In this Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book, Children's Literature Legacy Award-winner Nikki Grimes explores though her celebrated poetry how a supportive teacher can be the key to unlocking a dreamer's imaginative power through creative writing. Gabby's world is filled with daydreams. However, what began as an escape from her parents' arguments has now taken over her life. But with the help of a new teacher, 'Gabby the dreamer' might just become 'Gabby the writer' and the words that once carried her away might allow her to soar. Written in vivid, accessible poems, this remarkable verse novel is a celebration of imagination, of friendship, of one girl's indomitable spirit, and of a teacher's ability to reach out and change a life. Coretta Scott King Author Honor book NCTE Notable Children's Books in the English Language Arts Kirkus Reviews Best Book *Starred Review* Gabby, named for the angel Gabriel, is a daydreamer, and words fire her imagination, creating new worlds for her to inhabit. After her parents separate and Gabby must go to a different school, her daydreams become increasingly vivid, intruding on the realities of the classroom and schoolwork. To Gabby’s occasional puzzlement, her mother worries (“Mom names me for a / creature with wings, then wonders / what makes my thoughts fly”), but her wonderful new teacher is more patient, wisely helping her capture her daydreams on paper and inspiring a new dream to become an author: “Dad is a dreamer / and Mom is a maker. / I’ve been thinking, / maybe / I can be / both.” Grimes, recipient of the 2006 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, has written a novel in verse that is an enthusiastic celebration of the power of words and imagination and a dramatic demonstration that daydreamers are, as Gabby hopes, “cool.” Always accessible, Grimes’ language is vivid, rhythmic, and figurative: Gabby says her dreams are “fancy dancing in my mind,” for example, and thoughts of a circus are a “trampoline to the big top.” Plain or fancy, Grimes’ words speak to the daydreamer in every reader. Grades 3-6. --Michael Cart ★ ". . . Grimes has written a novel in verse that is an enthusiastic celebration of the power of words and imagination. . . Always accessible, Grimes' language is vivid, rhythmic, and figurative. . . Grimes' words speak to the daydreamer in every reader." —  Booklist , starred review ★ "In this delightfully spare narrative in verse, Coretta Scott King Award-winning Grimes examines a marriage's end from the perspective of a child. . . Throughout this finely wrought narrative, Grimes' free verse is tight, with perfect breaks of line and effortless shifts from reality to dream states and back. An inspirational exploration of caring among parent, teacher and child--one of Grimes' best." — Kirkus Reviews , starred review " . . . Grimes packs substantial emotional heft into her poems, especially the way that Gabby's parents' separation weighs on her. . . her poems lovingly convey the rich inner life (and turmoil) of a girl in the process of finding her voice." — Publishers Weekly New York Times  bestselling author  Nikki Grimes  is the recipient of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, the ALA Children’s Literature Legacy Award, and the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Her books include her critically acclaimed memoir in verse  Ordinary Hazards  as well as picture books  Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice and  Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope . She won the Coretta Scott King Award for  Bronx Masquerade  and earned a Coretta Scott King Author Honor five times—for  Words with Wings ,  Jazmin's Notebook ,  Dark Sons ,  Talkin’ About Bessie , and  The Road to Paris.  Visit nikkigrimes.com Used Book in Good Condition