Deep Dream of the Rain Forest - Softcover

Bosse, Malcolm

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0374417024 ISBN 13: 9780374417024

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 1994

Synopsis

Three explorers-fifteen-year-old orphan Harry Windsor, Bayang, a young Iban tribesman, and Tombong, an outcast Iban girl-find mystery and adventure in the jungles of Borneo.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

In a story straight out of the Kipling/H. Rider Haggard tradition, a British teenager learns that the world is wider than he ever imagined when he's kidnapped and taken deep into the jungles of Borneo. To the tribal Iban, dreams have great significance, and good or evil omens are pervasive; impelled by a vision, young Bayang leaves his village, taking Tambong--an outcast known as ``Duck Foot'' for her deformity--as a guide. When the two encounter Harry Windsor, a 15-year-old orphaned in WW I, they snatch him away, convinced that he can help them achieve the insights their dreams promise. The Iban ``Bejelai,'' or ``Dream Walk,'' becomes a journey of discovery for Harry, too, as his mettle is tested by his captors and by the jungle's dangers (including a party of headhunters); by the end, he has indeed helped both Bayang and Tambong, while they've shown him the narrowness of his racist, White Man's Burden views. Bosse's characters are strong and admirable, his writing precise and evocative; and the jungle--``where time was always now, and the vast ocean of greenery washed over [Harry] like an endless dream''- -is a strong presence holding both terrors and wonders in its depths. As in he did in Ganesh (1981) and in the brutal Captives of Time (1987), this gifted storyteller stirs hearts and minds while teaching readers to value the wisdom of distant cultures. (Fiction. 12-15) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Booklist:

Gr. 6-10. Fifteen-year-old Harry Windsor, orphaned by the First World War, eagerly joins his uncle at his British government post in Borneo. While journeying to a remote outpost, Harry encounters Bayang, a young Iban warrior engrossed in a dream quest, and Tambong, an outcast, lame girl, who is Bayang's dream interpreter. Bayang's dream is all-important and may affect his life and his entire tribe. The Iban believe obeying dreams brings power while ignoring them could mean death. Bayang decides that Harry's locket, which contains a portrait of Harry's mother, is the key to deciphering his dream, and forcibly takes Harry along on the quest; the three quickly realize how different their worlds are, yet how strong the bonds of friendship forged through mutual respect and adversity are. This smoothly paced story offers strong characters, thoughtful insights, and a glimpse of global connections. Teachers searching for materials to enhance rain forest study will appreciate Bosse's objective yet factual detailing of life in the rain forest, which is offered in strong descriptive terms without an overt ecological message. Students will simply enjoy a good read. Mary Romano Marks

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0374417024
• ISBN 13: 9780374417024
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 179