THE DREAM KEEPER

Imaginative dreaming illuminates the darkness for a worried child.

A brown-haired, tan-skinned youngster draws intently on the floor, surrounded by the happy mess of childhood—small animal figurines, strings of yarn, colored pencils, scribbled artwork affixed to the bedroom wall. The facing page reveals a parallel image, a turtle (“the dream keeper”) working at a table surrounded by greenery and an assortment of translucent containers, a serene sea visible through the window. Soon, night starts to fall in both worlds. As shadows creep over the child’s drawings, the youngster places a mushroom-shaped lamp on the floor and continues creating. The turtle heads out into the evening with a jar twinkling with fairy lights, a crowd of creatures gazing on. After the child goes to sleep, the turtle takes a boat out into inky waters. The mushroom lamp goes out, and the turtle, too, is left in darkness. Upon awakening to a room filled with ominous shadows, the child brings toy animals into bed for comfort, while the turtle happens upon an island whose inhabitants offer armfuls of glowing orbs to their hard-shelled friend so his journey can continue. With few words, Walker beautifully blurs the borders between consciousness and sleep as the intrepid turtle’s actions result in tender dreams for the youngster. Vivid, expressive watercolors accentuated with spray paint use texture confidently—splotchy, speckled, and sparkling—to convey the story’s narrative arc.

Sparkling, splendid artistic techniques create a world worth lingering in.