Official Review: Three Dreams by Jeff Hopp

[Grouchiegirl119]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Three Dreams" by Jeff Hopp.]

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This is the review of the book Three Dreams by Jeff Hopp. There are three separate stories in this book: Where The Wild Things Rock, A Day At The Beach With Picasso, and The King Who Stole The Universe. All three are illustrated stories. Only the first one actually states that both the story and picture are by Jeff Hopp - the last two don't say that but it seems likely that they are, since all of the illustrations have some similarity in style. While they all fall together under the title of 3 Dreams, they are very much separate entities with no relationship whatsoever to each other except that perhaps they are each a tribute to an existing work or person. Perhaps this accounts for the title.

Where The Wild Things Rock is dedicated to Maurice Sendak and is a rewriting of his Caldecott Medal Winning book, Where The Wild Things Are, written in 1963. If you have not read the original, I recommend reading it before you look at this one. It is clever yet subtle reworking of the original. In it, Max has been renamed Alex. The setting is the same although he is wearing a cat suit instead of a wolf suit and he threatens to "rock his mother down" rather than "eat her up" yet he receives the same consequence of being sent to his room without supper. He rides a private limo to a faraway imaginary place and turns into Al-X. Instead of wild creatures, he meets up with rock stars and they have a jam session. The illustrations include 21 legendary rock stars ranging from Elvis Presley and Otis Redding to Janis Joplin. It ends much the same as the original. Rock 'n roll fans will enjoy reading this version to their children or grandchildren and pointing out each famous rocker. Hopp is a talented artist and does a good job of blending the original story with his retelling while keeping much of the scenery similar to the original. There are small touches such as Alex standing on a pile of LP records rather than books.

A Day At The Beach With Picasso is an illustrated poem inspired by a short story written by famous author Ray Bradbury entitled In A Season Of Calm Weather. The original story is about a couple who are vacationing in France during a time when Picasso is creating his greatest masterpieces. The man is enthralled with Picasso and has heard he is staying in a fishing village not far from them. He goes for a walk on the beach and ends up seeing Picasso drawing in the sand. Although the tide destroys his works at the end, the sights live on in the heart and mind of the man. The poem focuses on an artist who I assume is meant to be Picasso, creating drawings in the sand. What I love about the illustrations is that they are black and white except for the details that are elements of Picasso's actual artwork - those are in color. It is a very effective presentation. I really enjoyed this illustrated poem but I enjoyed it much more the second time I read it, after I had looked up and read some of Bradbury's original short story.

The third illustrated story is the King Who Stole The Universe. This story was inspired by Frank Marino who is not as well known as Maurice Sendak and Ray Bradbury. From my research I believe Frank Marino is a musician and one of his albums was titled Strange Universe. This was the only connection I could make. It is the story of a diabolical king who is also a sorcerer. He wears a mysterious crown that he has studded not with gems but with planets. One by one, he tricked the planets into selling him their sun for a promise of salvation and then each time, sent the sun away from the planet. The planets then froze and he mounted them in his crown. He thinks he has them all but in actuality overlooked one which leads to the climax of the story. I did not enjoy this story as much as the other two, perhaps because I didn't understand the original inspiration. But also, I didn't really understand the ending very well. This story for me was the weakest story of the three. The illustrations are very beautiful and detailed and you could spend much time just looking at all the details in them.

Overall, I think this book accomplished what it seemed to set out to do which was to give tribute to several original
works of art while at the same time creating a new piece of literature. You do not have to have knowledge of the prior works to enjoy these stories but it did add a key dimension to my understanding.

I give this book 3 out of 4 stars and recommend it to those enjoying illustrated stories and poems.

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[Kappy]

Excellent, thorough review. This sounds like a book suitable for readers of all ages.