The Dream Peddler by Irena Kobald and Christopher Nielson

The Dream Peddler by Irena Kobald and Christopher Nielson

Once upon a time a boy was born.

He laughed. He kicked.

He grew.

He wondered, and had many dreams

A picture book inspired by a mother’s anguish over her son’s ice addiction, The Dream Peddler is a story designed to start a conversation with older readers that dreams sold to us falsely are not always as they seem.

Told in folktale format, we meet  boy who lives with his family. Time goes on and he grows up and leaves home with a heart full of dreams.

Until he meets the Dream Peddler who entices him to try a different dream which in turn leads to him to not only forget what his original dreams were but also to develop an addiction.

This story is simple yet deep. It can be read on so many levels. Young readers will grasp at the idea of chasing dreams and becoming addicted to something so much that we forget who we are. Older readers will start to see the connection to drugs and how life with them can be nothing but broken hopes and dreams.

Addiction to drugs is too real and too many young people use these drugs either daily or recreationally. Children need to know what the side effects of drugs are before they start to try them out. They need to know who is giving it to them and consider if they really need them.

This book does focus on the illegal drug ‘ice’ but with a growing world there are so many other ways we can become disjointed from our world and addicted to things that take our lives away.

The Dream Peddler is a great book to read to young people so that they can see how important family, friends and following your hopes and dreams are. One off highs and addictions only ruin lives and it is something we need to address more fiercely.

In the classroom

This book can be used within PD lessons on Drugs

Literacy

You can look at the style of folk tales and fables in this story – how a simple story can send us such a strong message without telling us what to do.  

Visual literacy

Look at how the following have been represented: Loss of direction in life, drugs, drug seller, anger, anguish, addiction, realisation

Buy here through Booktopia

Read more here: http://www.dirtlanepress.com/press

 

Testimonials – Jack and Jill Kindergarten, Berowra.

Testimonials - Jack and Jill Kindergarten, Berowra.

Thanks so much Vanessa for coming out and sharing your book “The Bee Detectives” with our children 3-5 years old. The experience allowed them to learn so much more about Bees. We have had our native Bees for several years and had beekeepers out before. Your book took an in-depth look into classification, different ways they live, how they collect pollen and make honey.  It created lots of meaningful conversation with the children; your interactive book reading allowed them to share these ideas with each other. The extended activity afterwards of the magnifiers provided by Vanessa was a great extension to the book. The children were so excited to be their very own Bee detectives and really extended their learning.

Vanessa Ryan-Rendall
2021-05-17T03:33:47+00:00

Testimonials - Jack and Jill Kindergarten, Berowra. Thanks so much Vanessa for coming out and sharing your book “The Bee Detectives” with our children 3-5 years old. The experience allowed them to learn so much more about Bees. We have had our native Bees for several years and had beekeepers out before. Your book took an in-depth look into classification, different ways they live, how they collect pollen and make honey.  It created lots of meaningful conversation with the children; your interactive book reading allowed them to share these ideas with each other. The extended activity afterwards of the magnifiers provided by Vanessa was a great extension to the book. The children were so excited to be their very own Bee detectives and really extended their learning.

Author Visit: Jack and Jill Kindergarten Berowra

Thanks so much Vanessa for coming out and sharing your book “The Bee Detectives” with our children 3-5 years old. The experience allowed them to learn so much more about Bees. We have had our native Bees for several years and had beekeepers out before. Your book took an in-depth look into classification, different ways they live, how they collect pollen and make honey.  It created lots of meaningful conversation with the children; your interactive book reading allowed them to share these ideas with each other. The extended activity afterwards of the magnifiers provided by Vanessa was a great extension to the book. The children were so excited to be their very own Bee detectives and really extended their learning. 

Teacher notes written by Vanessa
2021-04-21T02:54:08+00:00

Thanks so much Vanessa for coming out and sharing your book “The Bee Detectives” with our children 3-5 years old. The experience allowed them to learn so much more about Bees. We have had our native Bees for several years and had beekeepers out before. Your book took an in-depth look into classification, different ways they live, how they collect pollen and make honey.  It created lots of meaningful conversation with the children; your interactive book reading allowed them to share these ideas with each other. The extended activity afterwards of the magnifiers provided by Vanessa was a great extension to the book. The children were so excited to be their very own Bee detectives and really extended their learning. 


Georgie Donaghey

I was impressed with Vanessa’s professionalism in preparing the teacher notes for my picture book, In the Shadow of an Elephant. Her depth of knowledge on the multitude of topics covered was just incredible! She has compiled a 15-page document that will allow Educators and students an opportunity to explore conversations and discover different layers within the book.

Georgie Donaghey

Teacher notes written by Vanessa
2020-08-01T07:42:45+00:00

I was impressed with Vanessa’s professionalism in preparing the teacher notes for my picture book, In the Shadow of an Elephant. Her depth of knowledge on the multitude of topics covered was just incredible! She has compiled a 15-page document that will allow Educators and students an opportunity to explore conversations and discover different layers within the book. Georgie Donaghey