Let me say first that I really, really liked this book. I’m surprised it didn’t win some sort of award. (It was on the ALSC list of Notable Children’s Books.) Littlest One, the main character, is a dream-giver-in-training with a gossamer touch. Ms. Lowry has created in Gossamer a lovely imaginary world in which dreams have meaning, and even nightmares are susceptible to “dream therapy.”

My library system classifies this book as “young adult.” The main human character in the book, a boy, is seven years old, and Littlest One is of an undetermined age, but young. Maybe she’s the “young adult” character. Or maybe the book is “young adult” because it deals with child abuse. I wouldn’t suggest it for seven year olds, but middle grades and teenagers maybe? Alabama Moon, a book I wrote about not too long ago, was nominated for the Middle Grade Fiction Cybil Award, and I thought it was great but more appropriate for maybe junior high, or even high school students. Gossamer is also appropriate for the same age groups. So what is the age grouping for YA? Grades seven through 12? Through college? Does middle grades include middle school (grades 6-8) or just elementary school (grades 3-6)? Those poor twelve year olds, where do they fit in?

Anyway, I thought Gossamer was a satisfying story. It’s not too long; it felt more like a short story than a novel. However, it was meaningful and brought a smile to my face several times as I was reading. I’m planning to recommend it to Brown Bear Daughter and maybe even Organizer Daughter, the one who reads no fantasy except for Harry Potter. She might enjoy Gossamer, not that it will rival HP in any sense of the word rival.