Wide Awake in Dreamland

by John Duel

Nine-year-old Eddie has a wonderful imagination. It's so good that late one night he catches a Sandman who escorts him to Dreamland.

Eddie finds Dreamland exciting until he discovers that Mortimer, the evil warlock, has cast a strange spell on th Sandman's sand. Mortimer has one diabolical aim: to steal Eddie's imagination.

Eddie's only hope is to break the evil spell so that he may return home safely. Luckily for him, Dreamland has seven hours to each one of his, but that still doesn't give him much time. In the little time he has, he embarks on a journey in search of the last good wizard in Dreamland. Along the way he encounters many other perils in his desperate race against time.

All of this happens because Eddie is not asleep as he should be. He is Wide Awake in Dreamland.

Genres: Fantasy

239 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1992

Reviews

[winona alyakoub · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is Amazing!!!...😯😯😯
There should be a real movie on it💖💖💖...

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite books as a child. I plan to read it to my children.

[Jadewik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imaginative nine-year-old Eddie is transported to Dreamland by Sandman Sandy, but what they don't yet realize is that the evil warlock Mortimer has cast a spell to taint the sand in hopes of stealing Eddie's imagination. Because of the spell, Eddie is Wide Awake in Dreamland. He only has 'till he wakes up in the real world to reverse Mortimer's spell and get home.

This book came out when I was a kid and I really enjoyed it then. Obviously, it was a good enough read that I could remember the title almost two decades later and still want a copy of the book. It was moderately difficult to find-- the book is currently out of print, but there are places here and there that still have copies.

Reading "Wide Awake in Dreamland" now that I'm older is a slightly different experience. Of course, re-reading any book you know what will happen in the story, so that made the book lose a little of the adventure. Also, my perspective has changed since those younger days. I still enjoyed the story, but I had a more difficult time getting into it. However, the story remains true to my memories and still entertains.

This book is fairly fast-paced. There is some traveling in the book, but there are enough things going on that you hardly notice the long distance Eddie and Sandy have to travel. The author also does a fantastic job of putting imaginative things into the story-- flying sharks and other beasts... and, of course, the spells Mortimer uses are quite unique to this book. The events that happen in the book aren't random, but the situations are resolved in rather unique ways which keep the book "hopping".

I really recommend this book to younger children. It's was and still is a great read.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haven't you ever wished, upon waking, that you could get back to dreamland? This book is a wonderful exploration of what would happen if you could visit the land where all your dreams exist, with all the many joys and perils we so often experience in our own dreams, with just one problem - if you're awake in dreamland, how do you wake up from the bad parts of the dream?
It's a wonderful fantasy tale perfect for young children as well as those teens and adults who aren't quite ready to cut themselves off from childhood. ;)

I was lucky enough to have Mr. John Duel as an English teacher for two years of high school, and I'm not sure he ever thought any of his students would actually read his book (though many of us adamantly said we would). At least, that's what I gathered when I saw the look of pleasant surprise on his face when I walked in one day with a copy of the book for him to sign having finished it a night before. This book, and the fact that a real-life-person-I-knew had been able to publish a book, helped spur me ever faster after my own dream of publishing a novel.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as an adult because it had been a loved by Cory since he was in about 5th grade. I thought it was a good book, and could see why he would have really like it. Different to read it as an adult than if I was in 5th grade, of course.

[Cory · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite book back in 4th grade. Still a classic.

[Joeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

My all time favoirte. this was my frist chapter book i had ever read and i think it was on the frist grade that i read this.