Dream: A Tale of Wonder, Wisdom & Wishes

Fifteen well-known illustrators contributed beautiful artwork to this heavy-handed, inspirational fable in free-verse poetry. On each spread, Bosak describes a stage of life, writing in the voice of a wise elder who associates each age with a color: as a "cuddled and comforted"baby, the speaker loves yellow; as a teenager struggling with questions of identity and life purpose, the speaker loves blue. Then, as an adult depressed by life's ambiguities, the speaker sees gray everywhere until he (or she?) realizes the powerful impact of dreams, which transform the world into a hopeful green. The greeting-card sentimentality isn't for everyone, but the fine, detailed images from Leo and Diane Dillon, Raul Colon, and others may attract aspiring artists. Older teens, especially graduating seniors, may particularly enjoy the comforting, motivational quotes and messages about embracing life's passages and future possibilities. This is published in association with the Legacy Project, which is dedicated to fostering intergenerational communication, and there are free activity kits available online, which, like the book, may help open discussions between adults and young people.

Copyright 2005 Booklist, LLC Used with permission.

Bosak's (Something to Remember Me By) inspirational gift book urges children to go ahead and dream, and tells them how. The narrator says that dreams are living things-"Dreams grow like seeds./ They need to take root, / then stretch toward the sun./ They grow slowly./ They must be tended to"-and details the strength that each stage of human life brings to bear on the process. "To grow a dream/ .../ You need/ the Believe of childhood, / the Do of youth, / and the Think of experience." Although the narrator ably describes a journey of spiritual unfolding, he or she remains unseen, so readers lack a character to guide them through this interior journey. An assortment of artists, each of whom provide one-and-a-half page illustrations, and their varied styles lead to a fragmented visual experience, further distancing youngsters from the book. Because the artwork of Raul Colon and of Leo and Diane Dillon appears as pairs of illustrations on consecutive spreads, their images work most effectively; they convey a progression that parallels the text. Other standout images include Barbara Reid's plasticine bas-relief of a girl looking through her legs ("When my legs began to take me places, / my favorite colors were bright"), and Michele Lemieux's drawing in blue ink depicting human figures perched along the kinks and snarls of an enormous ropelike structure, aptly representing the teen years. But too often the stand-alone illustrations make for a disjointed reading experience, contributing to a sense of the book as a beautifully produced (extended) greeting card. Ages 5-9. (Nov.)

Copyright 2004 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

This potpourri of quotations from historical sages, art from contemporary children's book illustrators, and Bosak's personal reflections is a picture book whose primary audience will be adults. It may also prove popular as a graduation gift, in the vein of Dr. Seuss's Oh, the Places You'll Go! (Random, 1990). The narrative consists of the author's ruminations on the stages of life from infancy to old age, each linked to a color. The first spread, done in chalk pastels by British artist Christian Birmingham, depicts a scene of a child in a sunlit crib. It is accompanied by a quote from T.S. Eliot on the subject of exploration and Bosak's musings on the coziness of childhood (yellow). Adolescence (blue) is an ink-on-paper sketch by Canadian Mich le Lemieux of knotted tubes and scattered people at varying degrees of togetherness or isolation; the theme is choice. While children may enjoy the pictures, they will not relate to the gray challenges of older adulthood and the penultimate green of balanced maturity, rendered by Leo and Diane Dillon in a painting reminiscent of their cover for To Everything There Is a Season (Blue Sky, 1998). The book opens with a rainbow-decorated definition of "dream" and concludes with information about each image and illustrator, punctuated by questions adapted from Visual Thinking Strategies. The art varies in quality, the writing is cliched, and the perspective is that of a pensive adult. Notes and a Web site address for the publisher's Legacy Project are appended.-Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library.

Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.