Dreams Are More Real Than Bathtubs

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

“Sometimes I dream about a fear-us tiger. Flop! Floom! Doom! He
crashes right through my curtains. Even my sister has bad dreams about
an evil wicked wolf. Just like in The Three Little Pigs, only more evil.
My mum says there is such things as fear-us tigers and witches because
dreams are real. Dreams are more real than bathtubs. Dreams are more
real than houses. My sister says I can stay up past bedtime and watch
the end of a cool movie with her. She told me it was a good kids’
movie, but it wasn’t. It was Bloodsuckers from Mars. My mum leaves my
frog lamp on because I get scared in the dark. But then my frog lamp
glows in the dark like a Bloodsucker from outer space.”

This tale by veteran author Susan Musgrave explores those little, dark
corners between every human’s id and funny bone. The main character, a
young girl, is afraid to go to sleep because she often has dreams about
head-eating hotdogs, pouncing tigers, and witches that look just like
her mother with a new hairdo. Only Marie-Louise Gay, an illustrator
known for her own brand of outrageous and often sardonic images, could
have kept up with the startling text. Their combined efforts have
produced a hilarious and often poignant book that will undoubtedly haunt
adults much more than children. Highly recommended.