The Dreamway

July 1, 2018

Gr 4-6-After Cole is attacked by a strange shadow creature in the subway after school, twin sister Stella notices something different about him. His usual cheerful and creative demeanor has been replaced with anger, and she is sure she sees him flicker. When a talking mouse shows up in her bedroom and takes her into the Dreamway, a subway of dreams, she learns that the shadowy creature is a Chimerath and that if she doesn't hurry, her brother's soul will be lost. She embarks on a journey throughout the Dreamway with help from the mouse named Anyway, a dragonfly called Spuddle, and her friend Alice, a wheelchair user who has the ability to use her legs in the Dreamway. The story is vaguely reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, with Stella's otherworldly adventures and the strange cast of non-human characters. The plot moves quickly through the different realms and transitions well between sleep and real life. The story resolves, but leaves enough open for the possibility of a second volume. Alice is a three-dimensional character, whose disability is treated with sensitivity and authenticity. VERDICT With quirky secondary characters, a compelling plot, and room for a sequel, this is a strong purchase for medium and large middle grade collections.-Kat Paiva, Rye Public Library, NH

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2018
When pragmatic Stella's imaginative twin brother, Cole, loses his spirit in the dream world, she must rescue him before he is consumed by shadow creatures who thrive on the creative brightness of human beings. It begins when Cole investigates something he sees moving in the subway and becomes so spooked he leaves his treasured notebook of stories behind. Cole's behavior swiftly changes, and Stella begins to have dreams that land her in the Dreamway, the place where all human beings go when they dream. There she encounters Anyway, a Door Mouse who just happens to possess a torn piece of Cole's notebook. Anyway informs Sheila that her brother's spirit has been taken by a Chimerath, and to rescue him, they must get to the Nightmare Line. Stella struggles to navigate her waking hours, during which Cole is becoming angrier and more violent, and her time in the Dreamway, where she and Anyway, with the help of a few Dreamway employees, work to find Cole before his light is completely drained. Though the worldbuilding can be arbitrary and is largely delivered in expository dumps from Anyway, this tale has a beguiling, appropriately Alice's Adventures in Wonderland-steampunk feel. The book subscribes to the white default. Stella has a childhood stroke-induced physical disability by day; although it seems to disappear by night as she bravely traverses the unpredictable landscape of the dream world, Anyway tells her she is not healed, adding a layer of healthy realism.An unsettling, engaging dream-world adventure. (Fantasy. 10-12)

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August 1, 2018
Grades 3-6 Stella Clay is a practical girl, drawn to logic and mechanics, so when a talking mouse appears in her room, she is rightfully perplexed. Her pursuit of the mouse lands her in the Dreamway, a surreal place where dreamers travel while asleep. Here she learns that her twin brother, Cole, is in danger, his soul captured by a creature from the Dreamway's Nightmare Line as part of a nefarious plot. In an entertaining partnership, Stella forces the persnickety mouse to help rescue her brother before he flickers out of existence in the real world. Phantom Tollbooth fans will feel at home with the illogical destinations and quirky inhabitants of the Dreamway, a place where the physically disabled Stella can move freely, though her stiff arm and leg are never portrayed as a handicap. The twins' absent, military father feels like a tacked-on detail, but strong family bonds certainly drive the story, whose active characters, from a helpful librarian to a bureaucratic dragonfly, give it spark. Hand to readers of Tahereh Mafi's Furthermore? (2016).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)