The Dreamer

by Pam Muñoz Ryan, Peter Sís (Illustrator)

Overview

Pura Belpré Award Winner

A tender, transcendent, and meticulously crafted novel from Newbery Honoree, Pam Muñoz Ryan, and three-time Caldecott Honoree, Peter Sís!

From the time he is a young boy, Neftalí hears the call of a mysterious voice. Even when the neighborhood children taunt him, and when his harsh, authoritarian father ridicules him, and when he doubts himself, Neftalí knows he cannot ignore the call. He listens and follows as it leads him under the canopy of the lush rain forest, into the fearsome sea, and through the persistent Chilean rain on an inspiring voyage of self-discovery that will transform his life and, ultimately, the world.

Combining elements of magical realism with biography, poetry, literary fiction, and transporting illustrations, Pam Muñoz Ryan and Peter Sís take readers on a rare journey of the heart and imagination as they explore the inspiring early life of the poet who became Pablo Neruda.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780439269988
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	03/01/2012
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	75,826
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.60(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	650L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Pam Muñoz Ryan is the recipient the NEA's Human and Civil Rights Award, the PEN America Award, and the 2024 Children’s Literature Legacy Award for her body of work. She was the 2018 U.S. nominee for the international Hans Christian Andersen Award. She received a Newbery Honor Medal and the Kirkus Prize for her New York Times bestselling novel, Echo. Her other celebrated novels, Esperanza Rising, The Dreamer, Riding Freedom, Becoming Naomi Léon, Paint the Wind, and Mañanaland, have received countless accolades, among them the Pura Belpré Award, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award, and the Américas Award. Her acclaimed picture books include Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride and the Sibert Honor book When Marian Sang, both illustrated by Brian Selznick, Mice and Beans illustrated by Joe Cepeda, and Tony Baloney illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham, as well as a beginning reader series featuring Tony Baloney. Ryan lives near San Diego, California, with her family.
Peter Sís is a Hans Christian Andersen Award winner, three-time Caldecott Honoree, Sibert Award winner, and MacArthur Fellow. His celebrated picture books include Ice Cream Summer, Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei, Tibet Through the Red Box, and The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain.He also creates fine art that can be seen in galleries, museums, and public spaces all over the world. Learn more at petersis.com.

Editorial Reviews

Ryan's fictional evocation of the boy who would become Pablo Neruda is rich, resonant and enchanting. Simple adventures reveal young Neftali's painful shyness and spirited determination, his stepmother's love and his siblings' affection and his longing for connection with his formidable, disapproving father. The narrative captures as well rain falling in Temuco, the Chilean town where he was raised, and his first encounters with the forest and the ocean. Childhood moments, gracefully re-created, offer a glimpse of a poet-to-be who treasures stories hidden in objects and who recognizes the delicate mutability of the visible world, while the roots of Neruda's political beliefs are implied in the boy's encounters with struggles for social justice around him. Lines from a poem by Ryan along with Sis's art emphasize scenes and introduce chapters, perfectly conveying the young hero's dreamy questioning. The illustrator's trademark drawings deliver a feeling of boundless thought and imagination, suggesting, with whimsy and warmth, Neftali's continual transformation of the everyday world into something transcendent. A brief selection of Neruda's poems (in translation), a bibliography and an author's note enrich an inviting and already splendid, beautifully presented work. (Historical fiction. 9-13)

Kirkus Reviews

PRAISE FOR PAM MUNOZ RYAN:"Told in a lyrical, fairy tale-like style....Ryan fluidly juxtaposes world events with one family's will to survive."—Publishers Weekly, starred review, ESPERANZA RISING"Ryan writes a moving story in clear, poetic language that children will sink into, and the book offers excellent opportunities for discussion and curriculum support." —Booklist, ESPERANZA RISING"Ebullient and tautly structured....With a pacing that moves along at a gallop, this is a skillful execution of a fascinating historical tale."—Publishers Weekly, starred review, RIDING FREEDOMADDITIONAL AWARDS AND HONORS FOR ESPERANZA RISING:-Willa Cather Award-Americas Award Honor Book-Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist-NYPL 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing-Smithsonian Notable Book-Children's Literature Choice List-Notable Books for a Global Society-Jefferson Cup Award - Worthy of note-Judy Goddard AZ Young Adult Author of the Year Award-Judy Lopez Memorial Award AWARDS AND HONORS FOR RIDING FREEDOM:-California Young Reader Medal winner (Intermediate Category)-IRA Teacher's Choice-Parenting Magazine "Reading Magic" Award winner-Recognition of Merit for a First Novel Award - Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People

From the Publisher

THE DREAMER would be an outstanding story in itself, but the fact that it is a fictionalized profile of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda lifts it to even greater heights. Neruda was born Neftali Reyes, a sickly dreamer who continually crossed his domineering father. He changed his name because his father was ashamed he was a poet. Narrator Tony Chiroldes is grand. He clearly differentiates Neftali and his older brother, nasty father, dear little sister, and loving stepmother. The book is poetically written, and Chiroldes’s spirited, sympathetic reading makes listening to it even more pleasurable than merely reading it. In closing, Ryan shares how she came to write this unique biography about a poet whose work she’s loved for a lifetime. S.G.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2010 - AudioFile