[.ca] Dream Collector, The (ISBN 1550744372)

Vivid, pleasing yarn:
Vivid illustrations keep pace with the tale of young Zachary who encounters a couple of zebras and a shaggy sheepdog at the birdbath early one morning. Then he notices an old man working rather frantically on a broken-down truck, and so he meets the Dream Collector, a bigger than life taskmaster charged with gathering everyone's dreams each morning to keep them from becoming real. Zachary assembles his hodge-podge collection of tools to try and help the old fellow get his truck running, but is soon dispatched to round up the straying dreams, a motley collection of mythical and real animals and beings. One dream, the very one Zachary vividly recalls from the previous night, eludes captures, and when the Dream Collector gets his truck running in the nick of time, he rewards his helper by letting Zachary to keep the shaggy dog he so wants. And so we are reminded again, that maybe some dreams can come true, a befitting message for children to hear once more.