Kids' Corner
Dreams of Hope: A Bedtime Lullaby
A Book Review by MEETA KAUR
With the cooler winter days ushering in early evenings, our children and I look forward to curling up in our warm blankets for bedtime books.
There have been a few select books that help the children wind down from their long days of school and play and ease into a peaceful night of deep rest.
Dreams of Hope: A Bedtime Lullaby, written by Navjor Kaur and illustrated by Gurleen Rai is one of these books. It is a quiet, beautiful book that reads like a lyrical meditation.
Dreams of Hope escorts us to the threshold where we put our real-world days to rest and take flight in our dreams. Author Navjot Kaur conjures up a magical serenity that lulls readers and listeners into a dreamscape in several ways.
By narrating the dream journey from the point of view of the parent or caregiver addressing the listener or child as 'Little One', she taps into the natural intimacy that exists between adult and child, creating an emotionally safe place to let go of the day and just be. She also draws upon delicate language to deliver simple and moving messages to the listener that indirectly encourages an intuitive trust in our inner worlds, our imaginations, and our dreams.
Dreams of Hope sings to the listener through Punjabi words that are staples in childhood. Sitaaray and Lohreeyan to name but a couple.
The hushed text fits seamlessly with the beautiful illustrations. As a parent, I was secretly thrilled to have such a visually stunning book in my children’s collection.
Gurleen visually captures a purity and compassion in the main characters and global creatures that unfurl across the pages. She also creates an aura of fantasy and dreams that envelops the reader and listener by using a palette of earth-inspired colors to depict the natural world.
The narration and the illustrations leave both story-teller and listener with a lingering sense of all that is good in the world, all that is possible.
Dreams of Hope is exquisite and serves as a green light for Navjot Kaur and Gurleen Rai to go deeper and wider with their work. I’d like to see this author and illustrator team sustain a longer narrative for beginner readers, perhaps even start a series that develops characters through several books.
They are both able and willing, and I eagerly look forward to what comes next.
January 17, 2012
Conversation about this article
1: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), January 17, 2012, 2:07 PM.
What an emotive piece! The illustrations especially! The top one should be shown to all Dads, especially the ones never there for their children. It is so sweet and touching.
2: Preeti Kaur (San Jose, California, U.S.A.), January 20, 2012, 2:47 AM.
What a lovely addition to the shelves of our children. Beautiful!
3: Preeti Kaur (San Jose, California, U.S.A.), January 20, 2012, 2:47 AM.
Where can we purchase this book?
4: Meeta Kaur (Union City, California, U.S.A.), January 22, 2012, 9:36 PM.
Preeti - Go to Saffron Press.
5: Navjot Kaur (Canada), January 23, 2012, 1:10 PM.
Thank you for your kind words about "Dreams of Hope"! The book can be purchased through http://www.saffronpress.com/books. You can also view a promotional trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGZGDdpxS_c - I truly appreciate the support.
6: Danielle (Decatur, Georgia, U.S.A.), April 12, 2012, 9:48 AM.
My husband is Sikh and I am thrilled to find another children's book showing a father who wears a turban. We have "A Lion's Mane" already. Since we are pregnant and have a 21-month old, we'd love to see some board books for the baby and toddler age group. Unfortunately none of the dads in the board books we are currently reading look like my husband (no beards or turbans, let alone both) and we've searched. We will be buying this lovely book ASAP.