by Chris Van Allsburg
Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1990
ISBN 0-395-53308-2
Ages 4- 8 & All Ages
When Walter goes to sleep that night, he wishes he lived in the future. With shades of Dickens' Ghost of Christmas Future, Walter's bed takes him to various places in the future-- consequences of his lack of concern for the environment. He wakes up in a dump, which used to be his neighborhood. He wakes up in a tree, which is about to be cut down for toothpicks. He wakes up on top of a smoke-belching smokestack from a factory that makes maximum strength medicine ironically to treat itchy throats and burning eyes, symptoms of their own pollution. And his dream takes him to the Grand Canyon, but he can't see it for the smog, and on the ocean where there's little or no fish left to catch.
Walter wakes up with the realization that his dream could be his own future if he didn't change his attitude and actions. He runs down the street to pick up the jelly wrapper, and even re-sorts the garbage into the proper cans for recycling. And he even picks out a tree for one of his birthday presents. He dreams again the next night, and he's in the future-- between the two tall trees that he and Rose planted. The future looks more like the past in that clothes are drying on a clothes line and a neighbor (Rose's descendent) is mowing his grass with a motor-less push-mower.
The story teaches an important lesson we need to pass on to our children if they want to live in a clean, safe, and fertile environment for life. And I would like to see my own subdivision and others change their rules about allowing no clothes lines in our back yards! There's nothing like putting sheets on the bed that have been dried out on a line.
One website said the reading ages were 4-8, and the review said the book is for, "all ages." I would agree with the latter because the message in the story is indeed for all ages.
... Not only are Just a Dream's illustrations some of the most striking Van Allsburg has ever created, but the text is his best yet. Van Allsburg has sacrificed none of the powerful, otherworldly spirit that suffuses his earlier works, and he has taken a step forward by bringing this spirit to bear on a vitally important issue. His fable builds to an urgent plea for action as it sends a rousing message of hope. All ages. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. Available from Amazon.com
Chris Allsburg has such an imagination in his books, and his art work is amazing-- almost mystical. He uses all sizes of pictures, from small to full page to two-page spreads, which was interestingI noticed something, too, about the people-- most of the pictures do not show a clear, complete face. The characters have their backs to us, or are only partially visible in another room. Most of Walter's pictures have only a partial face or a silouhette, or it's far away and not very clear. Maybe Allsburg wanted us to picture ourselves in the story.