Review: Dylan's wonderful visitors help his fears vanish
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 2, 2014
Israeli author Anat Umansky has written another of her unique and charming stories for children (she has written over a 100 books in Hebrew) and here she is aided by the fine illustrations by Helena Lis. According to her bio, `Anat loves to teach kids basic skills, through stories. She believes that a good story is the best way to communicate with children.'Dylan is a small boy who has scary thoughts, a fact he keeps a secret from his parents and even his baby sister. One night a white cloud appears in his room and on board the friendly cloud are two sleeping passengers - Michael the angel, and Fay the fairy. The cloud instructed the surprised and happy Dylan to wake up the sleeping Fay and Michael. Once awake Fay and Michael asked Dylan to share his secrets. As Dylan reveals his fears strange goblins, witches and monsters will come into his room at night and Fay and Michael tell him the scary things come from his thoughts: if he can do away with his scary thoughts he will have no fears. The bad creatures appear and a few adventures and attempts at kidnapping the fairy and the angel and Dylan finally realizes his problem, his secret: if he has no bad thoughts then there is nothing to fear. Off the cloud and the fairy and the angel go, their mission completed, and Dylan can now sleep dreaming of riding a fairy train to the land of angels and Candyland instead of goblins, witches and monsters.The illustrations enhance this charmer of a story and children will not only enjoy the wild adventure, but they will also learn how to conquer their fears of the dark - and the bad things that can hide there. This is a very empowering book for children of all ages. Grady Harp, February 14