Jake, Lucid Dreamer

A coming of age novel told by a 12 year old boy who has lost his mother to cancer. The character of jake is well crafted. The reader can feel his emotional struggle and anger over his mother's death and the trials of middle school. He has vivid dreams where he learns to control many of the things happening to him. In his day to day life, however, things often feel very out of control. He is dealing with bullying at school and the strong emotions of grief. He doesn't want to tell his father everything he is feeling, and is trying to deal with it all on his own.

This is a young adult book, but anyone who has ever lost a loved one can relate to the turmoil of emotions that Jake is feeling. I think it would be a great addition to middle school libraries and classrooms.

If you could control your dreams, would you ever come back to the uncontrollable and unforgiving reality?

Jake is a 12 year old boy battling the hostile territory of middle school while also learning how to cope with the death of his mother. Naturally, anger builds up and his denial of being “not okay” threatens to tear him away from his family, not physically, but emotionally.

Jake, Lucid Dreamer is now a permanent addition to my library. There are so many life lessons to be taught in this short book, but it teaches them flawlessly and in a simple, relatable, and entirely understandable way, especially for middle graders.

Jake is a troubled boy, but he is smart, he is compassionate, and he's real with himself and others. The challenges he gives himself, and overcomes, provide a good example for middle graders to combat their problems creatively and in a way that actually solves the problems, not just tucks them away in a corner for a later day.

I enjoyed the wit displayed by multiple characters. The family qualities. The craziness of Jake's dreams. And the puns. Oh, the puns!

It's clean, funny, well written, and full of family values and life lessons. The only thing I feel the need to mention is that some of Jake's dreams get a little weird (for example, in one dream a character suddenly vomits a bunch of hands...). None of his dreams ever turned horror or anything though, characters just did some weird things; as will happen in any dream.

Overall, I really loved this book. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

I received this book from the author for the purpose of this review. All comments and opinions are entirely my own.

This is a LiteratureApproved.com Review.