The book of stolen dreams by David Farr

What a book! Beautifully bound in a red, hard back cover featuring a golden key and a scattering of gold stardust, with  illustrations by Kristina Kister, the presentation of The book of stolen dreams is a credit to its publishers- Usborne Publishing Ltd. The care taken with the publication of this book is surely a measure of its literary worth; The book of stolen dreams is a treasure.

This is the debut book for young people for writer, director, producer David Farr who has always wanted to write for children.The power of his storytelling and the tightness of the plot and structure suggests that the idea of The book of stolen dreams has been with Farr for awhile. Such is the action and the atmosphere, one can see that this book could be well adapted to the screen and theatre. It is set variously in a kind of dystopian world complete with strange airships, like something from a Shaun Tan painting, in olde worlde English bookshops and crumbling orphanages and in a city that has had the life crushed out of it by a totalitarian military regime. 

Eleven year old Rachel Klein and her brother, thirteen year old Robert are orphaned. Their once beautiful land of Krasnia is in the hands of an evil dictator, Charles Malstain, whose regime smacks of certain regimes of the past and of our time. The contemporary nature of this can only add to the interest of the middle years readership. Rachel and Robert, receive the book of stolen dreams into their care from their father who was captured and taken away. The book of dreams, which gives the power of immortality, is missing one page and the two children must track it down whilst keeping the book out of the hands of Malstain and his henchmen. They have to call on deep reserves of bravery and trust as they face terrible dangers,grief and dilemma... and a family of ghosts. 

The theme of censorship, fear, the crushing of freedom and the courage of those who fight against evil regimes envelops this story. This is all heavy stuff but dear reader we have our character narrator to help us cope with the horror. Is it David Farr? It doesn't matter. The story is fearful. We need a storyteller who speaks straight to us; tells us to look up, tells us what we see, calls us "my dear friend and reader...dearest and most fond reader..." stays with us until the end and finishes the story beautifully. Such a narrator is a comfort. 

Interlaced between the chapters, most of which are dedicated to our main protagonist Rachel and some to Robert, are the fifty exquisitely illustrated poems that are found in the magical book of dreams. On completion of the mission, Rachel is faced with a very, very difficult dilemma where her moral compass and belief in service to the other over herself is tested to the max.

As readers will be wanting more of the adventures of Rachel Klein, the news at the end of the book that there is more to come from the world of David Farr, is very welcome indeed.

The book of stolen dreams is highly recommended not only to the individual reader but also as a read aloud in the classroom or school library. 

Themes: Immortality, Dictatorships, Grief, Courage, The moral compass.

Wendy Jeffrey