Many of you are probably most familiar with Emily Winfield Martin's book The Wonderful Things You Will Be. A best seller and a fantastic book. She has a number of other books which brings me to Dream Animals: A Bedtime Journey which I am very fond of. From the very first page Martin creates a magical world for children with her illustration of the night sky covered in an array of stars and animal constellations darting across the page. This is a story about getting to one's dreams, about wonder, and about the beauty of the imagination. Through rhyme, the book's text is reminiscent of a lullaby as Martin opens with "There are animals from long ago and twice as far away. Their maps are made of starlight and can't be seen by day. These creatures are the reason Dreamers get where dreamers go. Dreamland is too far to run and sleepy feet too slow." The book goes on to imagine the possibilities that await children who travel on furred, or finned, or feathered friends to Dreamland. "Perhaps a bear will carry you to meet peculiar friends." "Or will a narwhal dive with you beneath the seven seas?" (Illustration below.)
Throughout the book (as you can see from the illustration above) Martin shows the child dreaming with (or next to) the particular creature that will take him or her to Dreamland. In this case the girl is shown snuggled close to a Narwhal. In other instances you see a teddy bear, a fox, a mobile of birds, a tiger, and a moth nightlight.
A beautiful example of a story that will always spark the imagination of a child both with its text and especially its illustrations, Dream Animals: A Bedtime Journey is already on our list of favorites.
Other Board Books By Emily Winfield Martin: