The
Dream
Pillow

This book belongs to

Every child should own a hundred books by the age of five. To that end, Book Dash gathers creative professionals who volunteer to create new, African storybooks that anyone can freely translate and distribute. To find out more, and to download beautiful, print-ready books, visit bookdash.org.

The Dream Pillow
Illustrated by Lutfia Kamish
Written by Nadia Davids
Designed by Nadene Kriel
Edited by Diane Awerbuck
with the help of the Book Dash participants in Cape Town on 14 April 2018
ISBN: 978-1-928442-36-3
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lutfia kamish   nadene kriel   nadia davids

When the stars are out  and the moon swings in the sky,
and the light in my room is low,
things are different.

The pirate puppet waves his sword.
The mango tree bends its branches.
Even my teddy becomes a different sort of bear.

I keep very still in my cave of blankets or I call,
“Maaamaaa! Daaaddyyy!”
or I jump into their bed.

I tell Mama about Pirate and Tree and Bear.

“You had a really bad dream.”
“What’s a dream?”
“When we sleep we think about our day, but everything gets mixed up. It feels real, but it’s not real.”

“It is real!”
“You know when we read a story together, it’s made up, but we laugh, or get scared or excited?  A dream is the same.”

“You mean a dream is a story?”
“Yes! But it happens at night. You put your head on the pillow, you fall asleep and then the story happens.”
“So a dream is a story you find in your pillow?”

“Yes!”
“Can I put the stories in my pillow?”
“You can.”
“How?”

“Let’s write down all your best stories, fold up the paper and tuck it inside the pillow.”

for ilyas tomÁs