By Lorelei Savaryn
Amazon rating: 4.8/5.0, Grade 5-6
Good Reads: 4.34/5
Common Sense Media: not reviewed
4Rbooks: 5/6, Grades 6+
Synopsis:
Andrea (12) has been living a nightmare for the past three years, ever since her younger brother, Francis, disappeared and her parents divorced. She is further burdened by the guilt of believing she was responsible for his disappearance. One night while wandering in the woods near her home she finds herself invited to enter Reverie, a magical dream land where she can have exciting adventures and forget her sorrow.
At first, Reverie is everything she hoped it would be. She gets to be a pirate looking for buried treasure, a bird flying high in the sky, and watch the birth of stars. She begins to realize, however, that this magical circus is not what it appears to be and may be more of a trap, rather than an escape. With the help of her new/old friend Penny, Andrea tries to solve the mystery of Reverie, learn what happened to her brother, and hopefully find her way back home.
Parental Guidance: Medium
A child is missing from his home for three years.
Parents get divorced and attempt to move on from their missing child.
Nightmares are part of the Reverie world and are unleashed at one point in
the story.
Andrea works through, but suffers, from more emotional baggage than
normal for most 12-year-olds.
A young man grieves the death of his sister. A girl suffers loneliness.
Children learn they have been away from home longer than realized.
Recommendation: Medium-High
The best way to describe this novel is that it’s a scary story for children. As such, while I thought it was creative and interesting, some children might find it too intense to read alone. Sensitive children, and children who have suffered tragic losses might need to read it with parent guidance. It’s fun and fanciful at times, but much of the books is built around dark themes with strong emotions.
The theme of the story is learning that standing up to face your heartache and pain is a better choice than running away. Andrea is drawn to Reverie as a way to escape her tragic life but is empowered at the end to accept the bad with the good that comes with living, and finds the strength within her to go back home.
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