Just a Dream

Just a Dream

4.0 of 5 stars 4.00  ·  rating details  ·  1,116 ratings  ·  155 reviews
Young Walter litters and refuses to sort trash for recycling, until he dreams of an overcrowded and polluted future which terrifies him into taking care of the earth.
Hardcover, 48 pages
Published October 29th 1990 by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
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Haley Shade
I absolutely have grown to love Chris Van Allsburg’s work through this year, and Just a Dream made me appreciate his work even more. It contains a lesson every young child, and even adult, should learn about the environment they live in. The book gives a situation where a boy is careless about what he does with his waste and just puts it wherever. He also thinks recycling is a waste of time and that it does not do anything for the environment. Walter is just careless with his trash and what he d...more
Raenie Brown
Truly a book for learning lessons and growing from it! The reader goes in an adventure with a little boy who is more caught up in the material world than how his actions impact the physical world around him. He liters, doesn't separate his trash like he's supposed to, and wants to live in a time of flying cars and personal robots. One night he dreams of going to the future, except it's not why he had imagined. The first place he visits is covered in litter and trash, the next is a forest were pe...more
Nicole Dylewicz
I really enjoyed reading this book. I think it can teach children a great lesson about doing their chores, not complaining, and not taking everything they have for granite. Walter hates taken out the trash and most of all he hated sorting through it. He did not separate plastics from the regular trash and would just leave one big pile When he went to bed one night he had wished he lived in the future and little did he know he was going to end up there. However when he got there it was not as coo...more
Diana Judd
Walter is a little boy who couldn't care less about the planet. He throws trash on the ground and doesn't separate his recyclables from his garbage. Clearly he is a fiendish villain. Because he does nothing to help the environment, when he goes to bed he dreams of the future that is created by his actions. Smog covers the Grand Canyon, so no one can see it. There are huge landfills full of trash where thriving neighborhoods used to be, and the animals are dying off where they used to be abundant...more
Andrea Ference
Just a dream is a wonderful book that teaches children the importance of the environment around us. In Just a Dream, a young boy carelessly litters at the beginning of the story. He then comes across a young girl planting a tree, a gift for her birthday, and thinks it's a silly birthday gift. That night, the boy has a dream where he floats away on his bed, but each place he goes to shows the disastrous effects of pollution, a world bereft of trees, and eventually the boy comes to the realization...more
Kathryn
Well, I would say that I expected more from Van Allsburg, but I'd read my sister's excellent review before I read the book (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...) so I knew I probably wasn't going to love this one too much. Still, it could have been so much better! Maybe I'm being a bit too hard on it because it's Van Allsburg, but the imagination aspect here was just so overpowered by the didactic, dim nature of the story I couldn't enjoy it at all. The storytelling was bland and predictable...more
Ann
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Lexi.vernaglia
This was an excellent book! It had a great story behind the actual story. I think this would be a great book to read to children and to talk about and teach them a lesson from. The lesson that could be taught from this would be how to correctly dispose of our trash and what could happen if we are all careless about our earth.
In this story a young boy named Walter walked home while eating his jelly doughnut. When he was finished with it he threw the bag that the doughnut came in on the ground....more
Vicky
I thought that this book had a very good moral: that you should stop and take a look at how your actions may affect people and outcomes in the future, especially with the environment. Walter, the main character is told by his parents to sort through the trash and make sure to recycle. He doesn't listen and just throws everything in the trash. He goes to sleep, not really caring about what he's done. In his dream, he travels to the future and sees the world completely trashed. There is so much tr...more
Brigette
Just a Dream takes Walter, a young boy, and readers to the future to see how our world will be if we do not take care of it now. The end papers show a dirty yellow color that is later seen as the polluted water of the ocean, as well as in the smog that covers the Grand Canyon. The illustrations throughout the book are bordered, which helps the readers feel that they are envisioning something that could happen, while still keeping a distance from the actual events of the story. The beginning illu...more
Alana
Chris Van Allsburg's story, Just a Dream, portrays an important message in a unique way. Walter is the main character and he has a change of heart after his bed takes him to the future. While he is sleeping, Walter sees a variety of places and what they are like in the future. When he returns home, he feels horrible and changes his actions. The layout of this picture book invites the reader in because the illustrations take place on a double-page spread, with the text explaining the illustration...more
Brittany Young
I did not expect this book to be about environmentalism. Especially in this day and age, I think it is an important topic to cover. It is nice to see a book that shows children that they can change their future. The cover and illustrations inside follow Van Allsburg’s traditional illustration style. The cover is surrounded by a thick dark green boarder. The illustration inside the cover boarder is colored in with shades of green, yellow, and brown that matches the boarder color. Inside, I like t...more
Meghan Porter
I enjoyed Just a Dream but I did have a hard time with the overall message of the story, but I will get to that. The story begins with a little boy, Walter, who seems to be a selfish and rude little boy. He litters, makes fun of his neightbor Rose for planting a tree, and doesn't recycle. That night he dreams about a future where there are no trees, trash is everywhere, and the world is a dark and dreary place. When Walter wakes up from his adventures he is a changed boy. He cleans up after hi...more
Jennifer
“Just a Dream” by Chris Van Allsburg was the last but not the least of the books that I’ve read out of the 4 and I have to say that I think this one is my favorite. I like that he mixed the concepts of imagination and environmental lesson. He wrote this book by telling a story about a boy who didn’t think much about the environment and what the consequences of the actions that he did. He had a dream that took him into a world where the environment was suffering and animals were trying to survive...more
Spencer Gold


The book Just a Dream is a great take on the enviroment and what our country is doing to change the future for the worse. The story starts off with a little boy who does things like litter, laugh at a girl planting a tree, and properly recycling. Then when he starts to dream it takes him to all the things the Global Warming predicts. I liked that Allsburg took the story from the point of a view from a naive boy and not a grown up. This gave the story more power and showed that we need teach chi...more
Kathleen Garber
This is a great book for Earth Day or anytime you want to teach about environmentalism. Although it's an older book, I'd not seen it. It's by the author of The Polar Express and Jumanji (and many others,) so you know the illustrations are absolutely gorgeous.

The little boy's dreams show just how scary our world could end up the way we are going. He pops in and out of different dreams, showing many different scenarios. At the end he learns his lesson and pitches in and his dream that night is qui...more
Jane Meyer
Just a Dream is a picture book that focuses on encouraging kids to think about the environment, and how the choices they make today will affect them in the future. I'm all for such books, but this one falls short, and with picture books being as expensive as they are, I wouldn't choose to spend my money on this one...

Two reasons: though I like the idea of reading books to our kids about doing their part in keeping this planet clean and healthy, the concept of this book sings of cliche and reads...more
Esther
Published in 1990 by Houghton Mifflin.
Interest Level: 4th-7th Grade

This offering by Chris Van Allsburg truly took me off-guard. What I thought would be a simple picture book about dreaming and the many strange things that occur in dreams ended up being an insightful look into energy consumption and the effects of one person's contribution to the Earth. Through the dream-like sequences of a boy's dream, many landscapes are shown as part of the future. The future that is depicted as the boy travel...more
Hayden Drescher
I wasn’t too familiar with Chris Van Allsburg before reading Just a Dream, but after finding out he wrote Jumanji (a movie in my top 10 of all time) I knew his others were going to be fantastic. Van Allsburg does a great job subtly making an environmental statement of recycling and sustainability inside his appropriately depicted dream-like illustrations of every location Walter goes to. This book is a true piece ahead of its time. The giant panoramic illustrations on the pages along with the sm...more
Carlie Engels
Just A Dream by Chris Van Allsburg is done in portrait shape. This is because the story is about people, especially Walter. The illustrations in the story are realistic and framed with white space. I thought it was very interesting that every time Walter's bed traveled to a new place, there would be a little illustration on the right side of the page foreshadowing where he would travel next. The type face is normal, serious font. I think the editor chose to use this font because, although it is...more
Ashley Hilton
In Just a Dream Walter hates recycling and he thinks putting things in the trash is stupid. Walter does not think there will be any problems in the future, he thinks it will be quite wonderful. One night when Walter was going to bed he wished that he could see the future, well when he falls asleep that is just what he gets. But he does not see the future as glorious as he thought he would. He sees what the world will look like if he continues to litter and not recycle. There are heaps and heaps...more
Katelyn Lopez
Chris Van Allsburg's book "Just a Dream" is my favorite of his. In the beginning of the story, a young boy always tosses his trash carelessly on the ground and does not bother to sort the trash. When he goes to bed one night, the little boy dreams of seeing the future. As he falls asleep, he keeps waking up in different scenes all depicting what the future will look like. He finds himself in a polluted grand canyon, on top of steaming factories, buildings built on top of Mount Everest, and other...more
Stephanie Allred
"Just a Dream" by Chris Van Allsburg follows the journey of dreams that young Walter has one night, as he is wishing to be in the future. The pages of this book are set up in a portrait design. Each page has realistic pictures; however, the borders on each page kept me from feeling like I was in the book. Each page is set up with a wide white border around the whole page. The bottom forth of the page houses the text and the middle of the page houses the illustrations. The interplay between the t...more
Ryan Gray
Of all the Chris Van Alsburg books I’ve read I found “Just a Dream” to be my favorite. The book has a great story and holds very valuable lessons for children as well as adults. In the story a very naive boy named Walter does not understand the value of recycling and taking care of nature. At one point he even begins to laugh at, and make fun of a girl who is recycling and sorting trash. It is not until he falls asleep and begins to dream of a world full of garbage that he begins to change his m...more
Brittany
This story was creative, well written, and overall fun to read! This was the first time I read this story, so I was unsure what the story was about. The story starts off with Walter not really being aware of how his actions are affecting the environment. He throws trash on the ground, laughs at his next door neighbors gift which was a tree, and then throws trash out in the wrong cans. He has a vision of what the future will look like, but when he drifts off to sleep he has a rude awakening. He s...more
Katie Larson
Just a Dream, written by Chris Van Allsburg was a story of an environmental study. It was layed out as a portrait style and has cool color scheme. The pictures throughout this story vary in size, some pictures are smaller with few words underneath while others are larger with more words on the page. The colors are very dull but have a realistic look to them. The point of view of the pictures is mostly birds eye but some pictures are at eye level. During the dream part of the book it is as if you...more
Rachel Manak
Just a dream was written in a portrait orientation which makes sense because it has people in it. it also has a lot of landscape, but the orientation works well with the book. The illustrations are done in color, but not super vibrant colors. They are more on the dull side. The texts and illustrations kind of go in a pattern when Walter starts to dream about the future. There is text on the left side, then there is a small picture on the right side, and then both sides of the pages are taken up...more
Jennifer Anderberg
While I thoroughly enjoyed all of the exceptional artwork in this book, I didn't really enjoy the story much or how the book was constructed. you would see a picture then turn the page and read about what the picture described, it seemed to me that the story of the picture should have come before the picture so that when I look at the picture it will make sense. I found myself constantly turning back to look at the picture once again after I had read the story about the picture, it mad it kind o...more
Rebecca Hipps
"Just a Dream" sends a powerful message about sustainability and consideration for the future of the earth. As the reader is taken through a child's dream in double page spread images, he/she experiences a glimpse of the future through the eyes of a thoughtful and concerned child. Van Allsburg’s vivid illustrations leave the reader anticipating each page turn, eager to see the next outrageous prediction of the future world. The story and images force the reader to consider his/her own ideas of t...more
Laura
Chris Van Allsburg is known for his beautiful illustrations (Jumanji and The Polar Express). Just a Dream is also beautifully illustrated and has a strong environmental message. Walter doesn't care about the environment. When he goes to bed, he dreams about the future, which clearly shows the consequences of poor environmental choices. Fortunately, Walter wakes up in his own bed and realizes the error of his ways. After recycling, planting a tree, and making earth friendly choices, he dreams his...more
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Just a Dream (Paperback)
Just A Dream
Just a dream
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Just a Dream (Hardcover)

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Chris was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on June 18, 1949, the second child of Doris Christiansen Van Allsburg and Richard Van Allsburg. His sister Karen was born in 1947.

Chris’s paternal grandfather, Peter, owned and operated a creamery, a place where milk was turned into butter, cream, cottage cheese, and ice cream. It was named East End Creamery and after they bottled the milk (and made the ot...more
More about Chris Van Allsburg...
The Polar Express Jumanji The Mysteries of Harris Burdick The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales The Widow's Broom

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