Daydreamer [Hardcover]

Ian McEwan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2000

"Peter Fortune is a dreamer . . . [and here are seven of] his fabulous daydreams. Each is a separate adventure, [among them] taming a bully and catching a burglar, and young readers should have no trouble empathizing with his escapades. A delightful blend of serious whimsy and hilarious gravity."—SLJ. "How would it feel to swap bodies with a cat, with a baby, with a grown-up? To be those creatures and still have your ten-year-old consciousness? British author McEwan writes a simple, visual prose––comic, deadpan, and lyrical––that captures the physicalness of [this] wild fantasy."—BL. "A rare find." —VOYA.

1995 Notable Trade Books in the Language Arts (NCTE)
Best Books 1994 (SLJ)
100 Titles for Reading and Sharing (NY Public Library)

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Most grown-ups think Peter Fortune is a difficult child because he is so quiet: they "knew that something was going on inside that head, but they couldn't hear it or see it or feel it. They couldn't tell Peter to stop it, because they didn't know what it was he was doing in there." Actually, he is involved in one of his great adventures: exchanging bodies with his ancient pet cat, battling a troop of dolls come to life, making his parents disappear with a vanishing cream or discovering what it is like to be an adult falling in love. Through his daydreams, Peter learns to see the world from numerous points of view. He is the only boy at school, for example, who can recognize the weaknesses of a bully and feel compassion for him. In his first book for children, McEwan ( The Comfort of Strangers ; The Child in Time ) dextrously presents a series of strange and wonderful metamorphoses. His vivid and poetic writing, celebrating the creative abilities of a gifted 10-year-old, reveals a profound understanding of childhood. Illustrations not seen by PW. Ages 8-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-7. What if our worst fears (or, perhaps, our dearest wishes) actually happened? Right here in the backyard. There's a nightmarish sense of the domestic transformed in these interconnected stories about a 10-year-old loner. When Peter is quiet, it's because he's having "the weirdest" adventures in his head. They're experiences that grow out of the clutter of the kitchen drawer or the bombardment at the breakfast table. He loves his parents, but they crowd him. What would happen if he used vanishing cream? How would it feel to swap bodies with a cat, with a baby, with a grown-up? To actually, viscerally, be those creatures and still have your 10-year-old consciousness? The episode about the defeat of a bully is unconvincing, and at the end, Peter is too articulate about being on the edge of adulthood. But British author McEwan (whose prizewinning adult novels have been filmed) writes simple, visual prose--comic, deadpan, and lyrical--that captures the physicalness of the wild fantasy. The uneasiness remains. Things are put back together, but the world is not exactly right. The illustrations were not seen in galley, but there could be no better expression of Peter's vision than the kind of surreal artwork Browne has used in such books as Changes (1990), where the mundane is suddenly mad. What if . . . ? Hazel Rochman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Sagebrush Education Resources (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1417603046
• ISBN-13: 978-1417603046
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Ian McEwan is a critically acclaimed author of short stories and novels for adults, as well as The Daydreamer, a children's novel illustrated by Anthony Browne. His first published work, a collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, won the Somerset Maugham Award. His other award-winning novels are The Child in Time, which won the 1987 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award, and Amsterdam, which won the 1998 Booker Prize.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you were ever ten..., April 2, 2003

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Daydreamer (Paperback)

Children have vivid imaginations, and the weird fantasies of a child are some of the most striking that a person can have. Ian McEwan's "Daydreamer" is one of those rare novels that kids and adults will enoy, though for very different reasons.

Ten-year-old Peter Fortune is supposedly a "difficult" boy, even though he's well-behaved and kind. That's only because he's a quiet loner -- he doesn't mind being around other people, but he prefers to withdraw into his vivid daydreams. When he and his sister fight and he receives his own room, an evil doll leads the other dolls to attack him. When an elderly cat is bullied by a younger cat, Peter becomes the cat for a day. He rubs vanishing cream on his family. He switches bodies with Kenneth, a wobbly toddler who tries to eat everything. He encounters a mystery burglar who has been robbing houses on his street. And he dreams of being an adult.

McEwan's books are usually much darker than "Daydreamer," but this book doesn't seem lightweight or dumbed-down. It's less like a novel than a series of seven interconnected short stories, each focusing on Peter and how reality shapes his daydreams. McEwan's writing is dreamy but realistic, and often very funny (such as Peter's reaction when he finds himself in Kenneth's baby body).

There's nothing objectionable in this book, and McEwan tinges the few frightening images with humor (when the dolls pull off one of Peter's limbs, he yells, "Hey, give those back!"). Kids will probably enjoy reading about Peter's daydreams, especially if they imagine such vivid things themselves. And adults may like getting a glimpse back in time of when they were able to dream that way. Peter has the purity of a child, knowing that a cat has a soul and feeling sorry for a bully he reduced to tears.

If you ever had weird, now-seeming-ridiculous fantasies (or if you still do -- not everybody stops!), then this book will bring a smile to your face.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Transcendent., April 15, 2005

By 

M. McCarthy (Topeka, Kansas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Daydreamer (Paperback)

My 11-year-old son and I listened to an audiotape of this book on a lengthy drive; we were rapt. My son, also a fantastical daydreamer, absolutely identified with the main character. Contrary to what some of the other reviewers reported, we found the stories extremely inventive and gripping. I found the final story about falling in love especially poignant and lovely. This book is written for children yet possesses good vocabulary and McEwan's incisive writing style. He does not dumb down the language nor the content for children. I recommend this book highly, and especially recommend the audiotape version--the narrator's reading is excellent.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How do you get your child to read more?, November 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Daydreamer (Hardcover)

Buy him books like this! My 11 year-old son loved this book so much, he insisted that I read it, too. I'm glad I did; it's a lovely collection of stories about the vivid fantasy life of a young boy. Like many children, he often wishes to be other than he is - an adult, a baby, a hero. Our favorite story was the one in which the boy becomes his cat. This is a wonderful, thought-provoking book for children and adults, perfect for reading together.