If You Are the Dreamer

by Kristen Balouch, Kristen Balouch (Illustrator)

Overview

A sweet ode to dreams of all kinds.

If you are the squirrel, I am the tree. If you are the traveler, I am the sea. If you are the writer, I am the nook. If you are the reader, I am the book.

In simple poetic language, a child is reassured that no matter what or where they are, they will never be alone.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781951836276
Publisher:	Abrams Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	09/21/2021
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.50(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Kristen Balouch is a children’s book author, illustrator, and designer. Her books include If You Are the Dreamer, published by Cameron Kids. She lives in Brooklyn.


Kristen Balouch is a children’s book author, illustrator, and designer. Her books include If You Are the Dreamer, published by Cameron Kids. She lives in Brooklyn.

Editorial Reviews

2021-07-14
A series of loving images, mostly juxtapositions of animals and their surroundings, add up to a pleasing bedtime book.

Starting off a little awkwardly with “If you are the egg, I am the hen,” the text soon pivots to what becomes a pattern, with one statement per double-page spread: “If you are the bear, I am the den,” and then lines like “If you are the squirrel, I am the tree,” and “If you are the traveler, I am the sea.” The flat, naïve illustrations of the animals are rendered in a muted but attractive palette of pinks, reds, greens, and browns and are usually offset by a secondary object in a bluish gray. Small chicks inhabit each picture, supplying continuity. Vaguely reminiscent of The Runaway Bunny in its quiet rhythms, the text continues: “If you are the writer, I am the nook. / If you are the reader, I am the book.” These lines are illustrated with a skunk scrivening in a little gray space under a flight of stairs and an elephant cozily reading a gray book while sitting in a patterned green easy chair with its pink toes resting on a matching ottoman. The title is highlighted in the last two spreads, as a red fox sleeps amid the clouds and then a gray, blue, and white galaxy of stars unfolds, as the text reads: “And, if you are the dreamer… / I am the stars / holding your dreams, / whatever they are.”

Simple rhymes and warm images will invite young children to nod off quickly. (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews