Tell Me What to Dream About

February 9, 2015
Two sisters lie side by side in their beds, wreathed in the blue light of nightfall. “Tell me what to dream about or I won’t be able to fall asleep,” the younger sister begs. The older sister obliges with a series of storybook images—eating “teeny-tiny waffles with teeny-tiny animals,” being a giant who carries singing creatures in her pockets, riding on clouds like horses through the sky. The younger sister, a pessimist, rejects them all. The humor lies in the way Potter’s (Beatrice Spells Some Lulus and Learns to Write a Letter) paintings seesaw between beguiling images of the older sister’s fancies (“Everyone lives in tree houses.... There are swings everywhere, and you can swing from one tree house to another to visit your friends”) and the same visions filtered through the younger sister’s gloom, in which pigs gallop across waffles and rainstorms ruin rides through the clouds. While the pacing is a series of bumps and starts as fancies are proffered and dismissed, the sisters’ bickering will be instantly recognizable. And Potter’s dream worlds, a feast of beloved fantasy elements, will lure readers back for more. Ages 3–7.

January 15, 2015
When a little girl asks her older sister to tell her what to dream about, the big sister's creative suggestions seem to fall on deaf ears. Begging her big sister to help her fall asleep, a little girl proceeds to criticize and reject every dream idea the patient older sister offers. Dream about having waffles for breakfast? No way. How about dreaming about "teeny-tiny waffles with teeny-tiny animals?" Absolutely no little animals crawling on waffles. Dream she's a giant with pockets full of "cute, furry pets" singing in "funny squeaky voices"? No furry pets singing in pockets. Nonplussed, the big sister suggests dreaming about living in a "furry world" or in a fluffy cloud world or in a treehouse town or in a tiny moss house under a tree, describing the joys of each. More rejects. Eventually, the older sister's worn out, and they come full circle. Primitive, fantastical, surreal watercolor-and-ink illustrations that are reminiscent of Chagall visually contrast the older sister's highly imaginative suggestions with her little sister's persnickety perspective. While the pajama-clad sisters in adjacent beds appear in dim, nighttime blues, the dream images explode in boisterous color above their heads or onto double-page spreads, transporting readers from one fanciful scenario to the next. Playful bedtime treat for wee ones. (Picture book. 3-7)

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February 1, 2015

PreS-Gr 1-In a darkened bedroom, a young girl requests that her older sister tell her what to dream about "or I won't be able to fall asleep." The older girl comes up with several fanciful scenarios for her little sister to ponder, such as eating teeny-tiny waffles with teeny-tiny animals, and living in a furry world, a fluffy world, and a tree house. But for every suggestion, the little girl finds something to worry about, until the older sister gets too tired to think of anything else, and both girls finally fall asleep. Potter's classic watercolor-and-ink illustrations have a quirkiness that perfectly mirrors the fantasy element of the dreams, and the contrast between the calm blueness of night and the warm brightness of the dream worlds works beautifully. There is a great deal of imagination and whimsy in these dream ideas and more than a bit of menace as well, yet this is a book that also feels quite personal. Indeed, it is no surprise that the author wrote it for her own daughters, who ask her what they should dream about. The result is a realistic and intimate bedtime conversation between sisters. VERDICT A book that might well spark some fanciful dreams.-Teri Markson, Los Angeles Public Library

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2015
Preschool-G Two sisters lie in twin beds, trying to sleep. The younger begs the older, tell me what to dream about. Her big sister cooperates, starting with the image of waffles for breakfast, then seguing to enjoying the waffles with little animals, but the little girl protests that waffles are not a good dream. And tiny animals trampling her waffles is worse. She objects to furry friends (too scary) as well as living in a fluffy world way up high (also too scary). The siblings appear in muted blues, but the elaborate, sometimes surreal dreamscapes take over, filling the pages with vibrant coloruntil, that is, the umpteenth interruption. The two girls appear to be opposites in every way, the older whimsical, the younger quite literal. When the little girl revises the original idea, adding a specific, practical distinctionnot just waffles, but making wafflesthe two drift off, suggesting that their different natures are not necessarily entirely incompatible. Kids will enjoy the increasingly magical scenarios as well as the final resolution.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2015
"Tell me what to dream about or I won't be able to fall asleep," a girl implores her older sister, who spins elaborate fantasies about which they squabble. The premise comes from Potter's daughters' nightly requests for dream topics--a sweet tradition that needs more enhancement to work as a story. The art is classic Potter: intimate, intricate, pleasingly off-kilter.

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)