Two-time Newbery Award winner, Lois Lowry, explores the bits of life that come alive in dreams, and the darker horrors that find their form in nightmares.
Where do dreams come from? What stealthy nighttime messengers are the guardians of our most deeply hidden hopes and our half-forgotten fears? In a haunting story that tiptoes between reality and imagination, two people—a lonely, sensitive woman and a damaged, angry boy—face their own histories and discover what they can be to each other, renewed by the strength that comes from a tiny, caring creature they will never see.
Fantasy is gossamer in this tale of memory's role in bestowing dreams and inflicting nightmares. An impatient Fastidious is training Littlest to become a bestower of dreams. Hordes of Sinisteeds attempt to overcome the dreams by inflicting nightmares. Ethereal music introduces and concludes the story, wrapping the listener in a world in which dreams battle nightmares in an attempt to illuminate, inform, and even improve the "real" lives of the dreamers. Anne Twomey's comforting voice is perfect for this story, woven from threads of realism and imagination. Her voice creates an atmosphere in which the listener experiences the story, feeling the peacefulness of dreams, the despair of nightmares, and the growing bond that shared memories forge. N.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
School Library Journal, Starred...
"Lowry's prose is simple and clear. This carefully plotted fantasy has inner logic and conviction. Readers will identify with Littlest, who is discovering her own special talents. . . . A beautiful novel with an intriguing premise."
