cover image The Book of Dreams

The Book of Dreams

Shirin Adl. Frances Lincoln/Otter-Barry (PGW, dist.), $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-84780-383-2

“Dreams come in many different shapes and forms...” writes Adl (I Is for Iran) in this reassuring meditation on the puzzling, exciting, and sometimes frightening adventures that can take place while one sleeps. Adl’s use of multiple artistic mediums underscores the idea that anything can happen in a dream. In the opening scene, a boy sleeps under a photographic knit blanket beneath a milky watercolor sky as dinosaurs and giraffelike creatures sleepwalk nearby—and is that crinkly green “ground” the boy sleeps on yet another behemoth? “Some dreams are confusing,” writes Adl while a pair of befuddled children study a map that matches the colorful, surreal landscape that surrounds them, full of walking Xs, arrows, and silverware. The next page is a fiercely scrawled black-and-red scene of floating heads and a giant dragon’s tail (“Some dreams are scary!”). But Shirin combats any worries about nightmares with humor and gentle reminders that dreams are places of possibility. “I had this drowning nightmare once,” confides one of several talking animals. “I was so relieved when I woke up and remembered I’m a fish!” Ages 5–8. (Jan.)