  | Girl who could not dream Author: Durst, Sarah Beth | |
| Price: $15.89 | ||
Summary:
Sophie's parents run a secret shop where dreams are bought and sold. When Sophie dreams, her dreams become real, so she is forbidden to have any. Sinister events are set in motion when she is accidentally seen by one of her parents' customers, and it's up to Sophie to save her family.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 4.40 Points: 10.0 Quiz: 178737 |
Reviews:
School Library Journal (+) (00/07/15)
Booklist (04/01/15)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (00/01/16)
Full Text Reviews:
School Library Journal - 07/01/2015 Gr 4–6—Middle school is rough even for ordinary kids, but Sophie is anything but ordinary. For one thing, her parents run a secret underground shop, where they distill, bottle, and sell dreams. Sophie herself has a special power that allows her to bring elements of the dream realm into the real world with her. Worries about getting her homework done and not having anyone to sit with at lunch are overshadowed by the imminent threat that she and her parents will be discovered by the Night Watchmen, a secret police force who prohibit dream-trading. Sophie isolates herself from her peers in order to keep the secrets of the dream shop safe, and her only companion is a wise-cracking, fierce, and furry monster that she brought out of a dream to be her friend. Sophie's carefully constructed world falls apart when a strange man appears at the shop, her parents disappear, and two kids who are connected to the dream shop go missing. To rescue them, Sophie joins forces with Ethan, a friendly boy from school who is troubled by nightmares. Along the way, a wild cast of characters helps Ethan and Sophie summon the strength to take on those who would use the power of dreams for evil. Frequent allusions to Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, and A Wrinkle in Time pay homage to those classic fantasy novels. The book is self-aware, playing with common fantasy tropes, thus reinvigorating the familiar underlying story of a loner having to learn to overcome her fears to save the ones she loves. Strong vocabulary is intergrated throughout the narrative, such as when Monster urges Sophie to "think pugnacious thoughts," or when Sophie is told that an event was "an aberration." A sort of overprotective, curmudgeonly Cheshire Cat, Sophie's monster (named Monster) steals the show with his witty one-liners and interjections of dry humor. Overall, a fun, fast read with broad appeal. VERDICT This is a first-purchase that is suited to reluctant readers as well as fans of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, or Colin Meloy's"The Wildwood Chronicles" (HarperCollins).—Tara Kron, School Library Journal - Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
Booklist - 11/01/2015 It’s ironic that Sophie can’t dream, since her parents run a dream shop in the basement of their bookstore. There they keep shining bottles of dreams collected by dream catchers, some given to their customers as gifts and others given by Sophie to her classmates who suffer from nightmares. One day, desperate to experience a dream, Sophie drinks down the contents of one of the bottles, and when she wakes the next day, she discovers that she’s brought a creature from her dream, named Monster, to life. Monster vows to keep her—and the secret of her newfound skill—safe, which comes in handy when Mr. Nightmare catches wind of Sophie’s abilities and kidnaps her parents. Along with Monster, a glittery Pegasus, some rainbow-colored rabbits, and her friend Ethan, Sophie must save her town and her parents from monsters brought to life. With lighthearted humor, gentle spooks, and more than a couple nods to the classics, this adventurous fantasy will likely appeal to fans of Jessica Day George’s Castle Glower series. - Copyright 2015 Booklist.
