I'll Meet You in Your Dreams

by Jessica Young, Rafael Lopez (Illustrator)

Overview

A heartwarming text honoring the ever-evolving relationship of a parent and child across time, with visually striking art by bestselling and award-winning artist Rafael López.
 
Each evening when the sun has set, as nighttime casts a starry net, I'll hitch a ride on moonbeams, and meet you in your dreams.
 
This poetic and tender story celebrates the parent-and-child bond in its many forms and offers gentle assurance of love across a lifetime. Two parents' dreams of the future with their children—from early dependence for nourishment and basic needs, to the parent as home base for a child in later life—mirror an always-changing but unbreakable relationship.


 
Written in lyrical rhyme and accompanied by breathtaking art by the incomparable Rafael López, I'll Meet You in Your Dreams affirms that parental love is a constant force, transcending boundaries of space and time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316453288
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	03/09/2021
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	674,040
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 10.40(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jessica Young was raised and grew up in Northern Ontario and is the author of several picture books including My Blue Is Happy (aCharlotte Zolotow Highly Commended Title and recipient of the Marion Vannett Ridgway Award); Play This Book and Pet This Book; and A Wish Is a Seed. Jessica spends her time writing and researching, and doing school visits. Prior to her writing career, she was a teacher for twenty years, and freelanced for a children's book marketing company. She lives with her family in Nashville.


Rafael López is an internationally recognized illustrator and artist. He has illustrated numerous picture books, including Just Ask!: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You by Sonia Sotomayor (winner of the Schneider Family Award); Dancing Hands, How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln by Margarita Engle (winner of the Pura Belpré Medal); and The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson (a New York Times bestseller) to name a few. He is the founder of the Urban Art Trail movement in San Diego and currently resides in both San Diego and Mexico.

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/08/2021

In fanciful verse by Young, a parent promises to be present for every moment of a child’s life. López shifts back and forth between two brown-skinned parent-child pairs. “You’ll be an eagle and I’ll be a hawk,” begins a vertical spread depicting a striped-shirt-wearing brunette child and their red-dress-wearing guardian, both now sprouting wings. “We’ll be two stars twinkling bright,” starts another, showing a child with textured hair floating alongside their hat-wearing adult. As each child matures, cozy images give way to adventure; befitting the world of dreams, the humans shrink, expand, and fly, their ascents given space by vertical spreads. Fresh, bright spreads by López incorporate folk elements such as stylized leaves and flowers. As the children strike out on their own, the text nods to differing life paths, portraying one new adult pursuing their passion in music and one starting a family of their own, in a bedtime fantasy of love, possibility, and acceptance. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

* "Combining lyrical words with vibrant paintings and occasionally rotating spreads, Young and López weave a rich tapestry that honors the process of children's self-determination over time."—Kirkus Reviews

* "Fresh, bright spreads by López incorporate folk elements such as stylized leaves and flowers. As the children strike out on their own, the text nods to differing life paths, portraying one new adult pursuing their passion in music and one starting a family of their own, in a bedtime fantasy of love, possibility, and acceptance."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

06/25/2021

PreS-Gr 1—A poignant story of how far a parent will go to show unconditional love. Each page captures beautifully a set of parents and their child enjoying various forms of bonding. Whether the mother is holding her child to her breast or a father and daughter splash on the beach, readers glimpse the imaginings of the parents as the children grow independent and overcome obstacles. The text and art show the aspirations of the parents for their children, to "meet you in your dreams" until "it's time to fly." VERDICT A great love letter to children from the parents' perspective, and wonderful for school and library collections.—Annmarie Braithwaite, New York P.L.

School Library Journal

★ 2021-01-13
In lyrical rhyme, a parent promises to love their child across the years of their special bond.

An adult with warm brown skin and long brown hair and a red dress floats above a sleeping town, cradling a baby. Meanwhile, an adult with a somewhat deeper-brown complexion and straw fedora shelters a different child from a downpour. A unified narration offers a series of tender, metaphor-driven vignettes spanning the little ones’ lifetimes. The scenes follow a gentle formula, depicting a stage in the kids’ lives and the support the adults vow to provide (“you’ll be a knight and I’ll be a horse. / We’ll race along a rainbow’s course / to castles in the sky”) then seamlessly shifting into a new iteration of their connection (“until it’s time to fly. / Then…”). As the story progresses, each child’s autonomy grows; in turn, each adult lovingly acknowledges the change their relationships will take. Combining lyrical words with vibrant paintings and occasionally rotating spreads, Young and López weave a rich tapestry that honors the process of children’s self-determination over time. Most notable about this warmhearted tale is how it can be applied to any special adult in a child’s life, including caregivers, extended family, and chosen family. Because each parent-child duo is illustrated as a distinct unit, this book is also a beautiful representation of single parents. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 16% of actual size.)

A tender ode to a family’s ever changing (and never-ending) love. (Picture book. 4-10)

Kirkus Reviews