"Once, there was a pig who admired birds./ But he could never join them. Could he?" Hey, this is a children's book: of course he can!
The pig--a minty green color as improbable as the notion that pigs can fly--draws up plans and makes several flying machines; they fail. He seeks the advice of birds, whose suggestions leads to modifications to his plans. This time, his plane flies: "There was no height he couldn't reach. Was there?" Because this is a kids' book, there wasn't--as readers will see.
The beauty of The Dreamer is that, while its title takes the singular form, the story is about the power of collective dreamers. Il Sung Na has flagged his affection for animals in books like A Book of Babies and The Opposite Zoo, and here his digitally composited ink and colored pencil art (with lots of daydream-soliciting white space) features not only the mentor-like birds but the pig's reliable trio of critter pals: they are stumped when he's stumped, pore over plans when he does, cheer when he triumphs. While readers may be able to anticipate the pig's success, they probably won't guess that, while his dreams have taken him places, the story ends as it begins, with the words "Once, there was a pig who admired birds" and an illustration of the pig gazing in wonder at feathered friends in flight. This is one flying pig who never loses sight of his kin: the original dreamers, plural. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author