BookDragon Blog

Dream Street by cousins Tricia Elam Walker (Nana Akua Goes to School) and Ekua Holmes (Voice of Freedom; Saving American Beach) is a formidable, potent antidote to a world that is often unkind to children, especially children of color. Here, “the children who live and play on Dream Street can become whatever and whoever they want, because their dreams are nourished and cared for.”

On Dream Street, brothers Yusef and Biko never leave their home without crowns because, their mother reminds them, “their ancestors … were queens and kings with dreams they never gave up on.” Belle, who is going to be a lepidopterist, catches butterflies but she never traps them for long because “everything has a right to be free.” Future librarian Zion is already in the library, transported by “skyscraper-tall piles of books that take him on adventures around the world.” While the children dream, elders enable. Mr. Phillips plans a jazz band with his five sons; Ms. Paula teaches African dance; Ms. Sarah, Dream Street’s longest resident, has endless stories to share.

Dream Street is real – and why shouldn’t it be? It’s based on Walker and Holmes’s Roxbury, Mass., childhood neighborhood. The two had a dream that someday they’d “create a picture book together about everyone they [knew] and [met] on Dream Street.” Their gratifying dream-come-true is made magnificent by Caldecott Honor artist Holmes’s gorgeously vibrant, multi-layered and multi-textured collages. Each illustration features the residents of Dream Street, making people and their stories the soul of the book. Readers are welcomed into a landscape of acceptance, respect, nurturing, and endless possibilities in Dream Street.

Discover: Cousins Tricia Elam Walker and Ekua Holmes make their childhood dreams come true by creating a powerful book about the best street in the world, on which all children are equally welcome.

Review: “Children’s & Young Adult,” Shelf Awareness, December 14, 2021

Readers: Adult

Published: 2021