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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Apr 2006, 144 pages
Paperback:
Jan 2008, 160 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse Review Team
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Where do dreams come from? Two people 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.
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
Chapter 1
By Lois Lowry
An owl called, its shuddering hoots repeating mournfully in the distance. Somewhere nearby, heavy wings swooped and a young rabbit, captured by sharp talons, shrieked as he was lifted to his doom. Startled, a raccoon looked up with bright eyes from the place where he was foraging. Two deer moved in tandem through a meadow. A thin cloud slid across the moon.
-
The pair crept stealthily through the small house. Night was their time of work, the time when human conversation had ceased, when thoughts had drifted away and even breathing and heartbeats had slowed. The outdoors was awake and stirring but the little house was dark and silent.
They tiptoed, and whispered. Unaware, the woman and her dog slept soundly, though the dog, on his pillow bed of cedar shavings at the foot of the
woman's four-poster, moved his legs now and then as if chasing a dream rabbit.
"Are we a kind of dog?" Littlest One asked suddenly.
"...
In poetically simple words Lowry draws the reader into her story about Littlest One, a trainee dream-giver, assigned to the house of an elderly woman who agrees to foster an "angry boy". Lowry shows us that it's possible to take on big issues such as child abuse without having to resort to gritty detail; instead she paints her story, not with a sugar-coating, but with a gossamer touch so that young children can empathize with the central characters, including the boy and his mother, without being overwhelmed by harsh details...continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
As a child, Lois Lowry moved with her
family all over the world (her father
was an army dentist) - as a result,
strong family ties and the leaving
behind of people and places are central
themes to much of her work.
When asked about the inspiration for
Gossamer she replies, "I'm so
interested, always, in how the bits and
pieces of our lives go together, how
they form a narrative, and how important
they are to us. My son died when his
little girl was not yet two. She's
twelve now, and she asks me often, ‘Tell
me stories about my dad when he was
...
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