happens because of the little, tiny decisions we make every single day. I hope we keep changing our world and building our future one tiny dream at a time."
"So instead of telling you to dream big and change the world, I want to say, go change your world-your family, your neighborhood, your community."
" Change doesnt happen because of the big moments-change happens because of the little, tiny decisions we make every single day. I hope we keep changing our world and building our future one tiny dream at a time."
August 6, 2023
Renee Watson's early middle grade series about Ryan and her friends and family is such a breathe of fresh air. This series entry takes Ryan through the second half of her 5th grade year. The challenges she faces aren't dramatic but are very real for kids this age, learning to navigate friendships, trying to catch a vision of how they can impact their world. A book that is celebratory and joyful. My only sadness: I think I read that this is the last in the series. I will miss Ryan, as well other faithful readers.
Review based on an eARC received through NetGalley.
Review based on an eARC received through NetGalley.
August 24, 2023
Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
5 stars (I loved it)
This series is the best! I loved loved loved the beginning and end of this book. The middle was still good, don't get me wrong but the beginning and end were the best. In the beginning, Ryan does a project for Black History Month about a person who was local to Ryan's community. I loved that Ryan was so connected to the project. In the end (dont worry, I won't spoil it!), all the things that Ryan has learned throughout the book come together.
5 stars (I loved it)
This series is the best! I loved loved loved the beginning and end of this book. The middle was still good, don't get me wrong but the beginning and end were the best. In the beginning, Ryan does a project for Black History Month about a person who was local to Ryan's community. I loved that Ryan was so connected to the project. In the end (dont worry, I won't spoil it!), all the things that Ryan has learned throughout the book come together.
April 29, 2024
This is the 4th book in the Ryan Hart series, and we are still fans! We started the hard copy and then finished on audio since we had a long drive to a field trip. In this book Ryan is discovering not necessarily what she wants to DO when she grows up, but what kind of person she wants to be! It’s Black History month and she is learning from important local figures in her town as she navigates her own journey. And of course, we all wanted to see what would happen in the ongoing prank war with her brother! This series was well enjoyed by all three of my boys ages 5-10.
July 4, 2023
“Sometimes asking Grandma just one question opens up a whole new part of her that I didn't know existed.”
I love the new Ryan Hart story, but this paragraph especially struck home with me. I didn’t start asking my grandparents enough about their lives until it was far too late. I always wish I could’ve uncovered more about their lives.
Ways to Build Dreams is another lovely addition to your series, Renée Watson!
- - - - -
“Be your best self, Ryan.”
I love the new Ryan Hart story, but this paragraph especially struck home with me. I didn’t start asking my grandparents enough about their lives until it was far too late. I always wish I could’ve uncovered more about their lives.
Ways to Build Dreams is another lovely addition to your series, Renée Watson!
- - - - -
“Be your best self, Ryan.”
September 18, 2023
Ryan is in 5th grade, trying to figure out how to end the Prank War with older brother Ray, worrying about BFF KiKi’s plans to go to a different middle school, and struggling to apply all that she’s being told at school and at home about what it means to be change-maker for good in the world. Full of wonderful details about life in Portland, Oregon. It’s a fabulous school-and-family story, Beverly Cleary would be proud! EARC from Edelweiss.
October 5, 2023
Ryan Hart is a chef. A sister. A daughter. A great friend. When posed with the question “who do you want to be?” by her father, Ryan begins to wonder at all the ways to build a dream.
Watson is consistently masterful in developing this heartfelt series centering family, positivity, and striving to do good in the world. The Ryan Hart series is an inspirational and educational story for young children to always cultivate goodness through kindness, hard work, and creativity.
I would recommend this series to fans of the previous books in this series and coming off age stories.
Watson is consistently masterful in developing this heartfelt series centering family, positivity, and striving to do good in the world. The Ryan Hart series is an inspirational and educational story for young children to always cultivate goodness through kindness, hard work, and creativity.
I would recommend this series to fans of the previous books in this series and coming off age stories.
August 3, 2024
The 4th in a great middle school series and very timely during this election season. Ryan is about to enter middle school and feels pressure to dream big and always do your best. This story of self-discovery ends with her saying that: "... change doesn't happen because of the big moments - change happens because of the little, tiny decisions we make every single day. I hope we keep changing our world and building our future one tiny dream at a time."
August 15, 2024
Contemporary fiction for ages 7-10, this is the 4th book, but they are quick and such a joy that I keep reading them. Life, love, lessons, laughter. So good. The family is Christian, and church life is an important part of the book. Being Black is also woven into the fabric. I really think this is going to be the last one. It goes from January thru graduation ceremony of 5th grade, so elementary school is over and next year she and her friends are off to middle school. Lovely conclusion.
September 30, 2023
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book. This was a great addition to this series. Ryan is a sweet character with a lot of heart. Many of my students love her and they will surely love this book just as much. I loved the message about dreams too.
November 20, 2023
Ryan is now in 5th grade, and is starting to grow up. Ryan’s cooking ability is growing, her efforts as a sister show maturity, her interactions with her friends acknowledge that life changes. My favorite aspect of these stories is the joy! Ryan’s parents are loving, and in charge. The siblings are working together, and life is good!
December 13, 2023
The 4th in the Ryan Hart series finds Ryan about to finish 5th grade and move on to middle school. Ryan is having difficulties trying to figure out how she can make changes for the betterment of herself and the world around her. With the love and support of her family and friends, Ryan finds a way to rise to the top.
May 6, 2024
I love this series. So sad to see it end. Such a sweet everyday story about a family from Portland. It's Ramona for the next generation. Love the interactions between siblings and family members (good and bad) and the every day worries of public, changes at school, changes at home and everything in between. If you have not read any of this series yet I would encourage you to get started ASAP!
July 22, 2024
5 stars
As the school year stars to wind down, Ryan faces the question: who does she want to be? She and her classmates are learning about local history heroes and are asked to write about who they want to be, what kind of person rather than what kind of job they want. Ryan also worries about middle school and attending the same school as her friends.
As the school year stars to wind down, Ryan faces the question: who does she want to be? She and her classmates are learning about local history heroes and are asked to write about who they want to be, what kind of person rather than what kind of job they want. Ryan also worries about middle school and attending the same school as her friends.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews