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Book Reviewed by:In this captivating debut YA graphic novel, two best friends becoming more than friends feels like a dream come true. But when one sleepover literally turns into a dream, will they ever want to wake up again?
Amber's a headstrong goofball with a temper. Nico's a shy, self-conscious emo boy. But they've been best friends since third grade, and she can't hide her feelings for him any longer. At the end of their eighth-grade beach trip, she confesses... and the feeling is mutual! Thus begins a glorious, blissful summer of first love.
But once high school starts, life gets more complicated. Faced with early mornings, bullies, homework, and other stresses, Amber and Nico cling to each other, neglecting their friends. Soon, Amber starts to wish she and Nico could escape from it all.
One night, as they fall asleep playing video games, Amber gets her wish...
Dani Diaz's graphic novel Dreamover compassionately illustrates the turbulent period that is young adulthood, painting a sympathetic, and surely relatable, portrait of adolescent insecurities, ennui, and yearning for excitement... The characters cannot forever outrun real life—neither its external obstacles nor the consequences of their own actions—through escapist dreaming; this becomes increasingly explicit the further they fall into their dream...continued
Full Review
(945 words)
(Reviewed by Isabella Zhou).
Deb JJ Lee author of In Limbo
Dreamover describes the tumbling escape I wish I had as a young adult. Kristen Gudsnuk author of Making Friends
Mixing slice-of-life and magical realism, Dani Diaz captures the big feelings and small moments of adolescence in a nostalgic 2000s-era time capsule. Mike Cavallaro author of Nico Bravo
Charming, hilarious, thoughtful, and absurd. Nate Powell author of March, Fall Through
I didn't want this book to end. Tillie Walden author of On a Sunbeam
An extremely impressive debut from an author whose work I will be following for many years to come.
In Dreamover, the dreamscapes Amber and Nico experience draw heavily from the imagery and mechanisms encountered in video games. In fact, within the past few decades, scientists and researchers have been investigating the relationship between video games and dreams.
One consequence of digital gaming on dreams is dubbed the Tetris Effect after the iconic puzzle video game. For people who play the game for a long time, the mental act of rotating and piecing Tetris blocks together becomes so ingrained that they may replicate it in their sleep. And the Tetris Effect is not limited to Tetris. One video game reporter writes that "Even if I've only played an hour of the strategy cooking game [Overwatch 2] before bed, by the time I get into...
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