Children's books often feature absent parents, but how many revolve around a search for a parent?
Blue Balliett (Chasing Vermeer) introduces the Pearls ("The father is pale, the mother dark, the kids cocoa and cinnamon. Eyes in this family are green, amber, and smoky topaz"). The happy young Chicago family saves for a house, but everything changes quickly when Dash, the family's father, disappears. Within days, the Pearls go from hopeful to homeless, and 11-year-old Early embarks on solving the mystery.
There is more going on than heartbreak and intrigue, however. As indicated from the title (drawn from Langston Hughes's "Dreams"), Balliett places poetry and rhythm at the center of the novel. Early's family is obsessed with words in all forms; and definitions and poetry form the backbone of the story. Like The Phantom Tollbooth, the book guides young readers to appreciating words without being didactic, by simply pointing out the small joys and pleasures of understanding language.
Readers will be excited to root for Early, and likely astonished by the reality of life in shelters and sudden poverty. Under the mystery and the wordplay there is a clear message about the human cost of inequality in the United States, and it is because of the strength of the story and character-building that this message can be well-received by readers, rather than ignored. --Stephanie Anderson, head of readers' advisory at Darien Library and blogger