3 out of 4 stars
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This is a fictional book authored by Linda Keen, who is to me an amazing woman, a woman who wears many hats. Not only is she a Published Author, Linda Keen is a teacher, a professional musician, a writer and she has also worked as an onsite school counselor until 2009. Born in New York, she was subsequently raised and educated in California where she received her Bachelor Degree in Anthropology and later on a Master’s Degree in Educational Counseling.
She cofounded Men & Intuitive (People & Intuition), one of the largest schools for energy awareness and intuitive healing in the Netherlands. Linda Keen is also a mother of four children and together with her family they left the Netherlands to live on the West Coast of the United States.
The author has written other genres but this is her first fictional novel based on true life experiences as a parent and a counselor of young people. The book was highly inspired by a “Poet Laureate of
Harlem,” Langston Hughes, she was greatly moved by this great poet and especially with some of his work, example being “The Dream keeper and other poems,”
After losing their parents in a road accident at a very tender age, Starlight simply “Star “ and her elder brother Thatcher O’day are taken in by their maternal grandparents who dot over them and since they hardly remember their own parents the kids accept this grandparents ( Tattie and Uma) as if they were their parents. As fate would have it, Uma suffers a stroke and the children are forced to move from the farm which they call home and go live with their other grandparents (Langston and Gloria O’Day) Out West.
In this novel ‘The Dream Keeper,’ the O’Day kids have to adjust to new culture, new friendship and a new school. At this point the reader is constantly taken into the lead characters dreams and imaginations as she travels into another realm, another world where she can communicated with the unimaginable. As the kids grow into teenage hood they are faced with teenage challenges that nearly tear them from the values that they have been taught. Things begin going downhill in the O’Day household and the decision the children eventually make is a life changing one full of challenging events, motivating dreams and visions.
As much as it’s a fiction novel, Linda keen has created a riveting story of determination, courage and endurance all put together in two kids as they struggle through their early stages of teenage hood . She has openly shown us the weariness that come with racial intolerance and how when given a chance great men can rise from what others consider not advantaged.
It’s a great novel that can really swallow you into an imaginative world much so that one is truly drawn into character. I really enjoyed being taken into the dreams with the character, especially Star’s dreams of going down a stairway, floating in a river and eventually flying on top of the eagle ‘her friend’. I found this as a metaphoric dream, that she could someday become a great person.
The characters in this book are well drawn and the reader can easily relate to them. Being a first novel, Linda Keen outdid herself because this book is quite amazing and there are some great lesson to carry home. I truly enjoyed the book and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone teenagers and adults alike and wouldn’t shy away from giving it a 3 out of 4 stars, Save for a few typo errors.
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The Dream Keepers
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