Ryan, Pam Munoz, Sis, Peter ill. The Dreamer. New York: Scholastic Press, 2010. ISBN 9780439269704
excerpt from The Dreamer
..."He walked to a mound of smoking ash and kicked it with his boot. Underneath, glowing embers pulsed like a heart. ...there is always something burning beneath the surface. Sometimes it takes years to erupt. But, eventually it will. Nephew, they may have silenced La Manana, but they will never silence my pen..."
Review:
One might think that these two books are not very compatible. On the outside, they look completely different, but on closer inspection, they have similarities. The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan is a fictionalized account of poet Pablo Neruda's life. Neftali has a keen eye for nature and objects and is constantly "daydreaming". He sees words and books take flight and imagines riding a giant beetle in the rain forest. This whimsical side is at odds with his domineering father's beliefs. There are many references to flying, birds, freedom, hope, music, and the music of words. Joyful Noise & I Am Phoenix: Poems For Two Voices by Paul Fleischman are poems that celebrate nature and birds in a musical pattern for two voices. These poems match the joy and wonder that Neftali found in nature. Neftali's father saw no value in him or in writing poetry, so Neftali hid his wonderful writing journals. Neftali's uncle hires him at the local newspaper, which is destroyed by arsonists who were against the uncle's political beliefs. Instead of giving up in despair, he rises from the ashes even more passionate about his beliefs as shown in the excerpt from The Dreamer above. Later, Neftali's father finds his journals, and in a fit of rage, destroys them in a conflagration. He hopes this will kill all of Neftali's hope and joy in writing. But, like the Phoenix and his uncle, Neftali is reborn through those ashes. He is able to shake off the ashes of his restricted life and find the passion to be himself-the writer inside. I could not get the image of the phoenix rising from its ashes out of my mind as I read these books. A phoenix represents rebirth, rebuilding, renewal, etc., as the phoenix is reborn, so too was Neftali reborn into the poet Pablo Neruda.
Introduction:
Have students journal about themselves. Who are you? What are your best traits? What are your worst traits? What do you do well? If you could change anything about yourself or your life what would it be? Why?
As you read through the book with students, you can share various poems from Joyful Noise & I Am Phoenix: Poems For Two Voices that complement events and images from the book, The Dreamer. The students can read the poems as groups or as duets.
Poem: excerpt from Joyful Noise & I Am Phoenix: Poems For Two Voices
The Phoenix
...
at dawn,
just as the sun rises in the east
I rise I rise
from the ashes
and fly upward-
a
new new
Phoenix, ...
Extension:
Have students look up information on Chile, the Mapuche, Phoenix, Chilean birds, swans, etc. Have students write a poem about any of these topics and include an illustration.
or
Have students review their journal entry from the introduction activity. Who are you? What are your best traits? What are your worst traits? What do you do well? If you could change anything about yourself or your life what would it be? Why? Students can write a biopoem, acrostic poem, diamante, or other poem about themselves, how they could be reborn like a phoenix, etc.
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