Zolboo Orgil, an artist living in Mongolia, makes her debut with a fantastical picture book that imagines the adventures of dreams that have escaped their creator and wandered into the world. Orgil pairs the gently stimulating narrative, translated by author and poet Bujinlkham Erdenebaatar, with surreal watercolor illustrations befitting the most extraordinary dreamer. Full of wonder and whimsy, The Dreamcrafter takes its audience on a magical jaunt through Orgil's unparalleled creativity.
The Dreamcrafter spends most of her time in her small room building dreams for other people. One morning she awakens to find that the dreams have flown away. At first she thinks, "How nice for them to be able to explore!" But then, "more than anything, she [longs] to have them back"; she wants to give the dreams "to those for whom she had made them." So she ventures out, cage in hand, to see if she can locate her escaped dreams. The Dreamcrafter moves "through the bustling city, gathering the stray dreams"--a tea kettle on a swing, a rainbow-winged green giraffe, a fish carrying a city on its back--"like a shepherdess rounding up her sheep." To obtain the final dream, a pink cat designed for a traveling circus performer, she must wander outside the city limits. All along her way, she drinks in her surroundings: towering buildings, a river, an "infinitely vast" meadow, a grove of trees, and the starry sky.
Orgil's splendid illustrations, based in traditional Mongolian drawing techniques and made with watercolor on handmade canvas prepared with casein glue and chalk, depict each step of the Dreamcrafter's travels. Double-page spreads feature textured art and remarkably saturated colors that match the dreams themselves: "Some [are] unsettling and others brim... with wonder." Orgil's stunning night sky, under which the Dreamcrafter finds the pink cat dancing, makes a particularly marvelous image: a field of dark blue, dotted with stars surrounded by swirls and streaks of color.
Erdenebaatar's translation transmits a sense of peace and curiosity through tone and pacing, and Orgil's balance of text and art creates an enchanting reading experience. The Dreamcrafter may introduce budding readers to the joy of storytelling and the breadth of dreams, allowing them to "dissolve in the beauty" of books the way the Dreamcrafter dissolves into the starry sky. --Jen Forbus, freelancer
Shelf Talker: A Mongolian artist makes her debut with this stunningly illustrated fantastical picture book about a dream maker's day spent corralling escaped dreams.