The Dreamer
Pura Belpre Award Winner
A tender, transcendent, and meticulously crafted novel from Newbery Honoree, Pam Munoz Ryan, and three-time Caldecott Honoree, Peter Sis!
From the time he is a young boy, Neftali 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, Neftali 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 Munoz Ryan and Peter Sis 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.
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Community Reviews
Beautiful fictionalized version of Pablo Neruda's childhood.
Neftali is a dreamer. He spends every moment possible imagining -- a beetle growing huge and helping him to ride off through the forest, the numbers of his math homework getting up and running away, the mountain that is really a dragon rising up. And he is punished and belittled for it by his father. His father is the frightening, authoritative figure many children will recognize. He is hampered by his own past, where he couldn't find any kind of real work and therefore is determined that his sons will fare better than him -- specifically, they will become what he wants them to become: doctors and businessmen. Neftali would rather read and think and write.
The beauty of his poetry and his words does come alive in this book, but there was so much more here. There was the confusion about his father: why was he the way that he was? Was there someone else inside there, waiting to get out? Could Neftali behave well enough to make his father nice? There was the defeat of his older brother Rodolfo, which gradually coalesced into quiet rebellion. There was the open revolt of his uncle, Orlando, who spearheaded the political subplot of fighting against the extermination and relocation of the local natives, the Mapuche. There was his little sister, Laurita, who was the innocent and the conspirator and the one whom he could protect. But best of all I liked his stepmother. I always feel bad for stepparents in stories. Usually, they are the bad ones, the ones who are cruel and the ones who take the place of the real parent. That makes me sad because I know there are very many stepparents out there who are just as real (or even more so) of a parent as a biological one, very many who dearly love their stepchildren, and very many who do their absolute best for their stepchildren. It pains me to see the popular portrayal of stepparents as cruel and mean and careless of their stepchildren. This woman was none of those things. She was complex. She was interesting. She would quietly offer encouragement or contradiction to Neftali, showing him that his father wasn't always correct. She did what she could to stem the tide of his father's cruelty. She stood up when she could. She kept the peace when she could. She couldn't always do so, but she always tried her best. And he loved her. He loved her so. There were moments when he didn't understand her. Why was she keeping the peace instead of standing up for her stepchildren? I'll tell you why. Because there's many women out there who are in terrible marriages but are staying with their spouse for the children. Because if they left, the children would have no protector. These children are not this woman's biological children, so if she left, they would not go with her. By staying, she is protecting them. She is sacrificing freedom for herself in order to take care of these children. And sometimes that means keeping herself out of the spotlight so she is not cast out of the family. Yes, it doesn't do the children that good in that moment, but in the long run they will benefit from having her able to be around. I thought it was a beautiful thing and it may have been my favorite thing about the book.
All in all, I thought this book was excellent. It only took me about two hours to read, but they were two hours well spent. I'm very glad to have included it on one of my reading lists for my kids. Also, if you weren't a big fan of Esperanza Rising, which is by the same author (I certainly wasn't its biggest fan), this one is much, much better. If I have to recommend one from her, I'll recommend this one. And I recommend it to you.
Neftali is a dreamer. He spends every moment possible imagining -- a beetle growing huge and helping him to ride off through the forest, the numbers of his math homework getting up and running away, the mountain that is really a dragon rising up. And he is punished and belittled for it by his father. His father is the frightening, authoritative figure many children will recognize. He is hampered by his own past, where he couldn't find any kind of real work and therefore is determined that his sons will fare better than him -- specifically, they will become what he wants them to become: doctors and businessmen. Neftali would rather read and think and write.
The beauty of his poetry and his words does come alive in this book, but there was so much more here. There was the confusion about his father: why was he the way that he was? Was there someone else inside there, waiting to get out? Could Neftali behave well enough to make his father nice? There was the defeat of his older brother Rodolfo, which gradually coalesced into quiet rebellion. There was the open revolt of his uncle, Orlando, who spearheaded the political subplot of fighting against the extermination and relocation of the local natives, the Mapuche. There was his little sister, Laurita, who was the innocent and the conspirator and the one whom he could protect. But best of all I liked his stepmother. I always feel bad for stepparents in stories. Usually, they are the bad ones, the ones who are cruel and the ones who take the place of the real parent. That makes me sad because I know there are very many stepparents out there who are just as real (or even more so) of a parent as a biological one, very many who dearly love their stepchildren, and very many who do their absolute best for their stepchildren. It pains me to see the popular portrayal of stepparents as cruel and mean and careless of their stepchildren. This woman was none of those things. She was complex. She was interesting. She would quietly offer encouragement or contradiction to Neftali, showing him that his father wasn't always correct. She did what she could to stem the tide of his father's cruelty. She stood up when she could. She kept the peace when she could. She couldn't always do so, but she always tried her best. And he loved her. He loved her so. There were moments when he didn't understand her. Why was she keeping the peace instead of standing up for her stepchildren? I'll tell you why. Because there's many women out there who are in terrible marriages but are staying with their spouse for the children. Because if they left, the children would have no protector. These children are not this woman's biological children, so if she left, they would not go with her. By staying, she is protecting them. She is sacrificing freedom for herself in order to take care of these children. And sometimes that means keeping herself out of the spotlight so she is not cast out of the family. Yes, it doesn't do the children that good in that moment, but in the long run they will benefit from having her able to be around. I thought it was a beautiful thing and it may have been my favorite thing about the book.
All in all, I thought this book was excellent. It only took me about two hours to read, but they were two hours well spent. I'm very glad to have included it on one of my reading lists for my kids. Also, if you weren't a big fan of Esperanza Rising, which is by the same author (I certainly wasn't its biggest fan), this one is much, much better. If I have to recommend one from her, I'll recommend this one. And I recommend it to you.
Another young adult genre read. This one was personally driven by my love of poet, Pablo Neruda. I loved the author's interpretation of what his childhood was like (with creative liberties of course). It seems he had a very stereotypical Hispanic upbringing, where he needed to be more of a man's man, and not a writer, dreamer and collector. Seeing how he breaks the mold of what is expected of him and becoming who he is destined to be is heartwarming.
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