Dreambender

This surprisingly upbeat dystopian tale may remind many readers of Lois Lowry's The Giver, with which it shares several significant plot points. Thirteen-year-old Callie Crawford is a "computer," a mathematician living in the post-apocalyptic City, dedicated to avoiding the high-tech hubris that led to the Warming and the fall of civilization. Jeremy Finn is a "dreambender," a psychic dream therapist who enters the dreams of City residents and manipulates them, turning them away from thoughts or actions that might endanger the City's fragile ecological balance. When Jeremy is assigned to Callie's dreams and ordered to end her potentially disruptive love of music, he finds that he can't do it. Jeremy compounds his crime by directly contacting Callie, something that is strictly forbidden, and the two children soon wind up on the run. Alternating between Callie and Jeremy's first-person perspectives, Kidd (Night on Fire) tells an enjoyable story that features both appealing protagonists and well-presented ideas about the importance of creativity and following one's dreams. Ages 9%E2%80%9312. Agent: Alec Shane, Writers House. (Mar.)