Dreamland

ISBN: 0531095088

Author: Schotter, Roni

Condition: Used

Amazon.com ReviewTheo's life extends far beyond his family's East Coast tailor shop to the fantastical world of his drawings. From the Spinning Machine to the Hoist and Spring, Theo spends his days thinking of new mechanical contraptions while his practical parents scold him and his loving uncle Gurney offers encouragement. Theo's dream machines leap to life when his uncle moves out West and opens an amusement park. With bus tickets and new drawings in hand, Theo and his parents travel west to join Gurney in the management of Dreamland. Kevin Hawkes's opulent oils complement the engaging text by Roni Schotter, author of 14 books and winner of the Parents' Choice Award for Captain Snap and the Children of Vinegar Lane. Dreamland celebrates the might of imagination and the importance of encouraging children to follow their dreams, whether artistic or otherwise. Dreams do come true in Dreamland. (Ages 5 to 9)Product DescriptionAs it gradually gets harder to make a living, Uncle Gurney leaves his family and the tailoring business and heads West with his nephew Theo's drawings to complete a mysterious project.From Publishers WeeklyTheo and his Uncle Gurney are very much alike: they have dreams and they have imagination. While measuring, cutting and sewing at the family tailoring business, Gurney is making plans to move out west. And as he helps with the work, Theo dreams up machines, outlandishcontraptions that spin and whirl within the pages of his sketchbook. In eloquent, image-studded prose ("lilies so large they looked like trumpets with something to say"), Schotter tells a story of dreams coming true, of turning the imaginary into reality, and she manages to make her tale both fantastic and credible. Gurney, with much secrecy, turns Theo's designs into a fairgrounds; the commonsensical members of the family react with delight, thrilled with the opportunity to sew costumes and curtains. Hawkes (The Librarian Who Measured the Earth), working for the first time in oils, contributes rich illustrations that burn with nostalgia, evoking simpler times without sentimentality. The palette moves from burnished darkness to hazy light as family fortunes change, while whimsically chosen perspectives erode the distinctions between the wondrous and the real. Ages 5-8.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.From School Library JournalKindergarten-Grade 4?An uplifting story that stresses the importance of feeding one's soul. Uncle Gurney is a dreamer who's always trying to create something new and different in his family's tailor shop. Theo idolizes his artistic uncle and spends all his free time making drawings of "dream machines" that Gurney is quick to admire; in fact, it is the same inspiration that leads him to create an amusement park in California, where the family starts a new life. Schotter's theme is a strong one, and, in these days of "bottom line" economics, it's heartwarming to read a story that encourages creativity, imagination, and a sense of artistic wonder. The tale is engaging and well structured; the characters are warm and loving, portraying the struggles of a hardworking immigrant family in the early 1900s. Hawkes's full-page oil paintings provide tremendous visual contrasts, featuring dark, forbidding tones for his city scenes and bright, fantasy land hues for "Dreamland." They also show his careful attention to realistic detail. His half-page sketches of Theo's "dream machines" throughout the first half of the text continually reinforce the story's theme. While this title will captivate those who read it independently, the story will fare even better as a read-aloud to introduce classroom units on inventions or fantasy. A great way to inspire creative thinking.?Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RICopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.From BooklistAges 5^-7. It's the turn of the century, and young Theo sketches whimsical inventions while he's supposed to be working in h