By: Lois Lowry Publisher: Yearling Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Yearling Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 176 Publication Date: January 08, 2008 Reading Level: Ages 9-12 Release Date: January 08, 2008
Product Description: Littlest One is a tiny creature slowly learning her job of giving dreams to humans. Each night she and her teacher, Thin Elderly, visit an old woman’s home where she softly touches beloved objects, gathering happy memories, and drops of old scents and sounds. Littlest One pieces these bits together and presents them to her sleeping human in the form of pleasant dreams. But the dreaded Sinisteeds, dark fearsome creatures that plague their victims with nightmares, are always at work against the dreamgivers. When the old woman takes in John, an angry foster child with a troubled past, the Sinisteeds go after him with their horrifying nightmares. Can Littlest One, and her touch light as gossamer, protect John’s heart and soul from the nightmare of his dark past?
Inspiring! Gossamer contains both a delightful story about learning to use one's gifts to ease human suffering and a rich metaphor of the workings of the human psyche. Mysterious creatures of the night, more like angels than faeries, flutter and flicker through the objects of our lives finding fragments from which to form dreams to bestow on us. In this gentle story, a young apprentice dream-giver discovers how to use her gossamer touch to find the right fragments to give healing dreams to an abused and angry eight-year-old boy. Lowry has deftly interwoven the story of the young boy and his elderly foster mother with the story of the young dream-giver and her elderly mentor. While kids will identify with the struggles of the youngsters, grown-ups who work with kids will find inspiration in the work of the dream-givers. "We do such important work," says Thin Elderly. "Sometimes we forget that." Thanks, Ms. Lowry, for a wonderful story that will entertain, enlighten and give new strength to readers of all ages. Janet Gingold author of Danger, Long Division
Great Book This book pulled me in; I couldn't help but keep turning the pages til I reached the end.
Gossamer This was an entertaining story. It portrays these creatures that give dreams and their struggles to help people through their dreams and to help them fight off creatures that bring nightmares. It also tells the story of an 8 year old boy abused by his father who also abused her mother and has now gone off to live with an elderly lady. It was a very short book. Very easy to read and pretty interesting. It starts out a little slow for the 1st couple of chapters before you figure out what's going on. Then it's very interesting.
Kid Review Gossamer was one of the best books that I have ever read! The best part about it was Littlest, the main character in the story. She was entergetic and "happy" from the beginning. Even so, that it also what makes this book not one of my most favorite books. I don't think that the main character changed very much in the book, and she stayed the same. It would be a better book if Littlest changed even a little bit in the book. She was not so dull, but not really that exciting in the book, because of that reason only. If it hadn't been for that reason, I think that Gossamer would be one of my most favorite books of all time.
Fifth grade readers This is a story by Lois Lowry about three different people living, changing, and their dreams. They experience relationships, hardships, and find ways to understand themselves and do better. In the beginning, they all are facing difficult problems without seeing any solution. In the middle everyone started to help each other and understand the other person's feelings and situation. The power of dreams, through Dream givers and Sinisteeds, start to affect the people. In the end, after much struggle, they all find ways to begin to solve their problems. Gossamer was a fantastic book for a fifth grade class. This book makes you continue to think a lot, even when you are not reading it. It is well written and lets you understand and feel the emotion of each character. Great descriptions help you visualize the detail. Our discussions were filled with emotions and understanding our own selves. It made you think about your problems and how to solve them more easily. We realized that we get much hope from the power of our dreams and our minds. You cannot put down the book until you are finished. People who are into fantasy, realistic fiction, and basically people in the real world, can have the same feelings. The book that Lois Lowry wrote is heartwarming and everyone will love it.