Willy the Dreamer
A stunning Willy book with spectacular, surreal paintings – by one of the most acclaimed of all picture book artists.
Willy loves to dream. He dreams that he’s a film star, a sumo wrestler, a ballet dancer, a painter, an explorer, a famous writer, a scuba diver… Sometimes he dreams that he can’t run but he can fly. He dreams he’s a giant or he’s tiny, a beggar or a king, in a strange landscape or all at sea. He dreams of fierce monsters and super heroes, of the past and, sometimes, the future. Willy’s dreamland is a gallery of amazing and magical pictures, each one magnificently executed and packed with bananas and slyly surreal details that cannot fail to intrigue and delight. The pictures pay homage to famous paintings by the likes of Dali, Magritte and Henri Rousseau, as well as film and book characters and much more.
Creators
Anthony Browne is one of the most popular and stylistically distinctive children’s book artists with a number of outstanding titles to his credit. These include six books featuring Willy: Willy the Wimp, Willy the Champ, Willy and Hugh, Willy the Wizard, Willy the Dreamer and Willy’s Pictures, as well as Gorilla (Winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal and the Kurt Maschler Award); Changes; The Tunnel; I Like Books; Things I Like; Look What I’ve Got!; Piggybook; Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Winner of the Kurt Maschler Award); Hansel and Gretel; Zoo (Winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal) and King Kong (shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal). He was the winner of the illustration section of the 2000 Hans Christian Andersen Award.
Reviews
[C]hildren will enjoy th[is] superbly illustrated book for its imaginative and humorous artwork.
Booklist
In his fifth book about Willy the chimp, Browne gives a smart, playful nod to Magritte, Raausseau, Dali and other artists . . . Browne’s whimsical borrowings and witty visual puns stretch this volume’s appeal far beyond the typical picture-book audience. . . Whether readers are wholly untutored or art history experts, the closer they look, the more jokes they will find. Fresh, funny, and full of surprises.
Publishers Weekly, starred review
While young readers are busy searching for bananas in disguise, grownups will enjoy identifying the arts and writers to whom Browne pays homage . . . A wonderful and thought-provoking book, encouraging us to take a moment, close our eyes, and see what we can see.
New York Times Book Review, The
WILLY THE DREAMER is a great example of a picture book. . . .
Newsday
Willy, who first appeared in WILLY THE WIMP, is dreaming about his future. Rock star or dancer, beggar or king, monster or superhero, what will he be? … Browne’s fantastical, realistically rendered pictures, with their sunny palette and sly references, suggest quantities of intriguing connections.
Horn Book, The
