Module 5: Gossamer

Summary: Where do dreams come from?  Many of us have asked that question at least once.  In Gossamer dreams are bestowed upon us by dream-givers.  The dream-givers are special little creatures with a big job to bestow good dreams from memories that they collect from our stuff.  Each dream-giver is assigned a house and they try their best to take care of the inhabitants in their house and give them good dreams, but bad dreams do happen also.

APA Reference: Lowry, L. (2006). Gossamer. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Impressions: What an interesting little book.  I had never read a Lois Lowry book before but now I am looking forward to reading some more of her books.  I had never really thought of where dreams come from but Lowry's idea of dream givers is an interesting one.  The setting of the woman's house was well described and the readers could see the well loved items that held the fragments of the memories that provided dreams.  The characters were well described and the reader's heart goes out to the little boy that moves in with the woman.  As the horde comes to attack the woman and boy the reader wonders if they will be okay and if the dream givers will be successful in protecting them.  I found myself  turning pages just as fast as I could to find out if they were ok.  This book was really good and I know that I will be recommending it this coming school year. 

Professional Review:

GOSSAMER

by Lois Lowry

Age Range: 10 & up

Thin Elderly and Littlest One are dream-givers. They bestow dreams, using fragments collected from buttons, toys, photographs, shells and other personal objects that collect and hold memories over the years. The collected fragments become stories of the person to whom they belong, and as dreams they transmit restorative feelings of love, pride, happiness, companionship, laughter and courage. However, Sinisteeds are at work here, too, inflicting nightmares and undoing the careful work of the dream-givers. Readers familiar with The Giver will most appreciate Lowry’s riff on the value of memories and dreams and the importance of the sad parts of our lives, too. For such a slim work, the characterizations of Thin Elderly and Littlest are strong—she the sprightly little girl learning her trade, he the bemused and patient elder. The prose is light as gossamer; the story as haunting as a dream. (Fiction. 10+)

Gossamer. (2010, May 20). Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lois-lowry/gossamer/

Library Uses: An activity to go with this book could be a collage of things that represent each student.  Just like the dream-givers collect fragments so could the students.