Bebe's Bad Dream

From Publishers Weekly Night after night, Bebe dreams that green trolls arrive in a flying saucer, climb in her window and try to devour her. At the dinner table, Bebe's brother, Walter, teases her about her fears ("I'm hungry, please pass the Bebe") and her friends are bored with re-enacting abduction stories. Eventually Bebe tires of being alone on the playground and of Walter's scare tactics. Using crayons and paper, she creates posters that misdirect the imaginary invaders to her brother's room ("Try a delicious Bebe today" and "This is Bebe"). In Bebe's action-packed dreams that night, Walter is kidnapped by distinctly Walter-like monsters. The next morning, when Bebe hears his sadistic greeting ("Mmmm, Bebe and waffles for breakfast!"), she is disappointedAWalter is not actually goneAbut she now knows that the aliens were indeed only a nightmare. Karas (Saving Sweetness) allows Bebe her malicious fantasy, which banishes the aliens and wreaks revenge on pesky Walter. The artwork smoothly differentiates between reality and fantasy by using gray pencil with gentle lavender and pale yellow wash for waking moments, while flooding dream scenes with delirious yellow, woozy purple and thick spinach-green. The pictures do a great deal to carry the story, so the text consequently seems overlong. Ages 5-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From School Library Journal Kindergarten-Grade 3-Bebe is a feisty girl who doesn't get a lot of sympathy for her fears of nighttime aliens. Her mother tells her, "A bad dream, that's all they are." Her friends tell her, "You should do something about your alien problem." And her brother, Walter, fuels her worries by impersonating aliens. What's a girl to do? She knows that they're real. Bebe's solution is to trick the extraterrestrials into taking Walter instead, solving both of her problems at once. That night, the creatures do steal her brother away, and Bebe is pleased at her success-only to find that it was, indeed, only a dream, for her pesky sibling is sitting at the breakfast table the next morning. Finally, she understands the difference between dreams and reality. Having conquered her nighttime fears, she proceeds to best her brother as well at the end. Karas's story is made humorous by both the text and the detailed, childlike art rendered in acrylic, gouache, and pencil. The vivid portrayals of the ugly space creatures are particularly amusing. Children will root for the engaging Bebe on their own or during storytimes.