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INTERMEDIATE FICTION
Stanley, Diane

Second Sleep

288 pp. | HarperCollins/Quill Tree | November, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-0-06-265803-6 $17.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-0-06-265805-0 $9.99
(2) 4-6 After their mother disappears, to distract from their worry, Max and his sister Rosie are sent with their grandmother, Mozelle, to help close up her lake cabin, a place where their mom spent her childhood summers. Without electricity, they go to bed early and experience the phenomenon of "second sleep," where people spend some time awake in the middle of the night (Max goes outside and stargazes) before falling back asleep. According to Mozelle, the children's mother said she "dreamed more vividly during her second sleep, and that her dreams were sweeter." Their first night there, Max learns what she means: thinking he's awake, he meets Lila, a girl from a neighboring cabin who takes him to the lake, where a group of kids hang out unsupervised. Some of the older ones are teaching Rosie to play chess, and he sees how it boosts her confidence. On waking, he realizes it was a dream--and Rosie's had the same one. Over the week the siblings spend at the cabin, the kids in the dream community (which doesn't exist synchronously in real life) assist Max in sorting out his symptoms of anxiety and inspire his art. They even help him figure out why his mom has gone missing. This gentle but uplifting tale is very much an internal journey, with calmness and creativity at heart; but enough mystery is sprinkled throughout (who are the lake kids? where is Max and Rosie's mother?) that the pace never stagnates.
Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

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