Gossamer by Lois Lowry*

Have you ever wondered anything about your dreams? Where do they come from? Why do we dream about the things we do? Dreams are always interesting. Dreams can also be scary, happy, or frustrating - when am I ever going to catch that squirrel I keep chasing in my dreams? It's always teasing me, stealing my biscuits and running up into a tree. Anyway, this book attempts to explain the origin of dreams and how they come to us, both good ones and nightmares.
The story begins with a small creature named Little One who is being taught the job of giving dreams to people. Her teacher, Thin Elderly, and her spend each night in an old woman's house giving her dreams by pulling "fragments" from things she has touched and passing those off to her at night in the form of a dream. It's when the old woman receives a young 8 year old boy named John with a troubled past, as a foster parent, that Little One learns important things about her job. She is also to acquinted to the Sinisteeds, the giver of nightmares. These bad dreams are given to the little boy. It's up to Little One and her "gossamer touch" to help the boy battle the dreams that he is constantly being haunted by. The story also jumps to another "dream-giver" whose assignment is to give dreams to the boys struggling mother.
Other than being somewhat excited about the importance of a dog named Toby in the story, I was not very impressed with this story. I could relate to Toby's dreams and wonder if there are "Little Ones" responsible for my dreams as well. I am always interested about anything to do with dogs in books, but I was a bit disturbed by the young boy's troubled past, who as it turns out, was abused by his stepfather. I'll leave it at that and you can read for yourself.
Unless there is a real ambitious reader, they won't even get to the part in the story of the boy's troubled past. I think this will be a very difficult read for young people. Not that there are difficult words (other than convoluted) but that the story is not very exciting and could be hard to hold the interest in readers. One of the reasons for the disinterest could be idea of the "dream-givers". Are they fairies? Are they visible creatures? What do they look like? It's hard to relate to a character, that you can't physically picture in your mind.
Because I don't think younger readers will like this haunting story of dreams, I am giving this novel:


While Mrs. Lowry has had many well written novels (the Giver being my owner's favorite) this one is missing something that I can't quite place my paw on. I think the book is written for readers aged 10+, I think it's true appreciation will be from audiences a more teenaged (13-16 yrs) reader, so it could possibly do well on the middle school list on which it was placed.
Now, I'm going to go curl up in my nice sunny spot of the house to see if I can finally catch that darn squirrel. So, if you hear my sleep barking, please just pat my head and leave me to my chase.

- The Dreamy Dachshund

Publisher: Gale Group
ISBN: 9780786289479
Price: $16.00

* 2008 William Allen White Master List - Middle School