Gossamer by Lois Lowry

"Are we a kind of dog?" Littlest One asked suddenly.

"Shhh."

They crept through the bedroom, out into the dark hall.

"May I talk now?"

"Oh, all right. Very quietly, though."

"I asked if we are a kind of dog."

Littlest One, whose name was sometimes shortened affectionately to simply Littlest, was working on this night with Fastidious, the one who had been designated her teacher. Littlest was very small, new to the work, energetic and curious. Fastidious was tired, impatient and had a headache. She sniffed in exasperation.

"Whatever makes you ask such a thing? The other learners never ask questions like that."

"That's because they don't take the time to think about things. I'm a thinker. Right now, I'm thinking about whether I am a kind of dog."

Lowry is possibly one of the most prolific children's authors of the 20th and 21st century with a varied collection of titles (approximately 30 books have been published since her first in 1977 and she continues to write for children and adults today although she is in her 70's). One of her more recent entries, Gossamer is written in a vein similar to The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Messenger, her linked novels about an un-named dystopian world (which could easily be a future Earth similar to the one described in Z for Zacharia or Orson Scott Card's Ender series). Gossamer is not an addition to the dystopian cannon, although it is similar in tone; what I would call one of her 'serious' novels.


The central characters of Gossamer are not human, although they have many human characteristics (including shadows) and are an un-seen part of the human world, serving a very interesting function; the giving of dreams. Through the eyes and work of these dream givers, we meet and learn about the three human characters in the story called simple 'the woman', 'the boy' and 'the young woman'. We also discover Toby, the dog, who belongs to 'the woman' and through her caring for him, "the boy."

The human story is a difficult one, revealed in bits and pieces through the night-time visits of Littlest, Fastidious and Strapping, the dream-giver assigned to 'the young woman'. Each night, the dream-givers creep through their assigned home, bestowing dreams made of the 'fragments' they collect from objects in the house. Their nightly work is to remind and soothe, they are gentle creatures and their bestowals are the kind of dreams associated with our happiest memories. The Heap, as their family of dream-givers is called, exists under strict guidelines, works and moves about only at night and sleeps during the daylight hours. Their leader is 'Most Ancient' and they are named for their most obvious character trait or place in the community upon the end of their training. Through their visits, we learn also of the 'Sinisteeds', the dream-givers which have become 'turned' and give, instead of pleasant dreams, the stuff of nightmares. They are in every way the anti-thesis of the Heap, traveling in angry groups called "Hordes" and thundering about, rather than the soft traveling the 'Heap' call 'flutters'.

The physical beings of the dream-givers serves as a metaphor for their growth and learning. Littlest begins as a wisp, transparent and barely visible and ends the story having become 'transluscent', not completely solid as the other members of the Heap are, but on her way to it, filled in. When, ever curious, she asks with what she is filled, Most Ancient tells her, with "Everything that [she is] a part of. [Her] own story fills [her]" Her growth throughout the story parallels the growth of the boy "John" as he moves from petulant, combative behavior to realization of the love he feels from (and eventually returns to) the woman, the dog, Toby and finally, the 'young woman', who we learn is his mother, as they are allowed to begin the reunite with as the story draws to a close.

10 Stars

This review is also posted on Mrs. Boman's Book Banter