An Hispanic grandmother lovingly tucks her granddaughter into bed saying, "This candle keeps you / safe in the dark, / safe in my heart. / and tell me all about it / in the morning." James's exploration of the child's dream world unfolds--an intriguing, nonthreatening journey. The girl "leaves herself sleeping" and in her dreams travels up "past clouds, past angels" to an attic room until "the moon rolls over" and she descends "past furnaces, past roots, past rivers running in the dark" to the safety and warmth of the cellar. As she ascends the stairs, whimsically chosen objects float around her--an angel in striped socks, transparent petticoats, balloons, even Abraham Lincoln in soccer shoes--and she seems untroubled by the dark images of the cellar room where fossilized fish adorn murky, cave-like walls. Offering a feast of cleverly interwoven images, Watson's fantasy pastiche is colorful and cheerfully surrealistic. Ages 5 - 7. 
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