We are dreamers, soñadores of the world.”
–Dreamers, Yuyi Morales
Dreamers (2018), written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales, is based on a true story from the author’s own life. Written in short but elegant prose, Dreamers details the story of a Mexican woman who, after having a child, packs keepsakes from home into a backpack and walks across a bridge, where on the other side she and her son become immigrants. At first this new place seems to be an unwelcoming new land, where the woman cannot speak the language and has a difficult time adjusting to her new home.
But one day, she and her son step into “a place [they] had never seen before”: a library. At first, this place seemed “suspicious. Improbable. Unbelievable. Surprising. Unimaginable” (p. 13-18); what kind of a place lets you take books without asking? But through this new world of books, specifically picture books, the woman and her son put trust into the books, and they learn “to read, to speak, to write, and make [their] voices heard” (p. 22-24). Eventually, this lends the woman and her son to create their own stories, and open them up to a world of possibilities and dreams, sueños. Each page, in complement with the words of poetry, is weaved together with compelling and gorgeous illustrations made by Morales using acrylics, ink, a fountain pen, and scanned images of things like Morales’ and her son Kelly’s childhood drawings and traditional Mexican fabrics. The imagery on each page holds layers of meaning and contributes significantly to this story of dreams.
H.M. Bouwman’s fantastical novel, A Crack in the Sea, written in 2017, tells the complex and magical tale through time of three sets of siblings, two different worlds, and one door to connect them all. The story begins by explaining that “it is sometimes the nature of books to tell things in what seems to be the wrong order,” (p. 1) and gives a brief introduction of some of the main characters: Venus, whose story has no beginning; Kinchen and her little brother Pip; Caesar; Thanh and Sang. Taking place in parts in the “first world” and others in the “second world,” the stories of the characters are interwoven in beautiful, magical ways imagined by Bouwman.
The novel begins with Kinchen, 12, and her little brother Pip, 11, in the second world on The Islands, in the summer of 1978. Pip, who possesses the special and rare gift of talking to underwater creatures, is taken by the Raft King to help his people (the Raftworlders) find their home again, using his gift. Kinchen becomes determined to rescue her brother, with the help of the ocean and a new friend Caesar, from the Raft King and the threat of the first world.
The next story takes us back to the beginning: Water Drinker (who becomes Venus, the founder of Raftworld) and her twin brother Swimmer are stolen from their home in Africa, on a ship headed toward the Caribbean to be sold as slaves in 1781. With their own water gifts, Venus and Swimmer save themselves and their people from enslavement, and find themselves in the second world.
Finally the story comes to Thanh and his sister Sang, siblings from the first world, who must escape the effects of post-war Vietnam in 1978. With the help of Uncle Hung and Mai, Thanh and Sang must keep themselves safe from pirate attacks and a storm. The siblings eventually find themselves brought together with Pip, Kinchen, Caesar, and the Raft King in the second world, thanks to the doorway that had also brought Venus and her people to safety. What happens next, you’ll have to find out on your own!
How can I apply lessons from these books to my own classroom?
What I especially enjoyed about both of these books is the how significant stories seemed to be in them. In Dreamers, stories are how the woman and her son learn about the new world they must navigate; they give them new language, hope, and resilience; they give them a voice of their own. In A Crack in the Sea, stories are important for their history: so important, in fact, that there is a role in Raftworld made specifically for storytelling. The storyteller, Jupiter, recounts tales of how Raftworld came to be; he chronicles the experiences of Venus, Raftworld’s founder; he depicts the magic that lives and has lived in the world for centuries.
Stories in both books provide us with answers, expose truths, connect us to others, provide hope, and give way for voices to be heard. When discussing Dreamers and A Crack in the Sea with students, this theme of storytelling can be an important one. Ask students what the importance of stories is—why they are needed and how they move a culture forward—and what stories are important to them and their lives.
Other themes in the two books that are important to address with students include immigration (willing and forced), slavery, and being a refugee. In Dreamers, the woman and her son are both immigrants to a new land:
“And when we made it / to the other side, / thirsty, in awe, / unable to go back, / we became immigrants.”
–Dreamers, p. 6
Discuss with students what it means to be an immigrant—to be a newcomer in a land you are unfamiliar with, where you perhaps do not know the language or the customs—what would you do? How would you not only survive, but build a life in this new place? Discuss the importance of language and of stories for immigrants.
A Crack in the Sea tells stories of slaves and refugees: the story of Venus and her people, and how she saved them from chattel slavery; the story of Thanh and Sang, Vietnamese refugees escaping the after-effects of war in their homeland, and the dangerous journey they make in order to arrive to safety. Use these stories to get students to think critically about these themes, and ask them their thoughts on the experiences of the characters. Obviously, these topics should not be discovered through these books—make sure to prepare your students for discussions on slavery and forced migration ahead of time. Check out A Crack in the Sea: A Guide for Educators and Readers to find more teaching resources when reading this fantasy novel.
So, what are you waiting for? Like the dreamer you are, go to your local library and read Dreamers and A Crack in the Sea today!
References
Bouwman, H. M. (2017). A crack in the sea. New York, NY: Puffin Books.
Morales, Y. (2018). Dreamers. Neal Porter Books.
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