About This Book
Reach for this book when your middle-schooler is feeling adrift due to family instability or is beginning to ask deeper questions about their cultural identity. Set in the 1960s, Dove Dream follows thirteen-year-old Dovey as she spends a pivotal summer with her vibrant young aunt in rural Kansas while her parents navigate a trial separation. It is a gentle but honest exploration of the 'in-between' years, where childhood innocence meets the complex realities of the adult world. Parents will appreciate the book for its nuanced depiction of Chickasaw heritage and its sensitive handling of marital tension. It validates a child's feelings of loneliness and displacement while offering a hopeful path toward self-reliance and cultural pride. This is an ideal choice for readers aged 10 to 14 who are navigating their own life transitions and need to see a protagonist who finds strength in her roots and her own voice.
