A Review of 'Gossamer' by Lois Lowry (Audio Book)

"Where do dreams come from?  What stealthy nighttime messengers are the guardians of our most deeply hidden hopes and our half-forgotten fears?  Drawing on her rich imagination, two-time Newbery winner Lois Lowry confronts these questions and explores the conflicts between the gentle bits and pieces of the past that come to life in dream, and the darker horrors that find their form in nightmare.  In a haunting story that tiptoes between reality and imagination, two people-- a lonely, sensitive woman and a damaged, angry boy-- face their own histories and discover what they can be to one another, renewed by the strength that comes from a tiny, caring creature they will never see.

Gossamer is perfect for readers not quite ready for Lois Lowry's Newbery-Award winner The Giver and also for readers interested in dreams, nightmares, spirits and the dream world."

I read this book when I was younger and getting into Lois Lowry (we'd probably just read 'The Giver' in middle school and then I went crazy reading all of the Lois Lowry books I could get my hands on), so I thought it would be fun to pick up this book again as an adult.  Wow, I read really dark books as a child... I haven't changed much, to be honest.

This is a children's book, but it deals with abuse.  The boy in this story is put into foster care and for a really long time, it's not perfectly clear why.  He's angry and mean to his foster mom and at night, he suffers from terrible nightmares.

But there's a little more to this story than this poor little boy.  The story is also about Littlest, who is learning to bestow dreams on people in the nighttime.  Only the good dreams.  So as much as this story is about the boy and his growth, Littlest has a lot of learning and growing to do too.  She's learning how to collect memories in the houses she goes into and she's doing something unique-- she's combining these memories so that she's not simply throwing memories back at the boy or whoever she's creating a dream for.

This book is about overcoming challenges and impossible situations and growing with those times of adversity.  This story is beautiful for children and adults alike.

I give 'Gossamer':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude