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supervixen108's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.75
I read this book as a child in the 80’s and just rediscovered it. It’s still a great story! It was most certainly a turning point for me in the genre of books I would end up reading throughout my life.
emperorcupcake's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
5.0
Re-reading my favourite book from when I was 10 😍 And it totally held up!
I think this is the book that first formed my reading taste and made me the reader I am today. I can still feel the intense intrigue I felt when I first read this book in my school library. I remember all the steps of Paul and Francine's discovery - Stardust, Jaleela, Cookie. Such an original, page-turning mystery with great, eerie imagery that's stuck with me all these years. That's the word for this book, genuinely eerie, which is so impressive for a young middle grade. I think this is what started my love for the kids-investigating-stuff-at-the-library trope. I also liked the developing friendship between Paul and Francine (another trope I love - people forming a bond through a shared ordeal who never would have otherwise). Recommended for Stranger Things fans! It's a kid's book but it's such a fun, spooky paranormal mystery, I think it could appeal to all ages.
I think this is the book that first formed my reading taste and made me the reader I am today. I can still feel the intense intrigue I felt when I first read this book in my school library. I remember all the steps of Paul and Francine's discovery - Stardust, Jaleela, Cookie. Such an original, page-turning mystery with great, eerie imagery that's stuck with me all these years. That's the word for this book, genuinely eerie, which is so impressive for a young middle grade. I think this is what started my love for the kids-investigating-stuff-at-the-library trope. I also liked the developing friendship between Paul and Francine (another trope I love - people forming a bond through a shared ordeal who never would have otherwise). Recommended for Stranger Things fans! It's a kid's book but it's such a fun, spooky paranormal mystery, I think it could appeal to all ages.
apetruce's review
4.0
This is a really good, older book with telepathy and aliens and kids adventurers. Not sure why it's not more popular. I suppose the writing is a bit dry and the chapters a bit long, but for, say, 3rd-8th grade, it's a neat sci-fi intro.
rhodesee's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book when I first read it years ago. I would re read it every so often but I could never remember the title for some reason so I would search the young adult section at my local library and look at all the books with the sci fi genre sticker until I found it. I was hooked from the first chapter and probably read it in one or two sittings. I was drawn in by the protagonists quest and couldn't wait for them to discover the origins of their strange dreams. The resolution didn't disappoint and the impression the book left with me has continued to this day. Sometimes you just find the right book at the right time and this was one of those situations for me.
stiricide's review
1.0
I love William Sleator, but... no. This is bad. Bad. It's possible that it would be less bad if I were a child and couldn't actually see all the plot holes and ridiculous leaps this book makes, but that's a bummer too, because kids don't deserve poorly written books just because they're kids.
(I actually finished this a few weeks ago, so pardon my forgetting all the characters names.)
So Boy Protagonist has a recurring dream that gets worse - more vivid, more terrifying, more realistic - every night. He can't talk to anyone about it, BECAUSE WHO TRUSTS OR CARES ABOUT KIDS, AMIRITE? Instead, he sulks, withdraws, lets all of his schoolwork slip, and ditches his friends. And no one notices or really cares, because KID.
There's a girl he can't stand at his school, for no good reason. She's blonde and talks too much, or something? Guess what, BP - you've met Girl Protagonist! Suck it up, Buttercup.
BP and GP have been having the same dream, but instead of talking about the dream, they fight about who had the dream better. In fact, they spend most of their "collaboration" time being sullen and actively withholding information from the other, then getting upset when the other one withholds information. This is how kids communicate, I guess? Good thing they've figured out that the dream, and the circumstances leading up to the dream, have made them telepathic. Not particularly talented at it, but still. A little bit. Let's use this is a cover for our poor communication skills.
Eventually they venture to a library (this is pre-internet-days) to do some actual research on what little they know about their dream. The library is apparently straight out of Welcome to Night Vale, and the librarian is real angry that there are KIDS who want to KNOW THINGS and instead of offering to help in any way at all, she makes them feel bad for being there in the first place, and for not knowing how different parts of the library work/have changed since the last time they were there.
Wee pause for weird elevator chase scene.
There are some Men in Black, who BP and GP assume are government agents, but this is actually never confirmed. They're just shady dudes who are stalking them.
Anyway, BP and GP use their illicitly obtained library knowledge to track down the other people in their dream (good thing everyone lives in the same small town, right?), a woman whose sad grownup brain won't allow her to follow accept the extrasensory abilities they were all exposed to.
Oh, yeah, hi, did I forget to mention? It was aliens. Dunno what aliens, or why aliens, but aliens. And a big glowing orb that gave everyone near it mutant-y powers, and the younger you are when you're exposed to the orb, the better your powers are.
So the woman has a four year old kid, who is mute, but guess what? He's only mute because his telepathy is so good! Also, he's telekinetic. Also, he has a dog. Also, his dog is also telepathic. Also, his telepathic dog is the one who is sending this dream, and getting everyone together, and super overprotective, and, apparently, precognitive? Because the dog is sending BP and GP not only dreams of the past, but also dreams of the future. Because she loves her little boy so much. And is afraid of the Men in Black.
So there's a chase scene, and the weird nothing town that these people live in apparently has GREAT public transportation, and subways, and subways that drop you off right at the base of a poorly run year round amusement park that doesn't take tickets or check if their rides might be in need of repair, so the little boy learns how to harness his powers all at once at the top of a broken ferris wheel, which a local news station just hanging out at the year round amusement park happens to catch on film, and now everyone is safe and the dog is happy, because if EVERYONE knows about these three telepathic children and their dog, then no government can steal them and use them for sadtimes.
Or something.
So, that's a thousand or so words that should really just be "read House of Stairs instead."
(I actually finished this a few weeks ago, so pardon my forgetting all the characters names.)
So Boy Protagonist has a recurring dream that gets worse - more vivid, more terrifying, more realistic - every night. He can't talk to anyone about it, BECAUSE WHO TRUSTS OR CARES ABOUT KIDS, AMIRITE? Instead, he sulks, withdraws, lets all of his schoolwork slip, and ditches his friends. And no one notices or really cares, because KID.
There's a girl he can't stand at his school, for no good reason. She's blonde and talks too much, or something? Guess what, BP - you've met Girl Protagonist! Suck it up, Buttercup.
BP and GP have been having the same dream, but instead of talking about the dream, they fight about who had the dream better. In fact, they spend most of their "collaboration" time being sullen and actively withholding information from the other, then getting upset when the other one withholds information. This is how kids communicate, I guess? Good thing they've figured out that the dream, and the circumstances leading up to the dream, have made them telepathic. Not particularly talented at it, but still. A little bit. Let's use this is a cover for our poor communication skills.
Eventually they venture to a library (this is pre-internet-days) to do some actual research on what little they know about their dream. The library is apparently straight out of Welcome to Night Vale, and the librarian is real angry that there are KIDS who want to KNOW THINGS and instead of offering to help in any way at all, she makes them feel bad for being there in the first place, and for not knowing how different parts of the library work/have changed since the last time they were there.
Wee pause for weird elevator chase scene.
There are some Men in Black, who BP and GP assume are government agents, but this is actually never confirmed. They're just shady dudes who are stalking them.
Anyway, BP and GP use their illicitly obtained library knowledge to track down the other people in their dream (good thing everyone lives in the same small town, right?), a woman whose sad grownup brain won't allow her to follow accept the extrasensory abilities they were all exposed to.
Oh, yeah, hi, did I forget to mention? It was aliens. Dunno what aliens, or why aliens, but aliens. And a big glowing orb that gave everyone near it mutant-y powers, and the younger you are when you're exposed to the orb, the better your powers are.
So the woman has a four year old kid, who is mute, but guess what? He's only mute because his telepathy is so good! Also, he's telekinetic. Also, he has a dog. Also, his dog is also telepathic. Also, his telepathic dog is the one who is sending this dream, and getting everyone together, and super overprotective, and, apparently, precognitive? Because the dog is sending BP and GP not only dreams of the past, but also dreams of the future. Because she loves her little boy so much. And is afraid of the Men in Black.
So there's a chase scene, and the weird nothing town that these people live in apparently has GREAT public transportation, and subways, and subways that drop you off right at the base of a poorly run year round amusement park that doesn't take tickets or check if their rides might be in need of repair, so the little boy learns how to harness his powers all at once at the top of a broken ferris wheel, which a local news station just hanging out at the year round amusement park happens to catch on film, and now everyone is safe and the dog is happy, because if EVERYONE knows about these three telepathic children and their dog, then no government can steal them and use them for sadtimes.
Or something.
So, that's a thousand or so words that should really just be "read House of Stairs instead."
sam_pler's review
4.0
I have been trying to find this book for years despite only remembering fragments of the story. Clearly it made quite an impression when I was a child!
manwithanagenda's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Much like the dreams referenced in the title, the details of this book diminished in my memory until, seeing this review was up next, I had to wrack my brains to come up with anything at all.
In staid juvenile fiction tradition we have a union of opposites for our protagonists. Paul is an awkward nerdy kind of kid (I think) and Francine is a girl prone to giggling. Presumably popular. Paul has been having a troubling recurring dream where he and another must save a young boy. He soon realizes that the other figure is none other than Francine. Eventually the two confide in one another and set out on a mission to figure out who the boy is and how they can save him.
There are a few more wrinkles, involving bumbling secret service agents, a theme park and the trope that children can go anywhere and talk to anyone if its for a report. I was lucky enough to come across several of Sleator's books growing up and have reread some of them with good results, there wasn't much to go on here. I can't have forgotten that much.
In staid juvenile fiction tradition we have a union of opposites for our protagonists. Paul is an awkward nerdy kind of kid (I think) and Francine is a girl prone to giggling. Presumably popular. Paul has been having a troubling recurring dream where he and another must save a young boy. He soon realizes that the other figure is none other than Francine. Eventually the two confide in one another and set out on a mission to figure out who the boy is and how they can save him.
There are a few more wrinkles, involving bumbling secret service agents, a theme park and the trope that children can go anywhere and talk to anyone if its for a report. I was lucky enough to come across several of Sleator's books growing up and have reread some of them with good results, there wasn't much to go on here. I can't have forgotten that much.
library_brandy's review
3.0
I binged on William Sleator's books as a kid, and I honestly don't remember if I ever read this one. For a book involving UFOs, ESP, and a telekinetic kid, it's kind of forgettable and generic. I want to believe (!) that I'd have loved this as a kid, when these ideas were fresher, but it's just familiar enough to make me think I read it once and never bothered again.
pogue's review against another edition
3.0
It was better when I was a kid, but it go me back into reading today. Sometimes revisiting a book that you loved can do that. So thank you for that.
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