Here’s to the daydreamers…

 
 
 
There are few things I look forward to less than doing laundry. And with two active boys in the house, there is always a mountain of it waiting to be washed or transferred or folded at any given time. It is an endless effort to conquer the mountain, and I have my systems, as I am sure you have yours!

But these systems have their adversaries, and if you have a magpie for a child, not least of these are the ubiquitous pockets full of assorted trash: found pennies, baby pinecones, odd shaped stones, gnarled bits of bark, a crushed flower, downy feathers, each leaving a grainy debris that is near impossible to clear out completely.

I used to groan in exasperation when I encountered these hoards, because they brought my assembly line to a halt. But as my son grows older and those days pass into history, I sometimes become quite nostalgic. Reading The Dreamer made me more so, and also filled me with appreciation for the magpie kids, the collectors and daydreamers, and where their sense of wonder may lead them some day.

Neftali Reyes, was one such boy, pockets always filled with a myriad of findings that only a child would consider treasures. He lined his findings up neatly in his room, and spent hours daydreaming and weaving tales around his precious found objects, believing that each carried the imprint and story of the animals, birds, and people that had encountered them along the way. He was a colossal disappointment to his harsh father, who despised the child’s sickly nature and dreaminess, and wanted nothing more than for his son to become a doctor or robust businessman.

Though shy, tongue-tied and terrified, Neftali felt compelled to defy these expectations and forge his own future. Neftali Reyes went on to take on a new identity and become Pablo Neruda, the Chilean Nobel Laureate and one of the most widely read poets in the world. The transformation of a stuttering dreamer to a confident young man determined to explore the beauty and pain of the world, speak through poetry for the voiceless, and claim his name and destiny, is the subject of this book.

Author Pam Muñoz Ryan draws on detailed research of Neruda’s books, writings and letters to craft a beautiful work of historical fiction. She was particularly influenced by Neruda’s book The Book of Questions and intersperses the biography with her own whimsical musings.

The Dreamer, with large print and delicate drawings by Peter Sís, is a great book to read aloud together with your child. The relationship between father and son is emotionally brutal, but could prompt some insightful discussions about coming into one’s own. And may I recommend the audiobook? It contains a lovely and sensitive reading by Tony Chiroldes, who won an AudioFile Magazine Earphone Award for his performance.

We are not told what Neruda’s parents thought of his accomplishments later on in life. Hopefully they looked back to those pockets full of trash, and recognize the riches they helped engender.

Access: The audiobook link above is through Audible at Amazon.com. Depending upon where you live in the world, you can likely also access this audiobook for free through your public library and other resources that I am blogging about, like Hoopla.