The Dream Stealer

So slender and slight it feels light enough to float from your hands, Fleischman and Sís’s latest chapter-book collaboration supplements their previous Newbery-winning pairing, The Whipping Boy (1987). Lonely little Susana desperately misses her old best friend, who recently moved away from their small Mexican town. Worse still, when she has a dream that seems to show her friend in danger, Susana finds it immediately stolen by the magical, rude, chili-chomping Dream Stealer. Incensed, Susana insists on being reunited with her dream. So begins a journey to the Dream Stealer’s castle, as well as a run-in with a couple of nightmarish characters who have vowed revenge against their colorful captor. The author breathes life into this Mexican-flavored world with a storytelling manner that’s teasing and intriguing by turns. This good-natured whimsy is complemented beautifully by the one-of-a-kind pen-and-ink drawings. Sweet and silly, consider this slim bedtime fare that lingers long after the tale is told. (Fantasy. 6-11)

Copyright 2009 Kirkus Reviews, LLC Used with Permission

The duo behind the 1987 Newbery winner, "The Whipping Boy", reunites for this whimsical tale that mixes fantasy and reality to heal a broken friendship. Susana fights with her best friend just before Consuelo Louisa moves to Guadalajara. Lonely and sad, Susana dreams of a happy reunion, but her reverie is interrupted when the Dream Stealercharged with rounding up monsters and demons from nightmares so people can sleepmakes off with the blissful scene. Determined to get her dream back, clever Susana traps the Dream Stealer and forces him to fly her to the castle where the botherations he's lassoed from dreams are kept under lock and key. Fleischman's rich prose and understated humor make for easy reading; the loss of a friend, a magical journey to set things right and an empowered heroine are emotionally right on target for the audience. Sís's full-page b&w drawings often render Susana incongruously passive, but his depictions of the rest of Fleischman's oddball cast are livelier and the overall effect is a handsome package. Ages 9up. (Sept.)

Copyright 2009 Publishers Weekly, Used with permission.

Gr 2-5.  Basing a story on a carved Mexican figure, Fleischman weaves a short tale around a Dream Stealer, Zumpango, who perches outside windows waiting to snitch nightmares from sleeping children. Scared by some of the critters he has lassoed, he starts taking happy dreams. But he hasn't reckoned with Susana, who wants back her interrupted dream of a happy reunion with a friend with whom she has had a fight. She tricks Zumpango into flying her to his lair to take back the dream. There she faces down and outfoxes the nightmare creatures (some borrowed from folktales) and agrees to be Zumpango's new friend if he will leave her good dreams alone. When she is returned home, a phone call from her old friend provides a cheerful end. Sís's ink drawings feature just the right mix of surreal, funny, scary, and reassuring images (but sharp readers will note that while the text has the Dream Stealer escaping an ogre feet first through a narrow window, the illustration shows him stuck head first). Set within a loving Spanish family, the tale twinkles with Fleischman's signature crisp language and laugh-out-loud wordplay. All in all, it's a quick, unique read that's sure to give young chapter-book readers shivers, laughs, and satisfaction. -- Susan Hepler, formerly at Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.