La Carta de la Senora Gonzalez

Gr 2-5-Reminiscent in some ways of Chris Van Allsburg's work, this is the story of a dream. The Senora is disturbed and almost unable to sleep, thinking and dreaming about the smell of cherries that rises from the smoke of her neighbor Senor Lairla's pipe. She drafts and redrafts a letter to him, until it is perfect, and then posts it first thing the next morning. Back home, she falls asleep and begins to dream. In the succeeding pages, the story line follows a fluid and imagistic progression, in which each two-page spread features a different setting as the dream develops. First, the postman, smelling of cherries, retrieves the letter from the postal box; then the road the postman walks down before dropping into an enormous pit, ""as deep and dark as the yawn of an enormous fish""; then an enormous fish resting at the bottom of a great river and so on. The color illustrations, watercolors and sharp outlines, are both detailed and not quite lifelike, as befits dreams becoming reality. Conceptually advanced, this story will most please readers who like to think, who appreciate wordplay made real, and who are ready to follow fantasy wherever it may lead. It could also serve as an excellent introduction to creative writing and ""thinking outside the box."" Coop Renner, Paul C. Moreno Elementary, El Paso, TX