Marianne Dreams

Where was this book when I was 9 or 10? Man, I would have adored it and read it over and over and over. Marianne is bedridden with what sound like mononucleosis to the modern ear, and she finds herself whiling away the long hours drawing with a magic pencil and visiting her drawings in her dreams. There's a boy with polio involved, and several missteps and a nearly perfect ending. This one was delicious. Thanks, Constance!

A quite unusual book. The author's voice was pleasantly neutral, and so little happened that I trouble gauging the period--there were a few moments where I was startled to realise it must have been a much older book than I'd guessed from the tone. It's both gentle, and disturbingly creepy.

What I appreciate most is that in a "dream" book, the dreams often feel of no consequence since one knows they aren't real (setting aside the fact that Alice in Wonderland is generally thought to consist of 99% dream, and is engrossing as heck). In this story, though the author keeps her cards close to her chest, it's very easy to intepret this as the dreams being real and having consequences.

Don't look for explanations, there are none, and none are show more needed. It's like the best Doctor Who episodes, but before the Doctor starts crowing about how smart he is and how he's figured it out, and unravels the mystery—it's like the unsettling bits beforehand, where you wonder "what on earth's going on?"

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). show less

An interesting concept and cute story, I probably would have been more into the story and the magic of what was happening if I were younger at the time of first reading. As it is, I felt the book to be fairly mild in terms of plot events, for the most part, and perhaps a little dated though that's not the fault of the book. I found myself wondering what sort of illness Marianne had that required her to be in bed for some weeks without anything obvious going on, unless it was how things were done at the time. I can very much relate to the woes of a child being stuck in a bed. I feel this is a book that's more about imagination and ideas over action, though there is activity and spookiness involved.

Wonderful central character and great concept. I love the relationship between Marianne and Mark and how they talk to each other. Opressive atmosphere created perfectly in the house and a nice feel for the 'real world' as well. I was a bit put out by the ending; something about it just didn't sit right for me. Overall, good feel for 'old-fashioned' story-telling but I do feel the overall story could have been developed a little more.

Such a great childrens book! This originally belonged to one of my aunts, and I've read it many times. It was originally published in 1958, so it is charmingly dated in some ways, particularly the language used.
The central idea of a convalescent child dreaming of a completely seperate world that she can alter through drawings is equally captivating for a child or an adult. I particularly like the realistic charactarisation of the children, who are both nice kids but do sometimes behave badly.

There is a terrible film version, which tries to turn it into an adult horror movie. I was very disppointed, and would recommend sticking to the book.

An old favourite. As a child, I spent hours drawing with different pencils in the hope that I would find THE one. I always tried never to make the mistakes Marianne did. I think it is time to read it again.

Perhaps my favourite classic children's novel, where a girl's drawings come to life in her dreams. Slightly scary in parts so beware. An excellent film adaptation was made too called "Dreamhouse".