This is the kind of middle-grade book that adults remember decades later. The premise—a theatre troupe staging your dreams every night—is so inventive it feels like Cuevas cracked open her own subconscious and found something genuinely new.

But it's not just clever. It's a grief book, and a good one. Luna's dog dies, and the story doesn't shy away from the weight of that loss. The nightmares that follow are scary in the way real anxiety is scary—not monsters under the bed, but the feeling that joy might never come back. The Dreamatics scrambling to restore balance in Luna's inner world is a beautiful metaphor for how we all work through trauma.

The writing is tender without being precious, whimsical without being cloying. If your kid has lost a pet or is emotionally mature enough to handle themes of death and sadness, this is a gift. If they're looking for laughs and adventure, maybe save it for later.