When the World Is Dreaming is a
wonderful picturebook for small children who are still learning their animals,
colors, and sounds.
Rita Gray’s words are soothing,
a rhythmic lullaby. Kenard Pak’s pastel illustrations set When the World Is Dreaming apart from other
“bedtime” books. A young girl passes through the meadow, asking each animal what
they dream. Little Snake, Little Deer, Little Newt, Little Rabbit, Little Mouse,
and Little Turtle all dream their individual dreams.
The speaking voice changes
throughout this picture book, which is a clever feat for a book for children so
young. The narrator (also through the eyes of the illustrator) shows us a
little girl with leaves and flowers in her hair and yellow rain boots on her
feet wandering through the meadow. Upon meeting each little animal, the
narrator asks the young reader or listener to imagine what the little animal
might be dreaming.
“What does Little Deer dream
at the end of the day?
After the walking,
the grazing, the play.”
Then, each animal speaks. Here,
the deer recounts her dream:
“Rushing rain from a rumbling
cloud,
the sky is flashing; the sky is
loud!
but tucked beneath our mushroom
cap,
we’re safe from every
thunderclap.”
The
animals’ dream voices are illustrated in a chalky color. The refrain throughout
the book is “Sleep, Little [Animal], safe and warm. Dream until the light of
morn.”
At the book’s end, in one of
the most dreamy illustration spreads, the little girl is tucked in under her covers,
and all the animals keep her company on the covers.
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| Image courtesy of Catbird Agency |
The narrator ends with the same
refrain:
“Sleep,
Little Dreamer,
safe
and warm.
Dream
until the light of morn.”
Look for this book at your local bookstore on
September 6, 2016.
