Ryan Munoz, Pam, and Peter Sis. 2010. THE DREAMER. New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN 9780439269704
2. Plot Summary
The story begins with Neftali being a young boy who is a dreamer. He is called sickly and weird for his habits. He looks at the world in a unique way. Neftali analyzes the words and objects around him. He collects objects and words, than makes them have a meaning. His father wants him to go to college and become a doctor or a businessman. He does not approve of his daydreaming. "Stop that incessant daydreaming!" "Do you want to be a skinny weakling forever and amount to nothing" (10).
The story progresses as Neftali grows up and the reader learns about the experiences that shaped him into the great man he became.
3. Critical Analysis
The author brings to life this fictional story of Neftali a brilliant poet who grew up in South America. The story contains a few cultural markers to show the reader where the story took place. The first apparent cultural marker is the language and the names of the character. The each character has a name that as a Spanish heritage. Neftali calls his grandmother "Mamadre." At first this might be confused with the woman being his mother. But in the begining of the story it is told that his mom passed away. a few Spanish words are mixed in with the text to give the reader a feel for the language. "He waved and whispered, "Adios" (38). "Buena suerte. Good luck to that" (44).
The second cultural marker is the setting of the story. The reader is given clues that the family lives in a town, has a beach house, and there is a big forest nearby. When Neftali wants to go to the forest to explore he provides the readers with more clues where he lives. "...the tall pines and parrots and beetles and eagles" (45). The author shows the reader where the story takes place with the setting and includes the things in Neftali's world that influence him and make him who he is from his culture. These are the main cultural markers that stand out in the story and influence the characters development within his culture.
The text in the story is in green and a few illustrations are included with poems in them. The pictures in the book look like the have been drawn by a child to give the reader a look into the journal of the main character. The reader is provided with a better understanding of Neftali by seeing his thoughts and ideas he is putting in his journal.
The book concludes with an author's note about the main character, poems written by Neftali, and a list of sources the poetry and odes were taken from.
4. Review Excerpts
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL Starred Review. "Grade 4–9—Readers enter the creative, sensitive mind of Pablo Neruda, the Nobel Prize-winning poet, in this beautifully written fictional biography. Ryan artfully meshes factual details with an absorbing story of a shy Chilean boy whose spirit develops and thrives despite his father's relentless negativity."
BOOKLIST Starred Review: "Respinning the childhood of the widely beloved poet Pablo Neruda, Ryan and Sís collaborate to create a stirring, fictionalized portrait of a timid boy’s flowering artistry."
Pura Belpre Winner
5. Connections
This book would be excellent for children to read that are learning about the history of Chile or are studying the lives of poets.
Hispanic American Poets:
Francisco X. Alacron
Lulu Delacre
Jane Medina
Pat Mora
Gary Soto
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