Dream Hop (Written by Julia Durango; Illustrated by Jared Lee)

Reviewed by Margo Dill, www.margodill.com, margodll@aol.com

Picture book for pre K-2nd grade
Young boy as main character
Rating: Great rhyme; cute and useful concept for young children

Short, short summary In Dream Hop, nightmares plague a young boy. But he quickly learns how to get away from his bad dreams. He just yells, “Dream hop!” Soon, he is in a new, pleasant dream, but something always seems to go wrong for this poor fellow. At the end of the story, he thinks he is safe in his bed at home, but Jared Lee puts a little surprise in the illustrations for the readers.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. Any child who is troubled by bad dreams should enjoy this book. Children can draw their own illustrations for a Dream Hop book. Take a piece of paper, and fold it in half. On one side of the paper, students draw themselves in a bad dream and yelling, “Dream Hop!” On the other side of the paper, students draw themselves hopping into a good dream. For students in first or second grade, they could write poems or sentences to go with their pictures.

2. This is also a great book to use for rhyming words. As a class activity, students can pick out the pairs of rhyming words from the story, and you can write them on the chalkboard or a piece of chart paper. In pairs or small groups, students can work together to find more words that rhyme with the pair of words from Dream Hop. Parents can also do this activity with their children at home. You can use a notebook to record the rhyming words from the book. Together as a family, you can challenge each other to come up with more rhyming words to add to the list.

3. There is more than one meaning to the word dream. Not only is a dream something that occurs at night, but people can also have dreams for their lives. Many of your students have probably heard about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech, “I have a dream.” You can discuss with your students or children about what dreams they may have for their future. Do they have more than one dream? Will they “hop” from dream to dream? Students can write an entry in their journals about their dreams for the future and draw a picture of themselves in this “good” dream.

If you have used this book with your classroom or in your home, please leave a comment here and share how you used it.

If you have a book suggestion for me to review on this site, please email me at margodll@aol.com, or leave your suggestion as a comment.