'Dream Big, Laugh Often': Inspiration from 14 biblical characters - review

I don’t know any kid, or any adult for that matter, who could possibly resist opening this book. Because, let’s admit it, we do judge books by their covers. And this cover is a delightful invitation to find out what treasures are to be found inside.

Geared to children ages four to eight, Dream Big, Laugh Often shares a life message inspired by each of 14 biblical characters, ranging from Eve to Esther. Every personality gets a full spread in which he or she is described in a few short paragraphs illustrating how the message was derived from the Torah’s account.

For example, Sarah’s message is “Laugh yourself silly.” The authors sum up Sarah this way: “Sarah thought she’d seen and heard it all. And then, one day, three strangers came to visit. Nothing unusual about that. But after she and her husband, Abraham, welcomed and fed them, the strangers told Sarah that she’d have a baby soon.

“Sarah blushed. That was the silliest thing she’d ever heard. Couldn’t they see how old she was? Much too old to have a baby! What could she possibly say? Sometimes there are no words. She just had to laugh.

“And a year later, when she cuddled her baby, she laughed again. Isn’t life funny? Oh, and by the way: The baby’s name was Isaac – Hebrew for ‘one who laughs.’” (Oddly, that’s not an exact translation, but it gets the point across.)

Artist Hanoch Piven’s colorful collage portraits steal the show

The texts describing each personality are cute and succinct, nicely conveying the message even if the authors sometimes take liberties with the original account. But it’s not the texts that make this book pop. Artist Hanoch Piven’s colorful collage portraits simply steal the show.

Born in Uruguay and dividing his time between Jaffa and Barcelona, this award-winning Israeli illustrator, educator, and artist has spent the past 30 years creating clever collages from odd scraps, food, toys, and pretty much anything that can be cut up and glued down.

His signature caricatures of everyone from Albert Einstein to Homer Simpson have graced the pages of TIME, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Village Voice, The London Times, Der Spiegel, and other major publications. Piven clearly has a special place in his heart for kids: He’s led workshops for children in oncology wards, and has written nine books for young readers in English, six in Hebrew, and one in Spanish, showing how he puts his caricatures together – plus two iPhone apps that help them do this craft virtually.

In Dream Big, Laugh Often, he depicts Noah with a loofah glove for a face and toothbrushes for feet. Sarah’s eyebrows are doll’s legs, and her eyes are wind-up chattering teeth, while Joseph’s eyes are dreamcatchers (a brilliant touch), and his mouth is fashioned from a book. Jonah’s torso is, appropriately enough, a flipper.

Some characters resemble famous people of the modern age. Balaam, sporting a toilet mouth, deflated balloon nose, and grape-cluster hair, is a dead ringer for Muammar Gaddafi. Deborah’s steel-wool hair and light-bulb nose bring to mind Golda Meir, and I suspect that’s not an accident.

THE BOOK presents the characters in a way that is appealing to children of any faith, or no faith, but Piven playfully uses plenty of Jewish symbols in his carefully crafted caricatures. Elijah’s nose is a havdalah candle; his mouth is a horizontal Kiddush cup. Abraham sports a dreidel for a nose. Moses’ nose is a shofar, and his beard is composed of broken matzah pieces.

As the authors write, “This book is about paying attention not just to the words on the page but also to the objects that compose the illustrations. The artwork might even tell more than what is written. Each story may send you on a research quest to learn more about these figures, or prompt you to imagine your own alternative stories. Paying attention to details and exploring what they mean is what studying the Bible is all about.”

After every character is presented in full size, the concluding pages of the book provide more information about each one, alongside a smaller image of the collage caricature.

Although the authors express their hope that “at least one person reading this book will be inspired to trust herself like David, forgive himself for feeling embarrassed like Sarah, follow their curiosity like Eve, or go on a journey of exploration like Abraham,” I believe it will inspire many more readers to try their hand at using all kinds of crazy tidbits to produce Piven-style face collages.

This book is a fun platform for instilling an appreciation of Bible stories and would make a wonderful gift for any curious and creative child in your life. 

• DREAM BIG, LAUGH OFTEN AND MORE GREAT ADVICE FROM THE BIBLE
• By Hanoch Piven and Shira Hecht-Koller, with Naomi Shulman
• Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers
• 48 pages, $19.99