The Dream Factory
Heather Hepler and Brad Barkley
Reviewed by Amy Lignor
This is the story of a group of young adults who are hired
as replacement cast members during a worker’s strike at Disney World. From the first line of this young adult book,
the characters are: beguiling, hysterical, sweet, villainous, and,
above all,
very, very real.
The story follows Ella (who, of course, dons the costume of
Cinderella.) She is as unlike the fairy
princess as possible. She can’t even
stand the color pink. She is a child who
has lost her brother in a car accident.
Her parents can’t deal with the loss, so they move to Africa,
and send her to live with an aunt who only wants someone to take care
of her
children while she gets her nails done.
Prince Charming, Mark, knows everything there is to know about
Disney. A font of information, handsome,
smart, nice – but, there’s just something missing in him.
The hero of this story is Luke, dressed quite un-fashionably
in the Dale costume (of Chip and Dale).
He’s a boy who has everything including a fifty thousand dollar
a year
job in the family business, and the perfect girlfriend.
Her name is Cassie. She’s very
ambitious and believes everyone,
especially her boyfriend, should be too.
These two souls, who want so much more than what they have
to look forward to, find each other. This
book is filled with wonderful lines, as well as many one-liners that
will hit
home. The point: Everyone’s life is
filled with a wonderful cast of characters, but it takes focus to find
the one
that really understands you. It was nice
to read about these kids who are just about to embark on their
“responsible
adult life” and they are just as confused as the adults who’ve been
struggling
with it for years. Ella makes the
statement that everyone around her was given a life manual and she just
got the
CliffsNotes; offering the major plot points but leaving out the details
that
she longs to understand.
I will always remember this book on the basis of one very
poignant line: The problem with
perfection (Disney) is someone tried to package a dream so they could
sell
it. As soon as you package it – it stops
being a dream.
Life with all its bad points may not be a dream – sometimes
it’s a nightmare. But, all in all, the
point is to live the magic of it everyday, take chances, and enjoy. If you want to start enjoying now…read this
book.