Gossamer: Check!

I have finished reading one of the books from my reading list, Gossamer by Lois Lowry. Read it in one sitting, three hours straight. Here are my thoughts:

What's it about?

A young dream-giver-in-training learns both the art and the importance of her job when the elderly woman she is assigned to takes in an angry foster child who desperately needs love and good dreams.

This book is written in multiple short, compelling chapters that would appeal to young (and even not-so-young) readers. I would recommend it to my future students, from fourth to sixth grades.

"I didn't know we had shadows!"
"Of course we do. All creatures have shadows. They are a phenomenon created by light."

What's the author's style?

Gossamer is written by Lois Lowry and has no illustrations. In it, Lowry intentionally withholds key information from the reader, some to be revealed later in the story and some not to be revealed at all. The nature of the dream-givers, for example, she never discloses. What they look like, how big they are, what they are made of – it is as much a mystery to the reader as to the unknowing humans in the story.

Lowry also makes use of such literary devices as consonance–“in the darkened bedroom, during a dream” (32); alliteration—“thin cloud slid” (1); and dialogue, the latter often used to develop characters instead of lengthy descriptions.

Who is Lois Lowry?

Lowry is a two-time winner of the Newberry Medal, for her novels Number the Stars and The Giver. A consistent and intentional theme throughout her books is that, as humans, we need to love and care for one another, because our lives are connected to and dependent on each other.

For more on Lois Lowry, visit her website: http://www.loislowry.com

Other books I would recommend: