Benjamin Alire Saenz, illustrated by Esau Andrade Valencia,
A Perfect Season for Dreaming/Un tiempo perfecto para soñar
Cinco Puntos Press, 2008.

Ages 4 +

Octavio Rivera is 78 years old as the summer arrives, and he has the feeling that he is about to have the most fantastic dreams of his life. Sure enough, on the first cloudless afternoon of this perfect season for dreaming, he dreams “a Spanish guitar falling out of a piñata…and whispering songs of love to a sky filled with perfect stars.”

With each afternoon siesta Octavio dreams of something more brilliant than the day before. After four days of this, he has an urge to tell someone about his dreams -  but who?  His son and daughter-in-law would think he “is finally going crazy.”  His brother would think he was a “foolish old man.”  His best friend Joe would tell him he had indigestion and to stop eating all the foods he loves.  Who can he trust to understand him?

Finally Octavio Rivera thinks of his young granddaughter Regina, who is six years old and tells him all her secrets. Octavio takes Regina to the park and tells her about the dreams that “are like good friends who visit and console you when you’re lonely.” Once he has finished she rightly exclaims, “Oh, oh, oh!  You are the most beautiful dreamer in the world, Tata Tabo!”  And so this happy pair celebrates not only the magic of dreaming but also the special bond that exists not in spite of but because of the many years that separate their ages.

Throughout the book the magical power of dreaming is celebrated by the fabulous surreal illustrations that bring Octavio’s fantastic visions to life on the page in a way that words alone never could.  Mexican illustrator Esau Andrade Valencia names Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo as two of his strongest influences, but these paintings also evoke a famous artist from another country: Rene Magritte. In fact, upon first seeing Andrade Valencia’s work, author Benjamin Alire Saenz described it as “like a surrealism for kids.”  And purchased the final plate, The 900 Hummingbirds, for his own collection.

Both children and adults will either drift off to sleep or spend happy afternoons daydreaming as they ponder the rich and varied world of dreams created by the artists in this delightful story and the perfect beauty of a friendship that spans generations.

Abigail Sawyer
January 2009