Customer Reviews

The Sandman

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A tiny little man named Tor cannot sleep. One day he finds a dragon scale. As he files down the scale's sharp edge, a breeze blows the scale dust into his eyes which results in "a great wave of sleepiness." When he awakens, he determines that the dragon scale sand can be used to help wide awake children fall asleep. Alas, he needs a supply of them to stay in business so he must go to the dragon's lair to get them.

Richard Cowdrey's illustrations called to me the moment I saw the cover. Tor's tiny home furnishings include a thread spool end table, pencil stub window frames, a thimble cup and a soup ladle bathtub. Cowdry was inspired by Tolkien's Smaug for his double page dragon illustration. Dragon lovers will rejoice at his rendering. The dragon scale sand gleams like emeralds and Tor's mouse-drawn cart is just too adorable. There is warmth and a bow to tradition in Cowdrey's artwork. He is the talent that paints the Guardians of Ga'hoole covers.

The Sandman, (like Jack Frost--see The Stanger by Chris Van Allsburg) does not have many stories told about him. In fact, I cannot think of one. This is a nice addition to bedtime canon.

Picked this one up on a whim and it's turned out to be one of my 3 1/2 year old's favorite go-to bedtime stories. Night after night he requests it by name, and when I've reached the end, he asks me to read it again. Before I'm through the second reading, he's out.

It's a cute story, pictures are great. There's a dragon to hold his attention (dragons are BIG in my house right now) but the story winds down, letting him wind down with it. Kind of a perfect bedtime story, really.

The Sandman is a little story about bedtime. We took it home from the library and when it was time to return it, both my kids were really upset. (So, I decided to purchase the book) The pictures in the book are excellent & the story line is cute.

Tor was a teensy tiny man only a few inches tall, but he had a big time problem that many people have. He couldn't sleep at night because his head was full of everything except dreams. He tried all the usual sorts of things to get to sleep and things like counting stars, drinking warm water and taking hot baths. Ugh! Nothing worked for him.

One day when Tor was walking in the forest, he found an unusual thing, a dragon's scale. When he was smoothing off the sharp edges, he became so tired he fell asleep on his workshop floor. There must have been something magical about the dust the scale created! He began to go to houses where children were and sprinkled some of his sand in their eyes. Tor, the Sandman, soon ran out of his magical dust. He was just going to have to find that dragon because there are lots of little boys and girls who needed a visit from him!

The story is whimsical and imaginative and will entrance your sleepy headed children. Richard Cowdrey's art work is always stunning and is no exception in this book, especially his two-page rendition of the dragon. This is a cuddle up, bedtime story you're going to love!