Pierre's Dream

Pierre's Dream
Jennifer Armstrong
Dial, 1999
Pages: 32
Reading Level: 4-8
Genre: Picture Book

Pierre is a lazy man who doesn't do much. One day while is is sleeping under a tree, a circus comes and sets up around him. When Pierre wakes up, he thinks it must all be a dream. A lion gets out, and Pierre, who thinks he can't be hurt because it is all a dream, commands the lion back into the cage, and the lion obeys. Then he walked on the tightrope and did some tricks. The circus people asked him if he could swallow swords and juggle fire and lie down beneath the elefants foot, and Pierre said he could because he thought he was dreaming still. So the circus people made him ringmaster. During the first show he brought out the ponies and made them run fast, and then he jumped on one's back and stood up. Then he hung from the trapeze while juggling hoops lit on fire, and many other things. He was tired, because he had never had a dream that seemed so real or lasted so long. He sat down under a tree and fell asleep. When he awoke he thought of the wonderful dream he had had. He bumped a parasol, and noticed that it had a note on it which said, "Au Revior, Pierre." He laughed and realized that it wasn't a dream.

I would recomend this book to children who are about 6 or 7, because then they are old enough to realize that what Pierre did was dangerous, and young enough to find the fact the he thought he was dreaming it all very funny.

Problems: I would be afriad that children might think that if Pierre can do it that they can too. They might try dangerous stunts

My reaction: This book is creative, and I loved it. The pictures are great and add to the story a lot.

My rating: ***