My review
5 plus plus
Daydreamer is a slow-burn urban fantasy (middle grade) with creativity on the spectrum that surprised me and enthralled me. I started reading a few pages and set aside every other task to let myself be part of this journey. My favorite chapter was with Arturo. Fantastic mix of diversity, fantasy elements, and lore from different cultures in an amazing metaphor. How he deals with the roughness of life in a city like New York (or another big metropolis) where children are rarely children. They are taught by the violence and cruelty of the world to grow up fast.
The very emotional ending is beautiful. The book is perhaps too long and complex for a reluctant reader or fantasy beginner. Still, this is the kind of book that will make them bookworms.
This middle grade took it further than the usual bullying/school novels, giving us the violence of the streets, at home, the hardships of a single mother raising a son, gangs, cynical adults, violent ones too, bullying, crime, magic realism, community, the school system being blind to students' realities and problems, social problems, the very few who care and do something about it, corruption within the police, immigration, gun violence, inheritance, creativity as a safe space...
There's just so much to explore. It's very rich, and we can see the work that went into creating this novel.
Book Info:
Daydreamer by Rob Cameron
Genre: Middle Grade
Publishing Date: August 6, 2024
@tbrbeyondtours & @dragon_of_brooklyn
Synopsis:
An eleven-year-old boy copes with the challenges of his city life by weaving his reality into a magical realm of dragons, foxes, and trolls—until he must use the power of his creativity to save both of his worlds from destructive forces. This stunning debut is a profound exploration of imagination, community, and how the stories we tell both comfort us and challenge us to grow.Charles’ life is split between two worlds: one real and one fantasy. In the real world, he is a lonely, bullied kid who can’t keep up with school when the letters refuse to stay still on the page, and is constantly in trouble for getting distracted. He lives with his mom in an apartment building, where Glory, the grumpy old superintendent, fills his head with stories about the Dream Folk.In his fantasy world, the Sanctuary, Charles adventures with faeries and sprites and his two imaginary best friends. There, Charles’s bullies become ogres, and Glory opens his arms wide to transform into a dragon. But when trolls move into Charles’ apartment building and bring with them a terrible secret, the stories he has been told and the ones he brings to life grow more complicated. To protect everyone he cares about, Charles must harness his imagination in ways he never dreamed, in this unique story of the spaces and narratives we create for ourselves, and the ways in which fantasy and reality collide and blur.
Book Links:
About the Author:
Cameron Roberson, who writes under the pen name Rob Cameron, is a teacher, linguist, and writer. He has poetry, stories, and essays, in Star*Line, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Foreign Policy Magazine, Tor.com, New Modality, Solarpunk Magazine, Clockwork Phoenix Five, and others.Daydreamer is his debut middle grade novel.Rob is also lead organizer for the Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers and executive producer of Kaleidocast.nyc.
Author Links:
Website: http://www.rob-cameron.com/the-box
Twitter: https://x.com/cprwords
Tour Schedule:
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