March 2017, Orion Children's Books, 208 Pages,
Paperback, Personal copy,
Book summary
Pink-haired Finch Field has always felt different. She dreams of flying -
not in a plane, but swimming through the sky like a bird. Her
classmates laugh, and call her Dream Bird. But when Finch goes to stay
with her beloved Granny Field for the summer, she finds herself
face-to-face with a monster intent on stealing people's dreams. Finch
must find a way to believe her own dreams can come true if she is to
save the dreams of everyone in Sunview on Sea.
Nayu's thoughts
I won this on a Twitter competition Maudie held. I was
not thinking straight because somehow I thought it was a picture book
and was super excited to see more pictures of Finch with pink hair.
When I got it I smiled at my mistake - I love middle grade books so
didn't mind it was for an older audience.
I loved how idyllic Finch's
grandmother's town is, how happy everyone is until the mysterious
cloud appears. I liked that Finch's parents were archaeologists,
and they named her after a bird. Through her at times perilous
adventure Finch identifies what she wants to change about herself,
which is important as we all have something to work on. She is a
sweet, generous child, understandably wary of the strange boy who
possibly mocks her like her classmates do. She likes hearing people's
dreams, which is why it’s sad when they are dream-napped. I feel
that how the people react to that depicts both depression and
dementia, whether or not this was consciously intended to be
interpreted that way.
The only reason I can't give this full marks is
a personal one: I'm scared of both the cloud monster and another
character. I get freaked out easy by weird and wonderful things, and
the latter had me skipping paragraphs to avoid then. The problem with
having a highly active imagination is that once imagined I can't
unsee weird & wonderful characters. Although just realised saying
wonderful doesn't make sense, since they aren't wonderful to me, but
it's simply the phrase that entered my head.
I will always remember
Finch's story, but because I dislike some characters I won't be
rereading it, despite loving Finch and her granny to bits. It will
find a home in a local primary school instead!
Find out more on Maudie's website.
Suggested read
Another magical read which is a bit less scary is How To Catch A Witch by Abie Longstaff
(Children's, 9 years +, 10E/10E, short 'n' sweet review)
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