ParentsPick

Gossamer — Content Guide for Parents

By Lois LowryHoughton Mifflin2006ISBN 9780618685509140 pages
Gossamer

Found in this book

  • ViolenceSupporting
  • Scary contentSupporting

Not found

  • Religion
  • Race & culture
  • Profanity
  • Climate
  • Sexual content
  • Gender roles
  • Gender & orientation

Content themes

Factual summary of themes present in this book. No opinion — just the facts.

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Summaries and source quotes for every theme.

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Example theme card

Religion

PRESENT

Contains references to prayer and church attendance. A minister character plays a supporting role in two chapters.

About this book

Where do dreams come from? What stealthy nighttime messengers are the guardians of our most deeply hidden hopes and our half-forgotten fears? Drawing on her rich imagination, two-time Newbery winner Lois Lowry confronts these questions and explores the conflicts between the gentle bits and pieces of the past that come to life in dream, and the darker horrors that find their form in nightmare. In a haunting story that tiptoes between reality and imagination, two people—a lonely, sensitive woman and a damaged, angry boy—face their own histories and discover what they can be to one another, renewed by the strength that comes from a tiny, caring creature they will never see.

Gossamer is perfect for readers not quite ready for Lois Lowry's Newbery-Award winner The Giver and also for readers interested in dreams, nightmares, spirits and the dream world.

Frequently asked questions

  • Is Gossamer appropriate for a 7-year-old?

    The boy's abusive father hit him and his mother, which comes out through his own story, and nightmare-giving horse-like creatures stampede and nearly kill the dream-givers at the climax. Dark creatures called Sinisteeds give a child nightmares and gather in a Horde that attacks, alongside the story's reference to child abuse, though nothing is described graphically.

  • Does Gossamer have violence?

    Found (Supporting): The boy's abusive father hit him and his mother, which comes out through his own story, and nightmare-giving horse-like creatures stampede and nearly kill the dream-givers at the climax.

  • Does Gossamer have scary content?

    Found (Supporting): Dark creatures called Sinisteeds give a child nightmares and gather in a Horde that attacks, alongside the story's reference to child abuse, though nothing is described graphically.

  • Does Gossamer have religion?

    Not found in the sources we checked.

  • Does Gossamer have race & culture?

    Not found in the sources we checked.

  • Does Gossamer have profanity?

    Not found in the sources we checked.

  • Does Gossamer have climate?

    Not found in the sources we checked.

  • Does Gossamer have sexual content?

    Not found in the sources we checked.

  • Does Gossamer have gender roles?

    Not found in the sources we checked.

  • Does Gossamer have gender & orientation?

    Not found in the sources we checked.