GOSSAMER
by Lois Lowry
Walter Lorraine Books/Houghton Mifflin
ISBN-10: 0618685502
ISBN-13: 9780618685509
Ages 10-up
144 pages

• Read an Excerpt
• Author Talk -- May 2006

Without a doubt, Lois Lowry's books stand out when compared with some of the other fare on contemporary bookshelves --- and thankfully Lowry has been recognized for it. In 1990, she won her first Newbery Medal for NUMBER THE STARS, a fictionalized account based on the true story of how a group of Christians in Denmark saved their Jewish neighbors from persecution during World War II. She received her second Newbery Medal in 1994 for THE GIVER, probably her most well-known book to date. Now comes another book that is so beautifully written and so poignant in message that its sure-to-be glowing reception just might give new meaning to the expression "three time's the charm."

GOSSAMER tells the story of a group of mythical creatures (for lack of a better expression to describe them) who are responsible for the creation and distribution of dreams. After being assigned to various households by their leader, Most Ancient, the creatures settle into their roles as dreamweavers by acquainting themselves with objects in the house (photographs, articles of clothing, trinkets on a bureau) that contain significance and memories of the owners. After they have gathered enough meaningful fragments, the dream-givers combine them to create a story, or dream, to bestow onto the sleeping inhabitants. This process is, in fact, how dreams are born.

So, too, are nightmares created by the evil Hordes, who attempt to undo all the good that the dream-givers impart by banding together to flood their victims' subconscious with dark and stormy thoughts. If enough insidious nightmares are inflicted upon these sleeping individuals, their waking hours can become increasingly negative and damaging until they no longer can remember how to be happy and at peace. In this agitated state, they are a great risk to those around them and to society as a whole.

In addition to providing a unique and imaginative explanation as to where dreams and nightmares come from, GOSSAMER also tells the moving story of an angry boy and a lonely old woman who are brought together under unfortunate circumstances. The boy has been taken away from his parents because his father beats him and his mother, and the woman is lonely because her husband died, leaving her alone and without many friends. As a way to find companionship and to give back to the world, the old woman agrees to take the little boy in for a summer until his mother can get back on her feet. The bond that forms between the two is so subtle yet so ripe with feeling that by the book's conclusion, you wonder how the two ever could have been apart.

Lowry's latest offering is simply magical. It is clear that she has taken great care to write a narrative that will both teach and touch its readers. A book full of gentle spirit and pure beauty, GOSSAMER is definitely award-winning material.

   --- Reviewed by Alexis Burling

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