Dream for the Land by Laekan Zea Kemp, Leo Espinosa
ISBN: 0593710304
Genres: Animals, Family, Farm Life, Folklore, Realistic Fiction
Format: Picture Book Fiction
Source: MSL Book Review
Goodreads

Dream For the Land is a powerful”slice-of-life” moment on a farm in West Texas based on the author’s experience watching climate change create a mega-drought in the land she grew up in. Our main character is an unnamed girl who is chasing the bunnies from the crops and watching them droop from lack of rain. She sees the lines of worry on her Má and Pá’s faces, but they ease up with smiles when they find a little horned toad in the vegetables. She kisses the toad and makes a wish for the land to be as it once was when her grand-grandfather tilled the soil and made it their home.

This is a simple, but poignant book about a family who desperately need rain for their ancestral lands to be rich and fertile again. Almost too-sad for early children’s literature, but it makes up for it with storytelling and sweet illustrations and the fantastical magic wish of the horned toad. There’s a nice Author’s Note in the end pages that explains her connection to the story, and how we can take action for indigenous lands to be protected. For ages 4-8.

Reviewed by Gia Charles, Patten Free Library, Bath