My goal in life is to read everything Pam Munoz Ryan has written or will ever write as she is one of my favorites. Part of her back list is The Dreamer.
We follow Neftali, who loves to day dream and sees magic in all he looks at! He loves to sit in the woods and listen to all the animals talking around him. He loves collecting small objects from his surroundings, like acorns or shells. His father hates the day dreamer side of his son and isn't afraid to make his feeling known. This doesn't stop Neftali as he learns what makes him happy and how to enjoy the world around him.
Honesty time: this wasn't one of my favorites of Ryan's for two reasons- 1) I didn't like the father character at all. He was a jerk. Obviously the point, but still very jerky. And 2) I wish I would have known going into the story that it was based (loosely) on the early life of a real poet named Pablo Neruda. I fell like the reading experience would have been totally different had I known this was how a young poets mind worked. Ryan explained everything in the Author's Note and why she wrote it the way she did, but I just wish it would have been at the beginning instead. Very minor and nit-picky.
I would still recommend this to my clients and their parents as it was really beautifully written and a shorter read. I still love Pam Munoz Ryan and will continue to read anything she writes!
Now, go and READ!
Grab your own copy here: The Dreamer
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