The Dream Bearer
Walter Dean Myers
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2003 Armistad
ISBN: 0060295228

David doesn't know what to make of his father. His older brother says he is crazy.

In his Harlem neighborhood, 12-year-old David Curry is shooting some hoops with his friend Loren, when he meets Moses Littlejohn, who claims to be a 300-year-old dream bearer. Mr. Moses is a shamanlike gentleman who harnesses & preserves human dreams.

David wonders what kind of dreams his father has. He imagines they are like storms in his head, with blinding flashes of lightning & thunder rumbling down the street, just around the corner, like a waiting monster. That's how his father's changes in moods affect the brothers. Except now Tyrone is acting like someone he doesn't know anymore.

Mr. Moses imparts his dreams to David & Loren in exciting storytelling style, eventually helping the boy cope with his abusive father & Tyrone's descent into gangs & drugs.

Printz Award winner Walter Dean Myers has drawn a compassionate portrait of a boy's odyssey of self-discovery & the acceptance & empathy for others he learns along the way.

For Grades 5-8 The Dream Bearer is a fascinating read -- both magical & down-to-earth, scary & heartwarming, despairing & hopeful.

More from Walter Dean Myers:
Monster
Slam!
Bad Boy: A Memoir
Shooter & many more.
(08/29/04)

Rebecca