Tell Me What to Dream About

by Giselle Potter, Giselle Potter (Illustrator)

Overview

Journey with two sisters into the world of dreams in this delightfully offbeat read-aloud bedtime story.

Little sister asks big sister to tell her what to dream about at bedtime, and big sister presents her with possibilities, such as eating a meal of teeny-tiny waffles with teeny-tiny animals, living in a furry world, and residing in a tree-house town. Little sister is wary of each idea, until together the girls hit upon the perfect dream.

Full of fantastic dreamscapes from each girl's point of view and quirky details that children will want to investigate again and again, this beautiful, irreverant title will inspire the imaginations of readers young and old.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780385374231
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	04/14/2015
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	1,067,161
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 10.60(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	AD590L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

GISELLE POTTER has illustrated numerous books for children, including Cecil the Pet Glacier by Matthea Harvey, Want to Be in a Band? by Suzzy Roche, and The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter, which was a Parents' Choice Gold Award winner. Giselle lives in New York's Hudson Valley with her husband and daughters. Visit her at GisellePotter.com.

Editorial Reviews

…the younger child's request and her sister's indulgent responses give Giselle Potter all the reason she needs to paint a series of playful, faux-naïf, surrealist-inflected fantasy tableaus, nearly all of them suggested by a toy, fabric pattern or other visual prompt in the room.

The New York Times Book Review - Leonard S. Marcus

02/09/2015
Two sisters lie side by side in their beds, wreathed in the blue light of nightfall. “Tell me what to dream about or I won’t be able to fall asleep,” the younger sister begs. The older sister obliges with a series of storybook images—eating “teeny-tiny waffles with teeny-tiny animals,” being a giant who carries singing creatures in her pockets, riding on clouds like horses through the sky. The younger sister, a pessimist, rejects them all. The humor lies in the way Potter’s (Beatrice Spells Some Lulus and Learns to Write a Letter) paintings seesaw between beguiling images of the older sister’s fancies (“Everyone lives in tree houses.... There are swings everywhere, and you can swing from one tree house to another to visit your friends”) and the same visions filtered through the younger sister’s gloom, in which pigs gallop across waffles and rainstorms ruin rides through the clouds. While the pacing is a series of bumps and starts as fancies are proffered and dismissed, the sisters’ bickering will be instantly recognizable. And Potter’s dream worlds, a feast of beloved fantasy elements, will lure readers back for more. Ages 3–7. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

02/01/2015
PreS-Gr 1—In a darkened bedroom, a young girl requests that her older sister tell her what to dream about "or I won't be able to fall asleep." The older girl comes up with several fanciful scenarios for her little sister to ponder, such as eating teeny-tiny waffles with teeny-tiny animals, and living in a furry world, a fluffy world, and a tree house. But for every suggestion, the little girl finds something to worry about, until the older sister gets too tired to think of anything else, and both girls finally fall asleep. Potter's classic watercolor-and-ink illustrations have a quirkiness that perfectly mirrors the fantasy element of the dreams, and the contrast between the calm blueness of night and the warm brightness of the dream worlds works beautifully. There is a great deal of imagination and whimsy in these dream ideas and more than a bit of menace as well, yet this is a book that also feels quite personal. Indeed, it is no surprise that the author wrote it for her own daughters, who ask her what they should dream about. The result is a realistic and intimate bedtime conversation between sisters. VERDICT A book that might well spark some fanciful dreams.—Teri Markson, Los Angeles Public Library

School Library Journal

2015-01-10
When a little girl asks her older sister to tell her what to dream about, the big sister's creative suggestions seem to fall on deaf ears. Begging her big sister to help her fall asleep, a little girl proceeds to criticize and reject every dream idea the patient older sister offers. Dream about having waffles for breakfast? No way. How about dreaming about "teeny-tiny waffles with teeny-tiny animals?" Absolutely no little animals crawling on waffles. Dream she's a giant with pockets full of "cute, furry pets" singing in "funny squeaky voices"? No furry pets singing in pockets. Nonplussed, the big sister suggests dreaming about living in a "furry world" or in a fluffy cloud world or in a treehouse town or in a tiny moss house under a tree, describing the joys of each. More rejects. Eventually, the older sister's worn out, and they come full circle. Primitive, fantastical, surreal watercolor-and-ink illustrations that are reminiscent of Chagall visually contrast the older sister's highly imaginative suggestions with her little sister's persnickety perspective. While the pajama-clad sisters in adjacent beds appear in dim, nighttime blues, the dream images explode in boisterous color above their heads or onto double-page spreads, transporting readers from one fanciful scenario to the next. Playful bedtime treat for wee ones. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews