After his sister’s death, Liam’s world turns gray.
He spends hours staring at the clouds in the winter sky, hoping Cassie is up there somewhere.
The night before her birthday, Cassie returns home in a wondrous flying boat and drops anchor in the silver eucalyptus tree in their garden. She invites Liam to climb aboard and the two children go sailing through the milky way.
But there are plenty of lessons Liam will have to learn before they find their way home.
The ship of dreamsis a beautiful picture book, enchantingly and heartwarmingly telling the painful story of a young child learning to regain control of his life after the death of a loved one.
This book was supported by a grant from the Council of Australia.
iBookstore version is epub version, while IP Sales version is PDF version.
Other Translations:
English English ( The Sky Dreamer )
French-English French-English ( The Sky Dreamer / Le bateau de rêves )
German Deutsch ( Das Boot der Träume )
Information for our ebook customers:
Our still image books are layout files. These work for iPad, iPhone and Android. They don’t work for the Kindle. If you are using a Kindle or PC, you must purchase the PDF version.
IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)
“In a very sensitive and gentle way, this book invites the reader to discover the journey of a child facing the pain after the death of a brother.
On the night before Liam’s birthday he experiences a dreamy connection with his sister, Cassie as she arrives in his boat, the Sky Dreamer, floating just outside his window above the silver ghost gum. Cassie welcomes her brother on board and they set sail on many adventures while Cassie sews her brother a birthday present.
As they travel through the skies, Cassie encourages Liam to learn how to navigate the sky dreamer on his own through the many dangers of thunder, lightning, meteorites, distant planets and comets of the past. Gradually he gains the confidence to lead on his own and all the time his sister is sewing his birthday present. When the day dawns, Liam leaves the dreamer of heaven with his special birthday present, which will brighten his life.
Liam’s journey with Cassie in The Boat of Dreams is a lovely analogy of a child’s journey through the gray times of the very pain of learning as you go along to live without a sibling and once again experiencing the sunny, happy times. . the dreamlike and changing colors of the beautiful illustrations reflect the emotions that Liam experiences as he learns to pilot the dreamer from the sky. His world stark, gray with grief is reflected in the gray tones of the background as he watches the cloud formations in the sky. This contrasts with the changing colors in the illustrations throughout the story, ending with the sunny colors of the last illustration.
This beautiful book gently explores the process of loss and healing and would be very heartwarming to share with a child going through this process.
– Margaret Warner, Buzz Words
IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)
“It is coincidental and at the right time that the French version was published of Anne Morgan’s book, Le Bateau de Rêves . I enjoyed reading Anne’s wonderful picture book all over again, this time in a different language. ”
– Penny Garnsworthy, The Australian Council of Children’s Books Tasmania Blog