Grandmother’s Dreamcatcher
by Becky Ray McCain
Albert Whitman and Company, 1998
ISBN 978-0-8075-3032-0
$6.99, 32pp, ages 6-9
awhitmanco.com
Kimmy is a young Chippewa girl who is bothered by bad dreams. While her parents are looking for a home closer to her father’s new job, Kimmy goes to stay with her grandmother. On the first day of her visit Kimmy’s grandmother shows her a dreamcatcher. They go for a walk down to the lake to collect the things that they will need to make one. As they sit at the kitchen table, assembling the dreamcatcher, grandmother tells Kimmy the legend of the dreamcatcher and talks about the power that it has.
Classroom Connections: This beautifully illustrated picture book tells a gentle story that is full of empathy and love between the members of Kimmy’s family. Young students will recognize the feelings generated around bad dreams, moving and being separated from parents. This book would lend itself well to practising reading comprehension strategies such as making predictions and connections. Illustrated directions for making a dreamcatcher are given at the end of the book.
Review by Brenda Boreham.
This review is from Canadian Teacher Magazine’s May/June 2013 issue.
