Book Review: Jinny Jana’s Giant Journeys – Possibly the Best Lucid Dreaming Book for Children

Sometimes I wish I had a time machine.

If I did, I’d take Jinny Jana’s Giant Journeys back to my five-year-old self, and my whole relationship with dreams might have been considerably less... confusing.

Alright, let’s back up (because context matters).

Those familiar with my work will know that I found my way into lucid dreaming through a rather difficult and strange route - childhood parasomnias. Night terrors, sleep paralysis, sleep walking, nightmares - the whole lot.

Frankly, sleep was a place of confusion and fear. My lovely (but also very busy and working-class) parents didn't know what to do, and were frankly too busy keeping the lights on. A book like this, written by an expert in consciousness, would have been a godsend.

Daniel Love (me) holding what might just be the best lucid dreaming book ever written for children – Susan Blackmore and Emily Troscianko’s beautifully bonkers masterpiece, Jinny Jana’s Giant Journeys.

Still, by a mix of sheer will and a little luck, my child-self learned to navigate those experiences - and here I am today, teaching lucid dreaming to adults. But how much easier it would have been with a lucid dreaming book like Jinny Jana’s Giant Journeys beside me - a book that manages to make dreaming feel both realistic and magical at the same time. Sue - or Professor Susan Blackmore if you’ve read any of her academic work - is one of the giants of consciousness research. I’ve followed her since my teens (yes she's a personal hero, but I'm trying to keep my bias in check). It’s not an exaggeration to say she’s been an intellectual north star of sorts for me - shaping how I think about critical thinking, consciousness, and the all-too-rare virtue of intellectual honesty.

So, being invited to the launch of Jinny Jana’s Giant Journeys was genuinely wonderful. It’s rare to see someone who’s spent a lifetime in hard science step so gracefully into the world of storytelling - and rarer still when it’s done this well.

Two brilliant minds, one extraordinary little book. Sue Blackmore and Emily Troscianko at the Jinny Jana’s Giant Journeys launch.

This isn’t some cute bedtime story written by a passing hobbyist. It’s the work of someone who’s spent decades exploring the mechanics of the mind. Sue literally wrote Consciousness: An Introduction - the standard textbook in the field - and here she distils that vast knowledge into a whimsical tale about Jinny, her magical hat (based on one of Sue's real hat - as seen on the table above), and a big, wonderfully plump cat named Frumpy.

To me it reads like a Zen koan wrapped in a children’s adventure (maybe I'm being a little pretentious... but to me a sign of true mastery is being able to explain complex ideas simply). It's playful and philosophical in just the right balance for a book aimed at children. It's the kind of story that teaches a respect for the mind long before words like metacognition or mindfulness become a part of a child's world.

Jinny Jana, the book’s heroine, clearly embodies some of Sue’s own spirit of curiosity. Her name is a not so subtle hint at the jhānas - curious states of mind from Buddhist teachings - so snuck in just enough to go unnoticed by a child, but there for parents who know about such things (and for those children to look back and reflect on as adults and go "ahhh... that's what she was talking about").

The wonderful Professor Susan Blackmore reading her new book, Jinny Jana’s Giant Journeys, to a captivated audience. Magical stuff.

One of the most touching part of this project is that it wouldn’t have existed without her daughter, Emily Troscianko. Emily, who is equally brilliant in her own right (she’s a writer and researcher focusing on psychology and eating disorders), was the driving force behind making the book a reality.

If you’ve ever had a child frightened by nightmares or fascinated by the mysteries of sleep, this is the book to give them. It doesn’t treat dreams as silly nonsense or mere entertainment. Instead, it presents sleep as a landscape of transformation - a place where fear, curiosity, and imagination all mingle.

And to be blunt, it's not watered down. Sue treats these subjects with a respect for how genuinely frightening they can be. In fact, many of the audience members at the launch were concerned it may be "too much". However, from my own personal childhood experience, I can say that, for me at least, fear evaporates (or at least becomes less terrifying) when knowledge steps in.

Having grown up plagued by sleep terrors, I can say this book does something much needed: it turns fear into fascination. It reframes the monsters under the bed as opportunities for exploration. It gives children permission to find meaning and magic (the real kind) in their dreams - and hopefully the courage to face them.

So yes, if I did have that time machine, I’d hand this to my younger self and say, “See? The nightmares aren't your enemy. They're just another adventure waiting to be understood.

So, I highly recommend you get your copy here (or grab a few as Christmas presents!)

Why parents and educators should read this book: Jinny Jana’s Giant Journeys by Susan Blackmore and Emily Troscianko is a compelling but scientifically grounded children’s book about lucid dreaming, sleep, and imagination. It helps children understand the unusual aspects of dreams and sleep, and manage night fears, introducing the concepts of self-awareness and emotional resilience through storytelling. Perfect for parents looking for an intelligent, gentle way to introduce lucid dreaming and an understanding of unusual sleep states to kids, it’s both educational and comforting - with the potential to become a modern classic for curious young dreamers.