Lisa is supposed to write a school essay on the topic of dream jobs. Together with their brother Philip and his girlfriend Adila, the three enthusiastically think up the most exciting professions. In the process, the children develop all kinds of ideas, dreams and visions about their future together.
In “Dream Professions” by Cai Schmitz-Weicht and Ka Schmitz, the themes of work and professions, gender roles and unemployment are addressed with wit and imagination. This involves designing positive visions of the future for children of different social positionings, taking into account discrimination factors such as age, gender, class, disability, etc.
Lisa, the protagonist in “Dream Jobs,” is in a wheelchair and Adila is a girl of color. This is neither addressed nor problematized in the book. Instead, all children are portrayed as equally confident, creative, and capable of taking action.
Despite the positive and encouraging content of the story, it should be noted that the book does not explicitly challenge society’s commitment to gainful employment.
The book is available in Turkish and German, Polish and German, Portuguese and German, Italian and German, and Russian and German.
Cai Schmitz-Weicht/Ka Schmitz 2014: Traum-Berufe. Berlin: Viel & Mehr.
If you don’t have a bookstore worth supporting near you, you can also buy the book from the alternative non-profit online bookstore links-lesen.de, which supports political projects with the profits. The link to the book is: http: //www.links-lesen.de/article/978-3-945596-04-3