The Dreamer by Il Sung Na, reviewed by Emma Perry

There's an abundance of heart-thumpingly beautiful picture books out there at the moment. Whittling my decision down to just one for October was a little tricky, so, I've cheated a little. I've snuck in a shout out to more wonderfully crafted picture books at the bottom of this page.

However, the picture book I really wanted to focus on is The Dreamer from Il Sung Na.

"Once, there was a pig who admired birds."

Pig, (a glorious shade of mint green by the way) is a pig who dreams big. Very big. This is a pig who dreams of flying. So pig tries VERY hard to fly. He studies hard. When that fails he asks friends to help. Still no luck.

II Sung Na carefully captures Pig's perseverance and determination to make his dreams a reality. There is humour in his failed attempts, but also admiration for his trial and error approach

Eventually, pig sits and listens to those who know best - the birds - and guess what? It works!

But.

This pig is a dreamer remember, and as pig gazes up to the sky this dreamer can't help but wonder if it would be possible to reach the moon... why not? He decides to find out.

Pig's adventures inspire plenty of others, depicted in a humorous spread showing Pig's friends utilising their own flying inventions. And what has Pig learnt by the end of the book - well, he sits and gazes at those birds, and he still admires them. I wonder if he admires them a little more now?

The Dreamer contains the most gorgeous illustrations, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see this one popping up on a few award lists in the coming months - Il Sung Na certainly deserves it.

Now,

As promised, here's a shout-out to more beautifully crafted picture books that have made me stop in my tracks this month...

You're Snug With Me from Chitra Soundar and Poonam Mistry - with a beautiful environmental message.

Red and the City from Marie Voigt

Little Bear's Big House from Benjamin Chaud

Sing to the Moon from Nansubuga Nagadya Isdahl and Sandra van Doorn

Time for Bed, Miyuki from Roxane Marie Galliez and Seng Soug Ratanavanh

Happy picture book reading and gazing!

Emma Perry is a picture book author represented by Bell Lomax Moreton. 
She is the founder of the children's book review site MyBookCorner and organiser of International Book Giving Day. 

Twitter: @_EmmaPerry

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