That Is My Dream!

Starred review from August 21, 2017
With luminous washes of watercolor and the lyrical language of Hughes’s 1924 poem as his text, Miyares (That Neighbor Kid) presents a resonant vision of an African-American boy who imagines a more just world. Feeling rambunctious (“To fling my arms wide”), the boy boards a bus with his mother and sister to meet his father, a factory worker, for a picnic dinner. As the verse continues—“In some place of the sun/ To whirl and to dance/ Till the white day is done”—Miyares reveals that the boy lives in the segregated South. Unlike the white family who crosses his path, the boy and his family must sit in the back of the bus and drink from the “Colored Only” water fountain. But in the soft beauty of twilight (“Dark like me”), the boy dreams away these false barriers: Miyares shows black and white children together, magically soaring on giant birds, and (more pointedly) drinking from the same stream. As the stars come out, the reverie ends, but it’s clear that the boy has gained a measure of hope and a reaffirmed sense of his identity. All ages. Illustrator’s agency: Studio Goodwin Sturges.

Starred review from July 15, 2017
A quietly powerful picture book that Hughes himself would have adored.Like Charles R. Smith's My People and E.B. Lewis' The Negro Speaks of Rivers, Miyares' rendition of Hughes' famous poem connects intimately with children's lives. In the illustrations alone, Miyares creates the story of a little suspenders-wearing African-American boy who travels to town in the back of the bus with his mother and sister, at the same time developing a mutual interest in a little white boy who rides in the front of the same bus with his mother and sister. The boys sneak glances at each other while on the bus, walking in town, and drinking from water fountains labeled "WHITES ONLY" and "COLORED ONLY." That evening, Dad joins the black family for a picnic. A brown sparrow lands on the boy's finger, prompting a turn in the realistic narrative. The line "That is my dream!" initiates the fantasy. As the sun sets, the two sets of siblings ride on colorful birds (sparrow, goldfinch, bluebird, and cardinal): "Dance! Whirl! Whirl!" together in the sky. Miyares' historically situated watercolor illustrations perfectly capture the tensions of racial segregation, contrasting them against the joy and peace that come from the freedom for all children to make friends who don't look like them. A must-read illustrated poem that breathes new life into Hughes' "Dream Variation." (Picture book. 5-8)

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September 1, 2017
Grades K-3 Illustrator Miyares (Float, 2015) interprets Langston Hughes' poem Dream Variation using a visual narrative that ends on a hopeful note. In the first stanza, he depicts two familiesone African American, the other whiteexperiencing their small southern town in the 1950s. Their encounters on the bus, walking through town, and at the drinking fountain are completely separate, and not necessarily equal. With the second verse, he imagines the same characters in a brighter, integrated world where the children soar aloft on birds, drink together from a stream, and spend a lazy afternoon under the shade of a tall tree. Miyares' gouache artwork depicts the early scenes using a muted palette, switching to more vivid hues in the second, idealized verse. Birds in flight appear frequently in the imagined landscape, mirroring the freedom the kids feel at being able to play together: To fling my arms wide / In the face of the sun. This is a perfect introduction to the Harlem Renaissance poet, and Miyares' illustrations are sure to generate much thoughtful discussion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2018
Hughes's 1924 poem "Dream Variation" serves as text. Muted gouache illustrations show an African American child in the segregated South comparing his own experiences to those of a white boy; partway through, the illustrations turn fantastical (and radiant), showing black and white children soaring on large birds, enjoying one another's company. A provocative and hopeful book that invites children to think about race relations past and present.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2017
Langston Hughes's 1924 poem Dream Variation tells of a wish to fling my arms wide / In some place of the sun, / To whirl and to dance / Till the white day is done. Miyares's gouache illustrations show an African American child (the poem's narrator) in the segregated South noticing his own family's experiences on the bus, at the water fountain, etc., compared to those of a white boy and his family's. Partway through the lyrical piece, the illustrations turn fantastical, now showing black and white children soaring on the backs of large birds, dancing, and enjoying one another's company. Miyares uses color to enhance his message of unity: illustrations that depict segregation are in muted browns and grays, which contrast with the radiant yellows, tranquil greens, and orangey-pinks of the dreamlike sequence. The boy awakens from this vision holding a single bird feather. Was it a dream? There is much to notice in the way the illustrations of the two families mirror, yet depart from, each other. The sharp irony between words and pictures combined with the simple yet powerful message of hope offered by the dream produces a provocative book that invites children to think about race relations during another time and about the implications for today. julie hakim azzam

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)