GRANDMOTHER'S DREAMCATCHER

Kimmy is to spend a week with her Chippewa grandmother while her parents look for a new home in Chicago. Grandmother lives in a cabin in the north woods, and Kimmy enjoys spending time with her, but a week away from her parents sounds like a long time. When bad dreams cause Kimmy to wake up screaming, Grandmother knows just what to do; she and Kimmy craft a dreamcatcher of bent wood, sinew, feathers, and beads, while Grandmother tells Kimmy the legend of the first dreamcatcher. The dreamcatcher—or the story—works; Kimmy wakes up happy and refreshed. The love shared by the child and her grandmother is palpable, reflected in the old woman’s reassuring presence, her words, actions, and spirit. Schuett’s acrylic and gouache illustrations show that warmth in expressive faces, and in the curve of Grandmother’s arm and the angle of her head as she holds Kimmy. Directions for making a dreamcatcher round out this satisfying offering. (Picture book. 5-8)