A River Dream by Allen Say

In this book, a little boy receives a gift from his uncle and it sparks a memory of his first fly fishing experience. When the memory is described, it is so vivid that I was able to picture it in my mind. Mark is very sick and everything around him begins to change. He looks out the window and instead of his usual view of houses, he sees a river. Say does a wonderful job of sweeping the reader away in this dream that the little boy is having. This book is so fun because you know that the entire time the little boy is floating around the river, it is a dream because he is still in his pajamas. All of the text has a sense of laughter in it. The uncle says that it must have been magic that he was able to send him real flies in a box. It is hard to tell if he is serious or just joking. The uncle tells the boy that it is the magic hour and lets him try to catch a fish. Mark catches a fish that is so big, it looks unreal. I like that the boy makes his own decision not to kill the fish and is not told whether or not he should. This is really relatable to all children because it does not just talk about fish. It brings in a sense of magic with the references to mermaids and shows that fishing is not all about killing what you catch for food. It is funny in the end because the parents see what the uncle sent Mark and say that they are just fishing lures and not real flies. This shows a sense of imagination and creativity that children have.