Dandelion’s Dream
Book Details
Dandelion’s Dream
Yoko Tanaka. Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, hb, 978 1 53620 453 7, 2020, £6.99, 32pp.
Fiction, picture book, 3-7 years
Among the dandelion meadows, the most special one blooms into a dandy lion – a real lion.
He soon heads off on a series of dreamy adventures: riding a rushing train, going into a sailboat, getting lost on the busy streets, or encountering skyscrapers. Throughout the story, the audience can feel that the adorable lion embraces all the pleasures and sadness during his journey with an endearing sense of wonder. In the end, those experiences gradually help him to find the path to being who he is. Gentle and quiet, the story ends when the lion echoes the moon and becomes a lion of stars. Within the page coloured by the night sky, the audience can see how the shiny lion is in the puffs of dandelion seeds.
With mostly soft charcoal greys (manually created – turning used magazines into papers), and bright yellow (digitally created – only the face of the lion shines in yellow colour), the dandy lion seems to shine on each page. He seems to become more special with his dreamy adventures, to discover himself.
Besides, the art of using lines and shapes in a wordless picturebook allows the reader to be free with their imagination. How creatively can they perceive the content of the book, and how much can they enjoy that artwork! Beautiful, and evocative, this book offers the reader an opportunity to learn more about the life cycle.
Review by Phi Thi Thu Hang