“DREAM AWAY,” by Julia Durango, Katie Belle Trupiano and Robert Goldstrom, Simon & Schuster, July 12, 2011, $16.99 (ages 4-8)
Dream away, dream away, sleepyhead, love
Set sail for the ocean of stars up above.
You be the captain and I’ll be your mate.
We’ll journey together, the heavens await.
So begins an imaginative tale of a father and son setting out on an adventure. Together they take flight on an old paper boat. A magical wind delivers their crew — two pixies, one cur, a winged horse and a wandering knight.
The moon becomes a yellow balloon, whose tail takes them on a cosmic ride. They play with constellations come to life before the crew takes their leave.
Slowly the paper boat returns to Earth, rocking the young boy to sleep as his story comes to a dreamful end.
“Dream Away” has a dreamlike quality to it. Not because of the subject, but because of the sweeping text ethereal illustrations. Young readers will quickly find themselves involved in the young boy’s adventures and most likely imagine their own. And lyrical phrasing like, “The waves sang a song while the wind hummed along,” will gently lull even the most reluctant child to sleep.
