THE DREAM SHOP

In her second book, Kenah (Eggs Over Easy, 1993) tells the story of a little girl named Pip who travels in her dream to a strange sort of store first suggested by her cousin, Joseph. The dream locale is a tiny shop from the outside, but once inside, in that surrealistic manner of all dreams, the huge shelves stretch on and on endlessly, filled with every sort of magical reverie from sweet dreams (a boxed sunset) to nightmares (“knots of snakes” and “racks of bad report cards”). Joseph joins Pip in her dream, and together they push their shopping carts down the aisles of the dream supermarket until they discover a baby dragon that sets off on a rampage around the store, unleashing thunder, hailstones, and hurricanes. The kids corral the dragon with the lure of their boxed sunset and a treasure map (handily labeled with the phrase “Here be dragons”), and Pip awakens back in her farmland home with that familiar old it-was-all-a-dream ending. Impressionistic paintings effectively capture the shifting, nebulous feel of the dream setting. The oversized format with double-page spreads make this a good choice for reading aloud in a group setting as well as a bibliotherapeutic balm for kids with scary dreams of their own. (Picture book. 5-7)