Nasla's Dream

Nasla has pale skin and bright red hair. Trippy and touching.

Copyright 2020 Kirkus Reviews, LLC Used with permission.

Nasla is trying to sleep but is distracted by the yellow glow of an eye above her wardrobe. Who is looking at her? Her stuffed turtle or elephant, or any of the other toys her father neatly stacked on top of the wardrobe yesterday when Nasla told him she was too old for them? In addition to wondering about that eye, Nasla wants to sing, talk to her toys, and play with the Moon, but at night you do not do those things—you sleep. Nasla's imagination takes flight—does the glowing dot threaten her? Luckily, Nasla has a secret charm, her old baby blanket, to ward off the unknowns of the night. She soon drifts off to dream of her old toys, as the cat jumps down from the wardrobe and blinks her yellow eye. Roumiguière's text meanders, but always returns to the mysterious dot. Rea provides a fever dream of illustrations done in oil, with bold backgrounds on which a variety of two-dimensional images are a dreamy visual counterpoint to the text. VERDICT This French import addresses the fears of the unknown in the night with a perfect resolution, plus a little whimsy thrown in for good measure. The gloom of night, impressively captured, make this ideal for one-on-one sharing.—Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Lib., Troy, NH

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

This short, penetrating story by Roumiguière, originally published in France, looks at Nasla's first bedtime after she has her father move her stuffed animals to the top of the wardrobe--she's too old to sleep with them, she says. Nasla knows that her toy turtle, "Timboubou the elephant... the mushroom castle, the hippo with the broken foot," and the others are all atop the wardrobe "in a nice neat pile." But in the dark, she sees something else up there: a glowing dot, "a little eye, like an opening in the dark night." She yearns to investigate, "But at night, you do not play. At night, you sleep." Rea renders Nasla's perceptions with polished, editorial-style imagery: Timboubou's trunk moves, a tree grows through the floor, Nasla floats on a cloud as if it were a raft. As the yellow glow seems to threaten, Nasla imagines ghosts, monsters--then remembers a treasure that will help her fall asleep. Roumiguière establishes Nasla persuasively as both a child with limited agency and an independent thinker who can solve her own problems, while Rea paints the girl's thoughts and perceptions with remarkable artwork that highlights imagination and dreamlike imagery. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

"Roumiguière's text explores how a young person copes with the decision to put childish things aside, and Rea conveys Nasla's inventive thoughts with vibrant color and surreal effects, like a wavy blue floor. The text and pictures play back and forth with real things (Nasla's stuffed animals) and wondered things (including a wild rumpus-like parade), leaving lots of room for child readers to interpret and imagine for themselves."  - The Horn Book Magazine