DREAM ART EXHIBIT AT MCMICHAEL

For Immediate Release

Contact: Brian Puppa, TCP Press, e-mail or call (905) 640-8914

JUNE 19, 2006 / TCP Press / -- A new exhibit and educational program at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection is based on Susan Bosak's award-winning bestseller Dream: A Tale of Wonder, Wisdom & Wishes. The exhibit, sponsored by Freedom 55 Financial, features the original artwork created for the book by 15 top children's illustrators from five countries, along with interactive components that encourage children to discover the world around them and inside themselves.

How has the flashlight or the telephone changed the world? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Why was Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring named one of the most influential books of the past fifty years? And what do you do when a personal challenge seems so overwhelming you don't even want to get out of bed?

"There's a real power in the combination of words and art to engage children and get them asking the kinds of rich questions that help them grow," says Bosak. "This is about encouraging children to read -- to understand both words and images -- and encouraging them to think, and to dream and set goals to make a difference in their own lives and the lives of others."

Bosak spent five years developing Dream. It's a one-of-a-kind collaboration of 15 top children's illustrators including Governor General's Award winner Barbara Reid and two-time Caldecott Medal winners Leo and Diane Dillon. The book's eleven national awards include an International Reading Association Children's Choice, a Teachers' Choice, an iParenting Award, and the IPPY Best Children's Book of the Year. Dream combines contemporary art with thought-provoking quotations from historical sages and a multilayered poetic story about hopes and dreams across a lifetime that inspires both children and adults.

The exhibit is unique because of the range of artistic styles and mediums -- everything from watercolor, oil, and chalk pastel to pen-and-ink, digital, and plasticine -- and also because all the pieces work together to tell a story. The exhibit extends the experience with interactive, multimedia components that bring the universal themes of hopes and dreams to life. Visitors can also make origami Dream Stars and place them into the magical, handcrafted Dream Chest to make a wish.

Online LifeDreams activities offer parents and teachers more ideas for encouraging children to dream and set goals. Bosak offers these tips:

• Encourage children to choose a Historical Hero -- an interesting historical figure who can serve as a role model. Make it a family project to learn more about him or her.
  
  
• Children can make a specially decorated Dream Chest. Over time, they can fill it with newspaper and magazine articles, images, cartoons, quotations, and other items that inspire or interest them and relate to their own dreams and goals.
  
  
• Set a Dream Time every week. Read inspiring books aloud together and discuss them. What interests kids? What inspires them? What questions does a book spark? What more can children find out.
  
  

"You're never too young or too old to dream," says Bosak. "Each illustrator in Dream has hidden a star in their illustration. So children, and even adults, can hunt for the stars in the art and make a wish with each one they find."

The McMichael is a public gallery located just north of Toronto, ON (for a map, visit www.mcmichael.com). The Dream exhibit, sponsored by Freedom 55 Financial, runs at the McMichael to January 7, 2007 and then travels to other venues across Canada and the US. Dream by Susan V. Bosak (TCP Press, hardcover, full color, $17.95 US, $23.95 CAN) is available in bookstores across the country. For more information and free online activities, visit www.dreamstorybook.com.

To receive a MEDIA KIT, REVIEW COPY of the book, or to schedule an INTERVIEW with Susan Bosak, contact Brian Puppa, TCP Press, e-mail or call (905) 640-8914