Starred Review ALA Booklist (Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 CDT 2010)

Starred Review In this fantastical debut, Teague imagines how dreams are made from the point of view of a young boy and his dog. Night after night, construction crews break into Franklin's bedroom to build train tracks, a runway, and a canal; they're all deconstructed before the break of day after some massive conveyance has rolled through Franklin's room, eerily carrying people he knows, including one little boy who looks rather familiar. "Nobody knows how this works!" the construction worker admits d we don't need to know, either. It's the mystery that makes this so imaginative and fresh. Kulikov's dramatic paintings feature a chiaroscuro effect; Franklin's nighttime room is portrayed in navy blues and subdued colors, while warm yellow light pours from the towering forms of the train, jet, and boat. Alert readers will notice the parallel little dog that appears in the dreams, just as, of course, the little boy who looks familiar turns out to be Franklin himself. The randomness of the folks who people Franklin's dreams e mailman, the checkout lady from the supermarket, and his uncle Marty, for instance okes exactly the arbitrary whimsy of dreams.

Horn Book (Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2011)

At night in Franklin's room, a strange crew builds (and unbuilds) huge construction projects, such as train tracks and an airplane runway. After realizing the crew is engineering dreams, Franklin requests his own voyage: to the moon. The narrative's matter-of-factness balances the mysteriousness of the dreams, while dynamic illustrations make the most of nighttime contrasts between light and dark.

Kirkus Reviews

Just before Franklin goes to sleep each night in this story, an engineer barges in and builds railroad tracks, canals and runways straight through his bedroom. Giant, glowing trains, ships and planes appear, carrying familiar people (his mailman, his dentist, his mom's boss) to an unknown destination. Young readers will watch along with Franklin, dumbstruck, as the rumbling machinery plows through his walls and into the night. Illustrations with powerful perspectives capture the jarring otherworldliness of dreams. Readers face the broad side of a ship towering three stories high; they cower beneath a jet's roaring belly. Dark blues and purples plunge readers into the murkiness of night, where nothing is quite clear, and clouds both frame and obscure portions of each page. While action-packed and full of vivid language, the book's ambiguity leaves readers feeling frustrated and fuzzy. When Franklin recognizes his own tousled head at the back of the rows of midnight express passengers, he suddenly "figure[s] out what's going on." Many readers never will. After so many weird, woozy nights, it is hard to piece together Franklin's mind-blowing revelation. (Picture book. 4-8)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Newcomer Teague debuts with a story about Franklin, a boy whose bedtime is repeatedly interrupted by the arrival of workmen with sheaves of plans, followed by gigantic planes and trains that roar through and quickly disappear (and that look suspiciously like the toys in his room). Franklin is remarkably cool about it all, though he's left lonely after the action dies down. By the time an ocean liner sails through a canal hastily dug through his room, he knows who he'll see on it (""Leaning against the bow rail was a kid whose ears stuck out in a memorable way"") and what will happen afterward (""But after a while, he fell asleep and dreamed of seas no one had ever seen""). The next time the workman shows up, Franklin's figured out how the system works, and he's off to the moon. Kulikov (The Eraserheads) lavishes painterly attention on the giant transport, with rows of golden lights and indigo shadows, but leaves plenty of rough edges and scribbled lines, too. It's a cinematically scaled tale engineered for those who wish bedtime offered a little more action. Ages 3%E2%80%937. (Aug.)

School Library Journal (Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 CDT 2010)

K-Gr 2 One ordinary night, during his bedtime routine, Franklin gets a huge surprise: a construction crew comes crashing through the wall of his room. A foreman informs the surprised boy that he should be asleep, then continues with his work, laying tracks. While Franklin watches from the safety of his bed, a train comes whistling through, carrying some familiar faces. After it trundles away, the crew breaks up the track, leaving Franklin to a dream of rushing along train tracks through a moonlit forest. A week later, the same thing happens, only this time with a plane and later, a huge cruise ship. With each episode, Franklin spots a recognizable face onboard the vehicle, then has a dream of traveling to fantastic lands on wings or ocean waves. The next time his wall is breached, he finally catches on. He dictates where he would like to go in this dream sequence: a big round moon peeking through his window gives his destination away. While this is an interesting concept, it takes several readings to understand exactly what is going on in the bedroom. The illustrations, however, are quite beautiful, and the cool palette and soft lines add to the dreamy feel of the story. Each spread is more magnificent then the next, helping to build to the out-of-this-world conclusion. Jasmine L. Precopio, Fox Chapel Area School District, Pittsburgh, PA