There’s a story behind the Dream Rangers.

The story goes like this:
The original "Oliver" A boy named Sebastian was suffering from night terrors (extreme nightmares) at the age of five or six. His grandmother (myself, Marjorie Burns, in fact) bought him an almost life-size Yellow Retriever, a stuffed animal. The dog, she explained, was a service dog, trained to help out in dreams. And “Oliver” did help out—first by showing up in dreams and then by taking charge. The night terrors faded away.

That wasn’t the end of it. Shortly after Oliver began helping out in dreams, a small, upstart journal, Snooze New, began arriving by mail. Snooze News was a specialty journal, full of information about sleep and dreams, as well as jokes and riddles. Example: What is easier to do if you try not to do it and harder to do if you try?
Answer: falling asleep!

One whole issue was dedicated to flying—to how people fly in dreams. Sebastian’s mother, Andrea, goes airborne by straddling her pillow, lifting up the corners in front, and tucking her legs underneath (so the pillow won’t drop away). Sebastian’s Uncle Matthew usually leaps from a high point before he can swoop and glide.

Snooze News was not a long-lasting journal, but the few random issues that made it into publication are what inspired the Dream Ranger series, a series that starts with The New Cadets.