Customer Reviews

The Dreamer (Ala Notable Children's Books. Older Readers)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
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ENTER THE DREAM! Were you a dreamy kid? The type of kid that parents & teachers nagged to focus more? Do you have a child like that? If yes, you will love this book. Inspired by the life of a real poet in Chile, Pablo Neruda, the book's prose is dream-like and poetic. It is greatly enhanced by award-winning artist Peter Sís, whose delicate, drawings enhance the magical world. Finally a book that favors the right-brain people (in this left-brain culture).

The main character dreamily ponders the world while cowering from his domineering father. However, Neftali's beholding of nature, his sense of wonder and his limitless imagination cannot be bound. He persists in his dream-like approach to the world. INSPIRE YOUR DREAMY CHILD -- This book will inspire young readers, future poets and all right-brain people. It's courageous, unusual and unique.

The message to follow your dreams is wonderful, making poets "cool", especially those from other countries is a great idea, and Pam Munoz Ryan's questions combined with Peter Sis' drawings are fantastic such as "Which is sharper? The hatchet that cuts down the dream? Or the scythe that clears a path for another?"

My lack of enthusiasm for the book is directly related to my having lived in Chile for six years and being married to a Chilean. Chile is an interesting land of contrasts. The literacy rate is high and the interest in politics and current events is also very high. However many, not all, Chileans consider reading "anti-social", something I was chided for regularly. Unlike in the book, there was no library at a seaside town. I never found a public library in the whole country, although, I heard vaguely that there was one in the capital. A magazine/book store would be more likely. My point is that there were many cultural things that made the father who he was. He was not Dave Pelzer's mother. College entrance exams are very tough in Chile and peasants, at least fifteen years ago when I was there, were very real which tends to make fathers want better for their children. Families regularly took month vacations to the beach and the "sink or swim" swimming method made a champion swimmer out of my own husband. These aren't the best parenting techniques, of course, but I guess I would have been more comfortable if the father hadn't been a complete villain.

Also, although not as important, I wish there had been one last editing by someone from Chile. Parrots and Flamingos that far south? Potato empanadas? Meat and cheese empanadas are as common as hot dogs and hamburgers here, but I've never heard of potato ones.

All that aside though, the book is an enjoyable, magical read that teachers could certainly use as fodder for creative writing papers and/or poetry units.

Pablo Neruda, the great Chilean poet, wrote, "...my poetry was born between the hill and the river, it took its voice from the rain, and like the timber, it steeped itself in the forests." In her fictionalized biography of him, Pam Muñoz Ryan asks, "Does a metamorphosis begin from the outside in? Or from the inside out?" THE DREAMER explores Neruda's childhood and the roots and inspirations of his poetry.

Neftalí Reyes was born to a domineering father, who wants his sons to be strong, powerful men of industry. But Neftalí and his older brother, Rodolfo, are creative souls more interested in books and music than math and business. Neftalí is shy, stuttering and unsure of himself, and feels most at home surrounded by nature or the many interesting objects he collects, like shiny keys, feathers and beautiful stones. His head is full of stories, and he is entranced by the rhythmic sounds of the forests, rivers and jungles. Though his stepmother tries to protect him, Neftalí is subject to his father's mood swings, strict rules and cruelty. As he grows up, inspired by his uncle, a progressive journalist and activist on behalf of the native Mapuche, Neftalí finds his voice and strength in the written word --- first in political essays and finally in poetry.

Ryan's prose is a lovely and dreamy parallel to Neruda's lovely and dreamy verses, and she tells Neftalí's story with compassion and beauty. Though Neftalí struggles with familial and social expectations, he is steadfast in his identity as someone who needs creative expression, especially through words. At times the story is dark, even harrowing; Neftalí's father forces him and his young sister to swim every day one summer in cold and strong waters, though they are both weak swimmers and terrified of drowning. But Ryan focuses on the power of imagination that Neftalí harnesses, and so the book remains optimistic and hopeful.

Though written for children, it is a story readers of all ages will find much value in: a tale of perseverance and poetry, family and power, art and identity, written in Ryan's sure and slightly unconventional hand. She asks her audience to ponder with Neftalí questions such as, "Where is the heaven of lost stories? Who spins the elaborate web that entraps the timid spirit? What wisdom does the eagle whisper to those who are learning to fly?" Peter Sis's drawings that accompany the tale are airy and fantastical --- a perfect illustration of Neftalí's thoughts and experiences.

THE DREAMER is a wonderful introduction to the early life and work of Neruda and includes an author's note at the end as well as a selection of his poems. But mostly this is a good story: a compelling and emotional look at a lonely and fanciful boy who grew up to be an important and visionary artist. Evocative, sensual and moving, it will surely inspire young readers to see the world in a new way and encourage them to learn more about Neruda, his native Chile, and poetry in general.

Booktalk: Neftali looks up to his father and is eager to please him, but everything that he does just seems to disappoint him. Neftali's father disapproves of the little treasures that he stops to pick up wherever he goes: a pinecone, an old boot, a shell. His father disapproves of his slender physique, even though Neftali can't do anything about it. He is embarrassed by Neftali's stutter when his friends come to visit. But the most common reprimand Neftali hears from his father is "Stop that incessant daydreaming!" Neftali wants to please his father, but how can he stop contemplating the world when it is full of such wonders?

Rocks my socks: True to its title, this book has a lovely lyrical, dream-like quality about it that is simply charming. It reflects the personality of Neftali perfectly and this mood is enhanced by lines of verse and surreal drawings appearing regularly throughout the text. My heart went out to little Neftali and I treasured the glimpse I got into the workings of his mind. This was made all the more interesting by the fact that the novel is loosely biographical.

Rocks in my socks: While I did enjoy the dream-like quality and I think it fit perfectly with the subject matter, it did make for a slow pace. I also didn't like the way Neftali's age accelerated so rapidly at the end of the book. For most of the book he's 7 or 8 and the pace and aging follows that of a normal narrative. Then, in the third to last chapter he jumps to 11, then he's 13 in the penultimate one, then in the last chapter he's getting ready to leave for college. I felt like they were separate stories added on for the benefit of adding more biographical detail about later incidents in his life to show how he became the poet we all know, and it interrupted the flow of the narrative for me.

Every book its reader: I'd give it to readers 3rd grade and up who enjoy poetry. It's certainly not for anyone looking for an action-packed adventure novel, but fellow day dreamers will be able to appreciate it and find a kindred spirit in Neftali.

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The experience of reading this book was like drifting through the sensibilities of the main character Neftali, who is a child who experiences the world differently than most, and who is totally misunderstood and disparaged by his father for "foolishness." The delicacy of the touches of art and poetic phrases enhances the experience like tasting fine chocolates. As a reader, I don't permit myself to read the ending until...well, the end. So only after I had become a champion of this unusual boy, the developing poet, did I come to the point in the story where clearly it is Pablo Neruda - a fact gently foreshadowed earlier, but ever so gently.

Like many Americans, my first substantive understanding of Neruda came from the remarkable movie "Il Postino" which tells of his life during his exile in rural Italy. Our writing faculty often show that film to graduate students taking the National Writing Project, because the artisitic film (two thumbs up!)develops not only Neruda, but a young rural postman who both savor words and especially the use of metaphor.

A remarkable book, a beautiful collaboration of Ryan and Sis. I hope the Newbery committee is considering this novel!

Wendy C. Kasten, Ph.D., Professor
Literacy Education/Curriculum and Instruction
Kent State University

Co-Author LIVING LITERATURE: USING CHILDREN'S LITERATURE TO SUPPORT READING AND LANGUAGE ARTS (w/ Kristo and McClure, Pearson Ed. 2005)

The Dreamer is historical fiction. We follow a young Chilean boy through his troubled teen years. An overly strict father that has specific goals for the boy blocks each attempt to become himself. By himself he learns to appreciate the beauty of the nature around him. It isn't until the final chapter that we learn who the young man became. His rewards dwarfed his father's ambitions. Read it from the beginning and let the finale affect you as it did me. I was stunned.

Simply beautiful. Read it, savor it, share it with a friend. Pam Munoz Ryan at her absolute best - and that's really saying something!

I don't usually read much fiction, but this was recommended to me and I gave it a try. It's a nice enough story, well-crafted, a very typical wide-eyed-peasant-boy-growing-up-and-going-to-the-big-city story. There is the usual tension between the boy, who knows he wants to do when he grows up, and his father, who has worked and saved to give him a better life.

GREAT stepmother - my favorite character in the story.

Poetic language ties everything together and improves the book.

From a young age Neftali Reyes loved to read and write and would see and hear words everywhere. He was a collector of objects of nature and a daydreamer and when caught by his father he would be ridiculed and verbally abused. After his father burned Neftali's entire spectrum of written words he relized in order to be a writer he'd need to change his name and so gave birth to Pablo Neruda. This is a fictionalized biography of one of the world's best known poets and it is a beautiful book with lovely illustrations.

Reason for Reading: I wouldn't have read this if I hadn't received a review copy but Ryan is the author of one of my son's favourite books that he has had read to him multiple times, Riding Freedom, and I love Peter Sis' artwork. Besides, I always enjoy a good biography, even children's fictional biographies. The poetry angle did worry me though as I am not a fan of poetry in general (except for the silly, rhyming kind ala Shel Silverstien and specific epic poems).

This tells the story of Neftali Reyes' childhood, better known by his pen name Pablo Neruda, a great 20th century poet and winner of the Nobel Prize, though I've never heard of him before. And quickly sums up his adulthood in the closing chapters. The last pages include a sampling of his poetry. He had a rough, some would call abusive childhood. A mother who died 2 months after his birth, he and his two siblings were raised by a domineering father who had no patience for daydreaming or idleness. He had worked himself up from poverty and expected his sons to have careers that he never had the opportunity for himself. The eldest son wanted to be a singer, and this was driven out of him brutally by the father who set him up as a businessman after sending him to college. His plans for Neftali were even loftier, expecting him to be a doctor. But Neftali fell short of his expectations in every aspect, being a thin, gangly, weak, sickly child who daydreamed, collected bits and pieces of detritus and loved to write. His father tried everything in his power to drive this creativity out of him, but with the encouragement of a newspaperman Uncle he was able to hold on to his ambition, deep down, until he escaped his father's influence. He did change his name though to save his father from the embarrassment of publicly having a poet and government dissident for a son.

The story of Neftali's life is very interesting and the book reads with a gentle poetic flow, in keeping with its subject matter. The book has been printed in green ink as that is how Pablo Neruda himself liked to write. The author Pam Ryan has inserted her own short poetry here and there and the illustrations are accompanied by poetic questions in the form of Neruda's own "The Book of Questions". This will all be a bonus to poetry lovers especially those familiar with Neruda himself. Not liking artsy poetry myself, it didn't appeal to me but didn't bother me much either.

Also the author has used magical realism to delve inside Neftali's imaginative, daydreaming personality writing his fantasies as if they were indeed happening. For instance, there is a scene where he finds a rhinoceros beetle in the forest for the first time and is fascinated with it, as he watches it, it grows larger and larger until it kneels down its front legs and offers itself to Neftali who then climbs aboard and sets off for a ride through the forest. I am a big fan of magical realism but this didn't work for me in this book as it just came across as a device the author was using to make the book even more artsy and poetic. There are several such episodes but they are not overwhelming. Overall, I really did enjoy the story of Neftali Reyes' childhood and would read his memoirs or a non-fiction biography if I happened to cross paths with them but I was not overly impressed with the artsy-f*rtsy ingredients added to this book and would have much preferred a straight historical fiction. Critics, I'm sure will love the book for its artfulness though.