The kindergartner's special dream is to live underwater with the fish as a Mermaid.

One of her classmates longs to have his brother be the real-life Easter Bunny.

These fanciful dreams are completely normal in the life of Paul Mullen, author of "The Day I Hit a Home Run at Principal Park."

On Wednesday, the Ohio resident encouraged students at George Washington Carver Elementary School to reach for the stars and dream big.

"Living out your dreams is absolutely important," Mullen told the crowd of kindergarten through second-grade students in the Carver gymnasium.

Mullen said he realized the importance of dreams when he taught struggling readers at a small farming community in Florida.

"What I learned from them is that they lost hope in their dreams," Mullen said after the presentation. "I was able to successfully turn several of those students around by having them re-believe in their dreams and have faith."

He will spend more than a week at Dubuque schools as part of his "Every Child Dreams of Greatness" literacy campaign.

"When

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you commit early in your life to your dream, education will ultimately follow," Mullen said. "You have to have education for success."

He asked the enthusiastic members of the crowd how many of them had dreams, and nearly every one of the students raised a hand. He then asked some of those students from each grade to stand in front of the crowd and reveal their special dreams.

The majority of students spoke of sports.

One first-grade girl's special dream was to be able to boss her mother and father around. Her classmate said she wanted to have five little brothers, but he currently only has one younger brother.

"I'll tell you, these are some very interesting dreams," said Mullen, who signed some copies of his book.

"Pretty exciting," said Tyler Jokiel, a second-grade student who wore a baseball uniform.

The Cubs fan waited after the presentation for an autographed copy of Mullen's book. Jokiel said his special dream is to become a football player.

"These dreams will never leave you," Mullen said. "I wish you well in your journey, and I hope you get to live out your dreams."