Module 13: The Dreaming

Citation:


Chan, Queenie. The Dreaming. Scholastic Exclusive. Los Angeles, CA: Tokyopop, 2006. Print.


Summary:


Amber and Jeanie are twins who have recently transferred to an exclusive boarding school out in the bushlands of Australia.  For some reason they are asked by their aunt, the headmistress, to not reveal the fact that they are twins.  Even more mysterious, their aunt leaves immediately after their arrival after a few cryptic remarks about rumors concerning the school.  Soon, they discover a dark past filled with missing girls.


Personal Impression:


I was not one of those readers who bought into the Japanese anime and manga craze though many of my friends did.  I like this story though sometimes the illustrations confused me enough sometimes that I had to re-read a page or two in order to make sure I was understanding things correctly.  I do want to finish the three book series in order to see what the ending is though I might prefer this as a standard book.  However, I can understand why some people might prefer it as a graphic novel with the illustrations.  The illustrations add much to the story detail though as I said they sometimes confused me because I could not follow which twin was saying what so that their characters because confused in my mind.


Reviews:


From Booklist:


Gr. 9-12. In the first volume of a three-book manga series, identical twins Jeanie and Amber arrive at their new boarding school on the edge of the Australian bush to find it steeped in mystery. Vague rumors of students disappearing, sealed rooms, tight-lipped teachers, and a collection of disturbing paintings have the girls unnerved, and when they start experiencing the same nightmare, they really begin to worry. The subtle buildup of spooky tension culminates when one of the girls' friends goes missing, only to turn up dead. The art is traditional manga, but Chan effectively tweaks the style to create an eerie atmosphere--creepy, but not graphic or deeply scary. Readers may initially connect this to DC's Sandman graphic novels, but they'll soon find that Chan's story has a personality and direction all its own. Tina Coleman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Retrieved from Amazon.com; http://www.amazon.com/Dreaming-Vol-1-Queenie-Chan/dp/1598163825



Use in a Library Setting:


Manga often receives a bad reputation because of the well-known perversions that exist within some of the titles from Japan, occasionally.  This title would go a long way to easing parents fears about the inappropriateness of their child reading a manga.  This title could also encourage younger readers becoming interested in genre reading as this is obviously a mystery, an apparently paranormal one at that.  A third use that this title could be put to would be as part of a showcase of multinational graphic novel titles.  This has become a large market over the last few years and the titles originate in a variety of countries, not just the U.S. and Japan.  This particular manga is written and takes place in Australia.