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8th out of 139 books
—
411 voters
The Dreamer
Neftali finds beauty and wonder everywhere: in the oily colors of mud puddles; a lost glove, sailing on the wind; the music of birds and language. He loves to collect treasures, daydream, and write--pastimes his authoritarian father thinks are for fools. Against all odds, Neftali prevails against his father's cruelty and his own crippling shyness to become one of the most...more
Hardcover, 384 pages
Published
April 1st 2010
by Scholastic Press
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If I had met Pablo Neruda I'll have fallen in love with him. He had a sensibility to his world like no one else. He could see the difference of colors in the grass. I love the fact that he collects little souvenirs from nature.
The story is full of poetry, images and feelings. The illustrations are unique and dream like.
I read the book in Spanish.
I have seen a movie about Neruda's life. In the movie someone asks him to write a letter for his love just like the story in the book.
Growing up in Co...more
The story is full of poetry, images and feelings. The illustrations are unique and dream like.
I read the book in Spanish.
I have seen a movie about Neruda's life. In the movie someone asks him to write a letter for his love just like the story in the book.
Growing up in Co...more
2 likes · like · see review
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The Dreamer is an amazing collaborative effort that perfectly blends the poetry of Pablo Neruda with the writings of Pam Munoz Ryan and art of Peter Sis. It is a story based on the youth of the famous poet Pablo Neruda as he discovers who he is and what his role in life will be. This story is full of hardships and struggles that educate the reader to the politics and philosophies of life in Chili at that time. This is a wonderful glimpse into the struggle of freedom of speech and the role of gov...more
I absolutely love Neftali. Neftali is the main character in the book “The Dreamer.” Neftali is a boy who is taunted by his classmates, brutalized by his father, but who ultimately fulfills his dream. I was able to relate to the character because I saw a lot of myself in the character. Like Neftali, I have had difficulty fitting in and finding my place in the world. Ultimately Neftali finds his place and I think I have found my place too.
“The Dreamer” is at times a bit trite (the story of the swa...more
“The Dreamer” is at times a bit trite (the story of the swa...more
I’ll be honest, before I read Pamela Muñoz Ryan’s The Dreamer, I knew very little about Pablo Neruda. My knowledge of Neruda could be summed up in one simple statement: he was a famous poet from Chile. But all that changed with Muñoz Ryan’s account of Neruda’s childhood. The Dreamer isn’t strictly fiction or biography. Instead, as it’s The Dreamer, Chile, Pam Munoz Ryan described on the inside cover, it weaves together “magical realism with biography, poetry, literary fiction, and sensorial, tra...more
Audience: Sixth or seventh graders (there are some mature issues, such as abuse, that younger readers might not be ready for); either gender could read this, but boys might connect more with the main character since he's a male dealing with stereotypes about how they "should" behave
Appeal: This book draws heavily on emotions and pulls the reader in by getting them to really relate to Neftali.
Application: I would use this book in the classroom to start by talking about what the students want to...more
Appeal: This book draws heavily on emotions and pulls the reader in by getting them to really relate to Neftali.
Application: I would use this book in the classroom to start by talking about what the students want to...more
This can be used as a common core resource.
Growing up in Chile, Neftali is a shy, dreamer of a boy who is constantly berated by his strict, demanding father. He hears poetry all around him and loves and collects words, beginning as a small boy. Neftali receives understanding and encouragement from his stepmother and uncle, disdain and disapproval from his father. As he grows older, he becomes aware of the plight of the indigenous Mapuche people and his writings reflect a theme of social injustic...more
Dec 05, 2012
Ed
added it
Ryan, Pam Muñoz. (2010). The Dreamer. New York: Scholastic Press. 373 pp. ISBN 978-0-439-26970-4 (Hardback); $17.99 (reviewed from galley copy).
Neftalí, as the title informs, is a dreamer. Frustrated by numbers, especially the lazy zeroes and nines that stay stuck to the page, Neftalí lives in fear of his father. His brother Rodolfo has had all his music driven away from him by Father who calls it useless noise. Father rails at Neftalí for his incessant daydreaming. Father works for the railroad...more
Neftalí, as the title informs, is a dreamer. Frustrated by numbers, especially the lazy zeroes and nines that stay stuck to the page, Neftalí lives in fear of his father. His brother Rodolfo has had all his music driven away from him by Father who calls it useless noise. Father rails at Neftalí for his incessant daydreaming. Father works for the railroad...more
Reading Level: 3.7 (Lexile: 650)
Interest Level: 6-8th grade
Genre: Modern Fantasy/Science Fiction
Main Characters: Neftali
Setting: Neftali’s bedroom
Point of View: Neftali
Award: America’s Award
This is a beautifully written book about a young, shy, and sickly boy named Neftali. It is a biography with in a fairy tale style about Pablo Neruda. It is about this boy who is so artistic and sees beauty in many of the things around him despite the abuse he receives from his father. Neftali spends most of h...more
Interest Level: 6-8th grade
Genre: Modern Fantasy/Science Fiction
Main Characters: Neftali
Setting: Neftali’s bedroom
Point of View: Neftali
Award: America’s Award
This is a beautifully written book about a young, shy, and sickly boy named Neftali. It is a biography with in a fairy tale style about Pablo Neruda. It is about this boy who is so artistic and sees beauty in many of the things around him despite the abuse he receives from his father. Neftali spends most of h...more
Nov 16, 2012
Kristi
added it
Interest Level: 6th -8th Grades
Lexile Level: 650L
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: Chile
Main Character: Neftalí
Point of View: First Person
Neftalí is different from other children. He is incredibly shy and quite frail. The majority of his time is spent reading, writing and day dreaming all by himself. He finds beauty in the smallest things in the life such as the colors that make up a mud puddle, and the songs of birds as well as language in general. The injustices that he witnesses move him as...more
Lexile Level: 650L
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: Chile
Main Character: Neftalí
Point of View: First Person
Neftalí is different from other children. He is incredibly shy and quite frail. The majority of his time is spent reading, writing and day dreaming all by himself. He finds beauty in the smallest things in the life such as the colors that make up a mud puddle, and the songs of birds as well as language in general. The injustices that he witnesses move him as...more
Main Characters: Neftali
POV: Third Person
Summary: “The Dreamer,” written by Pam Munoz Ryan and Peter Sis, is the story of Neftali, a little boy with an astounding imagination. However, from the very beginning of the story, the reader sees how very unsupportive Neftali’s father is of his imaginative dreams and stories that he makes up. Neftali’s father is extremely strict, causing Neftali to fear him constantly. Still, Neftali’s imagination takes him on great adventures and allows him to write be...more
POV: Third Person
Summary: “The Dreamer,” written by Pam Munoz Ryan and Peter Sis, is the story of Neftali, a little boy with an astounding imagination. However, from the very beginning of the story, the reader sees how very unsupportive Neftali’s father is of his imaginative dreams and stories that he makes up. Neftali’s father is extremely strict, causing Neftali to fear him constantly. Still, Neftali’s imagination takes him on great adventures and allows him to write be...more
Grade/interest level: 6th – 8th
Reading level: 3.7
Genre: Poetry
Main Characters: Neftali, His Father
Setting: Chile
Author: Pam Munoz Ryan
POV: 3rd Person
The 2011 Pura Belpre Award winner,The Dreamer, is a must read. Written by the Chilean poet Pam Munoz Ryan, the story is about the life and success of a young boy named Neftali. Neftali is different. Much to his fathers disappointment, Neftali is not like the other children. He is very different and most of his free time is spent alone collectin...more
Reading level: 3.7
Genre: Poetry
Main Characters: Neftali, His Father
Setting: Chile
Author: Pam Munoz Ryan
POV: 3rd Person
The 2011 Pura Belpre Award winner,The Dreamer, is a must read. Written by the Chilean poet Pam Munoz Ryan, the story is about the life and success of a young boy named Neftali. Neftali is different. Much to his fathers disappointment, Neftali is not like the other children. He is very different and most of his free time is spent alone collectin...more
Neftali Reyes, the main character in the story, was born to a physically and mentally abusive father. Throughout the novel, his father constantly pressures Neftali into being a strong man who must pursue a career as a Dentist or Doctor, dreams of which only belong to the father. When Neftali hides behind his books and collections, creating multiple adventures with his imagination, his father prevents him from experiencing life on his own and discourages him as he believes he will amount to nothi...more
Parents need to know that this fable-like biography tenderly reveals the soul
of an artist, a soul that may not have survived without nurturing from a
stepmother and an uncle who were both brave and self-sacrificing. While the actions of his abusive father may frighten sensitive young readers, they will be
heartened by Neftali's ultimate ability to stand up to his father and pursue
his dreams, and the knowledge that he went on to become one of the world's
greatest poets. This book vividly demonstr...more
This Belpre Author Award is an inspiring book that many should read. With a lexile level of 650, based on the content and message, this is suited for students in 6-8th grade. The main character is a young boy Neftali and it takes place in Chile around his home and the sea for a bit. This is in 3rd person point of view. This riveting book captures a beautiful story of Neftali, a lost boy who is looking for his place in the world. A very shy person, he is always busying himself in book and loved w...more
Jul 15, 2012
Courtney Canino
added it
The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan is the winner of a Pura Belpre award, the America's award and has a lexile level of 600, and an interest of 6th grade and after reading it, it would be best for middle school readers. The main characters are Neftalí Reyes, his step mother Mamadre, his older brother Rodolfo, and his father. The point of view is third person, and the setting is in Chile. The plot of this story is on the complex side which is why it would be best suited for middle school readers. The b...more
The Lexile level is 650L. The book is for upper elementary readers. The book is a 2011 Pura Belpre Award winner and 2010 America's Award winner. It is a book of multicultural literature, contemporary realistic fiction and biography. According to the introduction of this book, it combines “elements of magical realism with biography, poetry, literary fiction, and sensorial, transporting illustrations”.
Neftali is an eight year-old Chilean boy at the start of the book. He is a daydreamer, constantl...more
Neftali is an eight year-old Chilean boy at the start of the book. He is a daydreamer, constantl...more
"The Dreamer" is a sweet and youthful book that I really enjoyed reading. I say that the book is sweet and youthful, because the main character Neftali himself is. Neftali lives in South America in the country of Chile and he never seems to fit in with his surroundings. Dreaming is Neftali’s greatest pleasure, despite his father’s harsh words against it, and Nefatli’s dreams lead him on both realistic and imaginary journeys that are a pleasure to read and explore. "The Dreamer" is written in a v...more
Review via the Deseret News
Neftali is a dreamer. He has been for as long as he can remember. Where some see an old boot or a pile of sticks, he sees a story and new places. His imagination is always working, and it drives his father nuts.
While Neftali finds beauty in the wonder of words and books, his father is looking for the practical. He wants Neftali to become a doctor. But to accomplish that, Neftalí must become robust — something he definitely is not.
Neftali is cripplingly shy and stutters...more
Neftali is a dreamer. He has been for as long as he can remember. Where some see an old boot or a pile of sticks, he sees a story and new places. His imagination is always working, and it drives his father nuts.
While Neftali finds beauty in the wonder of words and books, his father is looking for the practical. He wants Neftali to become a doctor. But to accomplish that, Neftalí must become robust — something he definitely is not.
Neftali is cripplingly shy and stutters...more
Neftali finds beauty and wonder everywhere: in the oily colors of mud puddles; a lost glove, sailing on the wind; the music of birds and language. He loves to collect treasures, daydream, and write--pastimes his authoritarian father thinks are for fools. Against all odds, Neftali prevails against his father's cruelty and his own crippling shyness to become one of the most ...moreNeftali finds beauty and wonder everywhere: in the oily colors of mud puddles; a lost glove, sailing on the wind; the...more
Opinion: This was book was just ok in my opinion. It was a bit hard to follow at times, and the time line goes to fast for me. It jumps so often, and I felt many story lines were left unanswered. You never learn if he finds friends, why he is sick, does he ever connect with his father, etc.? I felt for the characters, but I never felt like I connected with them.
Grades: 4+
Summary: The Dreamer is a fiction work based on the life of poet Pablo Neruda's. His story is told in verse, pictures, anecd...more
Grades: 4+
Summary: The Dreamer is a fiction work based on the life of poet Pablo Neruda's. His story is told in verse, pictures, anecd...more
1 like · like · see review
Some would give up their dreams if they had a father like Netfali has in The Dreamer (Scholastic Press 2010) by Pam Muñoz Ryan and illustrated by Peter Sís. Netfali keeps his dream alive in his mind and writes it all down on paper and finds beauty in his little treasures. Muñoz Ryan used Pablo Neruda’s style of poetry and writing to help tell his story and the illustrations make the words come to life on the page. The author uses a historical figure to tell a fictional story. The story is both...more
I went into "The Dreamer" conflicted. I love Peter Sis' illustrations always. And I generally love Pam Munoz Ryan's plucky but realistic girl heroines.
However, this is where it gets hard and potentially embarrassing--I do not like Pablo Neruda's poetry. Maybe, it's just that as a poet-girl growing up in a world where most people don't really know much about poetry (except that it should always rhyme and if it doesn't, it should at least be about trees or feelings or something), I was given coll...more
However, this is where it gets hard and potentially embarrassing--I do not like Pablo Neruda's poetry. Maybe, it's just that as a poet-girl growing up in a world where most people don't really know much about poetry (except that it should always rhyme and if it doesn't, it should at least be about trees or feelings or something), I was given coll...more
List time!
Reasons why I liked this book:
1. It was mostly narrative with sides of poetry and illustration. Both only strengthened the story.
2. The writing was clear, lovely, and perfect in the way it flowed from reality to Neftali's dreamworld and back again without stopping to say, "Hey guys, this part is not real." Because it was real, in a sense, and the author knows that.
Reasons why I didn't like this book:
1. The format of the book. It's almost 400 pages long, but it used big print and doub...more
Reasons why I liked this book:
1. It was mostly narrative with sides of poetry and illustration. Both only strengthened the story.
2. The writing was clear, lovely, and perfect in the way it flowed from reality to Neftali's dreamworld and back again without stopping to say, "Hey guys, this part is not real." Because it was real, in a sense, and the author knows that.
Reasons why I didn't like this book:
1. The format of the book. It's almost 400 pages long, but it used big print and doub...more
I have a confession to make. I do not read poetry. I know that sounds odd for someone who has written song lyrics for many years, but there you have it. Somewhere along the way, I got addicted to STORY and I get that from novels more than from poems. If the Adult Reading Group at Once Upon A Time Bookstore (Montrose, CA, where I used to work and where I still shop) had not chosen The Dreamer for its December read, I would probably not have read it. A fictional retelling of events in the life of...more
Jan 07, 2011
Carol
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Neruda fans, poets, artists, anyone who appreciates a beautiful book
Author Pam Munoz Ryan, illustrator Peter Sis and their book designers have created a true work of art in the biographical novel The Dreamer. A fictionalized account of the childhood of Neftali Reyes (who later adopted the pen name Pablo Neruda), the book is both a physical and emotional jewel. Its iridescent blue/green/silver cover brings to mind the startling beetle that Neftali excitedly discovers on his first visit out into the jungle with his father, and the unusual text color echos the poe...more
I found this completely engrossing. I could not stop reading about Neftali and his controlling, dismissive father, his childhood in the mountains of Chile, and the rest of his family: brother Rodolfo, who gives up singing to please their father, his little sister Laurita, and his loving stepmother, who tries to help him, quietly. Ryan describes Neftali noticing the people and natural things around him, collecting treasures: pinecones, rocks, feathers and words, on slips of paper -- trying to ple...more
Reason for Reading: I wouldn't have read this if I hadn't received a review copy but Ryan is the author of one of my son's favourite books that he has had read to him multiple times, Riding Freedom, and I love Peter Sis' artwork. Besides, I always enjoy a good biography, even children's fictional biographies. The poetry angle did worry me though as I am not a fan of poetry in general (except for the silly, rhyming kind ala Shel Silverstien and specific epic poems).
This tells the story of Neftali...more
This tells the story of Neftali...more
A fictionalized biography about the poet Pablo Neruda, there's no doubt this book, with its dreamy art by Peter Sis, and its scraps of poetry and celebrations of nature and daily life, is beautifully done. However, the well-worn message about the creative spirit overcoming familial and societal pressure to become something else threatened to become sappy, overbearing, and cliched at many points, and I feel it sometimes did. I almost wanted the father's quashing of Pablo's spirit to become more b...more
This precious jewel of a book is marred only by not ending where it should have. Ryan and Peter Sis, who get equal billing on the jacket, have created an exquisite piece of art. Prose, poetry and picture are skillfully interwoven and seamlessly merged in the story of a sickly, dreamy boy who lives in Temuco, Chile.
It's the perfect spot for a dreamer like Neftali, equidistant from the Pacific and the Andes, the roar of the sea and the rumbling of a volcano. It's the gateway to the Araucanian for...more
It's the perfect spot for a dreamer like Neftali, equidistant from the Pacific and the Andes, the roar of the sea and the rumbling of a volcano. It's the gateway to the Araucanian for...more
4 likes · like · see review
Neftali is a young man who loves words and can find magic in ordinary places. He lives a life of tyranny under his cruel father who wishes to mold Neftali into his own ideas of success and masculinity. The Dreamer follows Neftali as he grows from a scared young boy to a passionate young man, and hints at the great poet he will one day become. This unique book combines illustrations by Peter Sis with text by author Pam Munoz Ryan. The illustrations are simple and at times even abstract. Next to m...more
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“Pablo Neruda's poems tramped through the mud [with the fieldworker]...knocked at the doors of mansions...sat at the table of the baker...The shopkeeper leaned over his counter and read them to his customers...The poems became books that people passed from hand to hand. The books traveled over fences. and bridges. and across borders. soaring from continent to continent. until he had passed thousands of gifts through a hole in the fence to a multitude of people in every corner of the world.”
—
4 people liked it
“Pablo Neruda's poems tramped through the mud [with the fieldworker]...knocked at the doors of mansions...sat at the table of the baker...The shopkeeper leaned over his counter and read them to his customers and said "Do you know him? He is my brother."
The poems became books that people passed from hand to hand. The books traveled over fences... and bridges... and across borders... soaring from continent to continent... until he had passed thousands of gifts through a hole in the fence to a multitude of people in every corner of the world.”
—
4 people liked it
More quotes…
The poems became books that people passed from hand to hand. The books traveled over fences... and bridges... and across borders... soaring from continent to continent... until he had passed thousands of gifts through a hole in the fence to a multitude of people in every corner of the world.”
