Grownups sometimes tell you that dreams are not real. This little girl knows differently. In her world, dreams are much more real than bathtubs, houses, purple shoes, worms ... even the first day of school. Sometimes the dreams are fun; sometimes the dreams are scary. But, more importantly, the dreams tell her about the feelings she has inside. And if she can just get through it, that first day she's worried about might not be so bad. After all, dreams are even more real than school. And she's not just dreaming, you know.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Using self-consciously childlike phrasings and digressions, the text introduces a girl who dreads the first day of school. Gay (Lizzie's Lion) presents the narrator as a tiny waif with two waist-length black braids and "one gone tooth," who clutches a brown stuffed lion. The girl begs her mother to let her "stay up early tonight" in order to delay her anxious dreams of wild animals and magic: "My mum says there is such things as fear-us tigers and witches because dreams are real. Dreams are more real than bathtubs. Dreams are more real than houses." The plot itself unfolds like a dream, with non sequiturs galore. Gay, in her mixed-media illustrations drawn on handmade and textured papers, supports the hybrid descriptions of real and imaginary occurrences by refusing to ground the action. On one page the girl watches a scary movie on top of a planet, on the next she flies over a city in a red bathtub, and on the next she awakens in her bed. With scant transition, she's soon on the school playground, where bullies glare at her but one girl befriends her. The friendship seems to have an uplifting effect on the protagonist, but the story's message remains in doubt. The flighty plotting and pictures lack cohesion, and the too-precious diction gives no reassurance against the uncertainty the child faces through the course of the book. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 2-This Canadian import deals in a lighthearted way with childhood fears, including nightmares and the first day of school. A little girl likes to "stay up early" because she has bad dreams about tigers, witches, and sometimes man-eating hot dogs. She talks about her concerns and is comforted by Lion, her favorite stuffed animal, which she takes into her bath, to bed, and to school. Told in the first person, this narrative uses a childlike vocabulary and sentence structure. The youngster dreams of "fear-us tigers" and has one "gone tooth." Gay's colorful illustrations have exaggerated heads and undersized arms and feet, suggestive of children's art. This is an acceptable supplemental purchase, but it is not an essential one. Mercer Mayer's There's a Nightmare in My Closet (Dial, 1968) is still a great choice.
Roxanne Burg, Thousand Oaks Library, CA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Roxanne Burg, Thousand Oaks Library, CA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet.
|
|||
|
Video reviews
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
