THE DREAMER
Bibliographic Information- Munoz Ryan, P., & Sis, P. (2010). The Dreamer. New York: Scholastic Books.
Summary
A young boy named Neftali daydreams about seemingly random items akin to Walter Mitty or J. Alfred Prufrock. He sees beauty in the details of nature, and sketches and writes of his discoveries in detail. He is teased by children at school and bullied by his father, who compares Neftali's dreams and drawings to his mother's influence. Neftali's father wants him to become a doctor and let go of all the dreams he treasures. Neftali endures the indifference and torments to become celebrated poet Pablo Neruda.
My Impressions
The Dreamer is a book that many starry-eyed children will appreciate regardless of the setting in South America or the Latin heritage of the characters. It is a beautifully illustrated story that allows us to see the world in the beauty and detail that Neftali sees in the simple things. Dreamer won the Pura Belpre medal winner in 2011 for a narrative book, which is awarded in both a narrative category and an illustration category for outstanding usage of Latin characters, events or influences.
Reviews
Long, J. (2010). The Dreamer. [Review of the book The Dreamer, by P. Munoz Ryan & P.Sis]. Horn Book Magazine, 86(2), 70-71.
As Neftalí Reyes enters university, his wrathful father forbids wasting time on his useless “hobby”: writing. So he fashions a pseudonym: “Pablo” from Paolo, in an Italian poem; “Neruda” after a Czech writer. The name fits like a suit: “Th e lapels were the width that he liked. Th e color was soft enough not to off end,
but bright enough to be remembered. Th e name was not only a perfect solution, it was a perfect fit.” Perfect indeed, like the union that resulted in this novel: the subject, poet Pablo Neruda (1904–73), the Chilean Nobel Prize winner; Ryan, the author who re-creates Neruda’s spirit and sensibility; and Sís, the Czech-born
illustrator whose escape from oppression (see Th e Wall, rev. 9/07) so hauntingly resembles Neruda’s struggle for creative freedom.In Ryan’s perceptive reconstruction of the poet’s early years, Neftalí, at eight, is already at loggerheads with an autocratic father who prohibits all creative activities, even reading. Fortunately the boy is unquenchable—a lover of words, books, and ideas; a collector of the small, lovely objects that will always figure in his imagination. The forest yields natural treasures—a pinecone he trades for a toy sheep, a lifelong talisman. At the beach (where Father forces him into the terrifying waves) are shells and a sympathetic librarian who offers him a hideaway for reading. There he feeds a pair of swans who are later shot by a hunter—a tragedy that symbolizes his own frustrations and sorrows while also bonding him more closely with his loving stepmother and sister. The passing years nourish mind and heart with telling incidents: a girl Neftalí admires recognizes his hand in the love letters a bully forces him to write; with a beloved uncle, he defends indigenous Chileans. Poetic interludes, inspired by Neruda’s Book of Questions,
heighten each event’s significance: at the swans’ death (“Which is sharper? Th e hatchet that cuts down dreams? / Or the scythe that clears a path for another?”); after Father burns Neftalí’s papers (“Where is the heaven of lost stories?”); on becoming Pablo Neruda (“Does a metamorphosis / begin from the outside
in? / Or from the inside out?”). Sís’s introspective, emotion-charged drawings spring naturally from this lyrical account of a difficult childhood. Many of his quiet compositions are surreal visions: tiny, frightened children peer up from the ocean waves that dapple their implacable father’s outlined form; a child, vulnerably naked, rides a winged pen that resembles a swan in flight. Such imagery adds a dimension of magical realism to a text in which Neftalí’s imaginative inner world is so often confronted with a harsher external reality, even while it is nurtured by kindness and natural beauty. Conflicts, injustice, and a promised future make the story compelling; Sís deepens it with dozens of provocative images. Neatly crafted vignettes presage each chapter’s events; visual imagery extends Ryan’s poems on open spreads of sea and sky; paths beckon and exquisite details reflect the dreamer’s maturing imagination, clothing this masterful tribute in art that fits it as ineluctably as Neruda’s new name suited his purpose. An author’s note and several of Neruda’s The Dreamer poems are appended. --Joanna Rudge Long
Library Usage
A wonderful combination of biography study, picture book and Latin authorship can be used in several ways in the library. The colorful artwork will mesmerize during a storytime reading with young children. Older students will find interest in the dreamy descriptions and tough parenting story line, but also in the focus on Latino-created and Latino-subject biography. This book fits many great lesson categories for use in the library.
but bright enough to be remembered. Th e name was not only a perfect solution, it was a perfect fit.” Perfect indeed, like the union that resulted in this novel: the subject, poet Pablo Neruda (1904–73), the Chilean Nobel Prize winner; Ryan, the author who re-creates Neruda’s spirit and sensibility; and Sís, the Czech-born
illustrator whose escape from oppression (see Th e Wall, rev. 9/07) so hauntingly resembles Neruda’s struggle for creative freedom.In Ryan’s perceptive reconstruction of the poet’s early years, Neftalí, at eight, is already at loggerheads with an autocratic father who prohibits all creative activities, even reading. Fortunately the boy is unquenchable—a lover of words, books, and ideas; a collector of the small, lovely objects that will always figure in his imagination. The forest yields natural treasures—a pinecone he trades for a toy sheep, a lifelong talisman. At the beach (where Father forces him into the terrifying waves) are shells and a sympathetic librarian who offers him a hideaway for reading. There he feeds a pair of swans who are later shot by a hunter—a tragedy that symbolizes his own frustrations and sorrows while also bonding him more closely with his loving stepmother and sister. The passing years nourish mind and heart with telling incidents: a girl Neftalí admires recognizes his hand in the love letters a bully forces him to write; with a beloved uncle, he defends indigenous Chileans. Poetic interludes, inspired by Neruda’s Book of Questions,
heighten each event’s significance: at the swans’ death (“Which is sharper? Th e hatchet that cuts down dreams? / Or the scythe that clears a path for another?”); after Father burns Neftalí’s papers (“Where is the heaven of lost stories?”); on becoming Pablo Neruda (“Does a metamorphosis / begin from the outside
in? / Or from the inside out?”). Sís’s introspective, emotion-charged drawings spring naturally from this lyrical account of a difficult childhood. Many of his quiet compositions are surreal visions: tiny, frightened children peer up from the ocean waves that dapple their implacable father’s outlined form; a child, vulnerably naked, rides a winged pen that resembles a swan in flight. Such imagery adds a dimension of magical realism to a text in which Neftalí’s imaginative inner world is so often confronted with a harsher external reality, even while it is nurtured by kindness and natural beauty. Conflicts, injustice, and a promised future make the story compelling; Sís deepens it with dozens of provocative images. Neatly crafted vignettes presage each chapter’s events; visual imagery extends Ryan’s poems on open spreads of sea and sky; paths beckon and exquisite details reflect the dreamer’s maturing imagination, clothing this masterful tribute in art that fits it as ineluctably as Neruda’s new name suited his purpose. An author’s note and several of Neruda’s The Dreamer poems are appended. --Joanna Rudge Long
Library Usage
A wonderful combination of biography study, picture book and Latin authorship can be used in several ways in the library. The colorful artwork will mesmerize during a storytime reading with young children. Older students will find interest in the dreamy descriptions and tough parenting story line, but also in the focus on Latino-created and Latino-subject biography. This book fits many great lesson categories for use in the library.
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