Dreamers
Author: Yuyi Morales
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Illustrator: Yuyi Morales
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Date: 2018
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About the book:
In a world that is different from what was once considered home, a mother and her son had to find a new home. They had become immigrants and had to learn a new way of life. It wasn't until the mother and son found books. They are able to learn so much about each other and life through a new way of communication.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
"Books became our language. Books became our home. Books became our lives."
Yuyi Morales did a great job of making this book relatable. As Rudine Sims Bishop refers to it, Morales made this book for readers to enter into a sliding glass door (Bishop, 2015). As the reader, even if you haven't been in this position, you could find yourself in the book. The characters are so believable and this double page spread that has all the books included books that I have read before. Being able to see books that you have read within a book, it makes the story seem so familiar like if you were walking into the library yourself.
The emotional reality of this story is portrayed in such a positive way. The concept of immigration is usually shown in a dark way, but Morales made it beautiful with her words and pictures. She continuously says, "Amor-Love-Amor" or "Love-Amor-Love." I love this switch in language because it shows the shift in language as she is reading books. At the beginning of the book, she says "amor" twice. The love is not taken away at all, but it reflects that she is still more comfortable with Spanish. At the end of the book, she says, "Love-Amor-Love." Still the same love, but now that she is learning through books, she now is speaking more English. I like the idea that the Spanish is not taken away. She is not assimilating, she is becoming bilingual and bicultural. The reality was not taken away from the darkness that follows with immigration. The color is fading away from the pages when the times are hard. They have to witness hateful comments like, "say something" or "speak English." They also have to deal with not knowing their way around in an unfamiliar place. The mother and son have to continuously walk until one day they walk into the color bookstore. Color is restored in the pages and their lives. They learned the valuable lesson that "where [they] didn't need to speak, [they] only needed to trust."
MEET THE AUTHOR
Dreamers is written in an Own Voice perspective. Morales is telling her story within the entire book. At the end of the book, Morales includes her story. She talks about how her son, Kelly and her moved from Mexico to be with family and so she could marry Kelly's father. Everything that she said in this story is true which makes the story mean so much more. Students need to be able to read about where the authors got their idea for a story because it may hit closer to home than people realize. In this Q&A, Morales talks even further about her moving story and even about her history of storytelling. When she was growing up, her families always told her stories, but unlike what we would think. Most time when we think of storytelling we think of folktales and myths. Morales' family always told real stories. This would be a reason for why Morales decided to make this book so realistic.
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Another thing that Morales mentions at the end of the book in the My Story section is how this book doesn't reflect what the term dreamers is today. She refers to it as Dreamers and Dreamers. Immigrants, no matter the age, are Dreamers because they are hoping for a new opportunity and future in a new place. The term "dreamers" today refers to just young undocumented immigrants. Morales wants to point out that everyone looking for a new start is a dreamer.
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This book can lead to so many conversation starters. No wonder Global Read Aloud chose Morales' book as one of the picture books. You can talk about what home is, immigration, dreamers, and much more!
Citations
Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Doors. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AAu58SNSyc&list=PLLxDwKxHx1yLH9i0wFT21xxYSSMjS4KGi&index=5